O P I N I O N
Regarding the Tragedy of Our Homeless Problem
I
PHOTOS COURTESY OF MAEVE MCGRATH
By Maeve McGrath know better than many what a failure the mental health system is. My brother Ryan was an amazing human being and an upstanding citizen and taxpayer most of his life. He received a degree from one of the best hotel management schools in the world. He also went on to graduate with honors from Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, and went on to have a brilliant career. In recent years, when all that fell apart, my brother still did his best, focusing his intense creativity not just into cooking, but beautiful art he composed with found fragments and his fragile, fragmenting mind. He succumbed to his first manic episode in 2015. Not knowing how to handle it, police arrested him and threw him in jail for a month when he tried to fight off the officer restraining him (the cause for their coming was that he was scaring his neighbors and
disrupting the peace). Upon release, he struggled to find his way and we took care of him. In 2017 he had another severe breakdown. His condition also came with anosognosia, which many people do not realize is a real and major problem with bipolar and schizophrenic people. It is also anatomical in nature. His brain truly does not understand it is sick and therefore refuses to get treatment. We managed to get him hospitalized during the second breakdown, and had to beg and threaten them not to release him after just three days (unmedicated). After 14 unmedicated days, my brother was released, not much better than before. Again, we struggled to care for him and keep a roof over his head. Despite our pleas to start taking medication, my brother refused, insisting he was not bipolar and only had PTSD from different childhood experiences, and that he would work on getting well
on his own. We relented, as the only alternative was to kick him out (which we could not bear to do since he was doing so well and was a wonderful uncle and a joy to be around) and force homelessness on him. Last month it happened again... and it is now probably final. The hospital again released him unmedicated after a week, telling us that as an adult he has the right to choose what is best for him, despite the fact that the organ which he uses to make decisions is sick and unable to make decisions. My brother’s brain is begging for medicine that will heal him. The only difference between him and a Stage 4 cancer patient is that he cannot voice his needs. The mental health laws in this country, under the “guise” of compassion for human rights, are in fact the same as putting a gun to that person’s head and pulling the trigger. My brother is now another statistic…homeless, cold,
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California Heritage Museum 2612 Main Street, Santa Monica For additional information: (310) 392-8537 mail@californiaheritagemuseum.org PAGE 4 THE ARGONAUT MARCH 3, 2022
Opening Reception, Saturday Afternoon March 12, 2:00 - 5:00 p.m. Exhibit Dates: March 12 – June 12 Wednesday – Sunday, 11:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
