In What Reality is an Increased Death Rate Evidence of Improved Treatment?

People with psychiatric diagnoses are dying younger now than they were even 10 years ago, up from 15 years lower life expectancy compared to the non-diagnosed to 25 years lower life expectancy.  And yet we have the fine folks at the Treatment Advocacy Center saying that psychiatric treatment has never been better!  Well, I guess if you don’t count all the people who die or if you count as a success someone who dies but is “mentally stable” at the time of their death, or as the old joke goes, the operation was a success but the patient died….

I really wonder sometimes what reality these folks are living in.  A reality where only some of the old state hospitals were awful?  So tell me, from a patient’s mouth or pen, which were the good old state hospitals?  A reality in which current hospital treatment is better than ever?  Hmm, not what one hears from actual patients, but what do actual patients know, they’re only the ones undergoing the treatment, let’s listen to those who have a vested interest in the continuation of psychiatric inpatient units as they are presently run instead.  When medical patients complain about the standard or manner of care they receive, we don’t just listen to the nurse or doctor who works at the place, we look into it.  But TAC and their friend Sally Satel want the agencies in charge of looking into psychiatric inpatient complaints (Protection and Advocacy in every state of the U.S.) to be defunded!  If inpatient treatment is so great these days, why would they care how much money Protection and Advocacy receives to investigate complaints?