serious mental illness – Janice Airhart

Transinstitutionalization – Whew!

I agree—the title is a mouthful! But it’s an important concept in psychiatry practice. “Transinstitutionalization” is a single-word description of the movement of individuals with serious mental illness (SMI) in the 1960s and beyond from psychiatric hospitals to prison. The term was coined by Lionel Penrose in 1939, who recognized that as the number ofContinue reading “Transinstitutionalization – Whew!”

Of Rabbit Holes and Legislator Lunacy

Help! I’m at the bottom of a rabbit hole, and I can’t see daylight! Last week, I started on research for the concluding section of the book I’m working on about family members who advocate for a loved one diagnosed with a mental illness. I interviewed 12 family members in four categories: parent, child, sibling,Continue reading “Of Rabbit Holes and Legislator Lunacy”