America’s Failing Mental Health System: Families Struggle To Find Quality Care

When Paul Raeburn needed immediate help for his suicidal son, he had few good options. The teen had threatened to sit on nearby railroad tracks until a train came. Even though Raeburn, a leading health and science writer, was in a position to know more about the best available mental health services and treatment options for his son than most, when a crisis hit, he felt he only had one choice: to call the police and risk that his child would wind up incarcerated rather than hospitalized.

“I tried to physically restrain him, but that’s not easy with a teenager,” Raeburn says, “I had no other option and this doesn’t seem like an ideal situation to take care of our sick kids.”

While it’s not clear whether mental illness— alone or in combination with a developmental disorder—played any role in the devastating tragedy in Newtown, CT, the shootings have triggered a much-needed discussion about how we care for psychiatric patients. The debate has thrown a harsh light on the piecemeal nature of America’s mental health system, which is leaving too many children and young adults, like Raeburn’s son, without the resources they need.

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