A New Place to Calm Mental Distress [TheAtlantic.com]
Police had picked up Ledwon, 55, in late April from a local shelter in Alamosa, Colorado, where he was hallucinating and speaking garbled Spanish. Likely triggered by a change in medication, Ledwon’s psychotic episode was compounded by crippling anxiety. Police dropped him off in the emergency room—common destination for mental-health patients, but one that may cause as much harm as good. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, mental disorders like Ledwon’s caused 5.3...