Detroit Today: Why Americans struggle to support loved ones with severe mental illnesses

How do we help people who have experiences that we may not fully understand? How do we assist those who are perceiving the world in ways that are so different from so many of us?

In America’s not too distant past, people with severe mental illness were placed in asylums. But these places soon became criticized for being like prisons — for making peoples’ challenges harder to manage. In the 1960s, then-President John F. Kennedy closed down these institutions. But that led to another problem.

Severely mentally ill individuals often had nowhere to turn to. Many of them ended up on American streets or in its prisons and jails. 60 years later, our solutions for assisting mentally ill folks haven’t changed much. So, what do we do now? How do we fix this problem?

“What do you do when you get out [of psychiatric care]? Time is one of the things we don’t give people in the modern world.” — Jonathan Rosen, author

Listen: Why Americans struggle to support loved ones with severe mental illnesses

Guest

Jonathan Rosen is the author of several books. His new cover story in The Atlantic is titled, “American Madness.” It’s about the severe mental illness of his close friend and how he and thousands of others are not getting the care they need. His forthcoming book, “The Best Minds,” is about this story. He says people with severe mental illness need institutional supports to help them and those that care for them.

“We somehow believe that being smart is going to save you,” says Rosen.