This was the third time I had seen him this month alone. It was the same story as before; he was hospitalized and provided a short supply of medication at discharge. Now, he was back in the emergency department, intoxicated, talking to himself, and disheveled.
He tells us he drinks to quiet the voices, a common story. Self-medicating with drugs and alcohol to “smooth out the rough spots” or “quiet the voices,” is not uncommon for people without access to appropriate mental health services.
This is a daily occurrence in one urban emergency department where I work and is emblematic of the state of our mental health and crisis intervention system nationwide. Care for many with mental illness is now a patchwork of emergency department visits, incarcerations, and months-long waits for appointments at community mental health clinics with fewer and fewer providers available to care for this growing population.
The problem has gotten so bad that a recent survey by the American College of Emergency Physicians reveals that more than 80 percent of respondents feel the mental health system in their areas is not working.
[For more of this story, written by Amy Kontrick, go to http://www.psmag.com/health-an...n-the-emergency-room]
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