They used to put masks on mentally ill people so that they could not bite people or spit on people.
Now they just strap the person to a bed and they medicate them, and they keep the person strapped to the bed until they promise to calm down and behave. And then after they release the person from being strapped in the bed they keep the person medicated so the person just sleeps all of the time.
I spent a month in the mental hospital when I had my nervous breakdown, and it was a crazy place. And the nurses kept calling me to break up fights, I was sick, and I did not feel good, and they had me breaking up fights, and they had me acting as security for the place. I am not that big of a guy, and I was sick, I had just suffered from a nervous breakdown.
Probably the craziest thing that I had to deal with when I was living in a homeless shelter for mentally ill people, there was a guy who heard voices in his head, and the voices were telling him to stab the Black guy, so he had a knife and he was heading toward the Black guy, and I had to stop him, I told him that the only voice that mattered was my voice, and my voice was telling him to put down the knife, I told him that the voices in his head were all bullshit, and to just listen to my voice. I saved that Black guy's life that night.
Sometimes I was scared, and the crazy people sometimes do not make any sense, people can die for no fucking reason, just stupid mentally ill bullshit can get someone killed.
So, the first thing that the Doctors do is to get the people on medication to stop the voices in their heads, and then you get them into therapy so they can learn to determine reality from mentally ill bullshit. And they put them on medication to help people to relax, etc.
The shit they put me through made it hard on me to get well, breaking up fights at the mental hospital was not cool, it did not help me. I needed to chill in a rose garden, I needed just peace and quiet, and I needed good food and a nice comfortable bed. It was nice with my friend Lisa, she fed me steak for dinner, and she always tried to make things nice. Lisa loves everyone, she is a very loving person.
And I met my buddy Tom in one of Lisa's houses. I met some of the best, coolest, nicest people in Lisa's houses. Mental illness and homelessness can happen to anyone. Tom was a Combat Medic for the Marines, he was a doctor for combat, and he was great at managing homeless shelters and helping the homeless, and he was famous for feeding steak and lobster to the people in the shelters he ran, he loved people and it was his honor to spoil his clients rotten. Tom and his crew even raised over a million dollars to feed the hungry, they raised money by selling beer and hot dogs and stuff at Angel Stadium and at the Rose Bowl, etc. Tom loved to help people.
As we get all of the homeless people off of the streets and into housing, we are going to have to help a lot of mentally ill people. And people at places such as the new Wellness Center in Orange are going to have to help a lot of mentally ill people. Of note, many people who go there for help when they are sick will learn and they will help other people when they are well. Many doctors were once homeless, and now they are helping other people.
Salute,
Tony V.