Letter from Lucy Waters: Not right to ignore signs of deteriorating mental health
Hartinder Nijjar wrote an excellent article and actually provided ideas to help fix the mental health system (“Our mental-health-care system needs fixing; here’s how,” Issues & Ideas, May 27).
When someone is walking through red lights, pushing all his belongings in a shopping cart and cursing loudly at everyone in sight, he needs help immediately, and resources should be there for him. People should be willing to dial a crisis line to get him that help. If a family member starts acting strangely over a period of time and cannot function as he did, he also needs help.
We not only ignore bizarre behaviour but we even rationalize it, instead of providing the desperately needed help.
LUCY WATERS
Lucy Waters is past president of the BC Schizophrenia Society
