“The Dilemma of Mental Commitments in California.” Photo by UC Davis Library If there was any single event that sped the emptying of state asylums in California in the late 1960s and early 1970s, it was the publication of a 204-page report entitled, “The Dilemma of Mental Commitments in California.” The report was an exposé, a philosophical treatise, and a policy prescription.
Frank Lanterman, photo courtesy of the Frank D. Lanterman Political Papers, Lanterman House ArchivesFor more than five decades, the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act has been the foundation for how California treats or fails to treat people with severe mental illness. Now, legislators from both parties seek to overhaul it in ways that reflect advances in medicine, and a better understanding of its failings.
Via ShutterstockIn California, the state that led all others in the failed social experiment of emptying psychiatric hospitals, the pendulum clearly is swinging. Not that Gov. Gavin Newsom aims to return to the days when forgotten souls were locked away in large asylums. But in a proposal to be detailed on Sunday, Newsom will call on legislators to place a $3 billion bond measure before voters in 2024 to pay to house thousands of people with severe mental illness.