For the Mentally Ill, It’s Worse

E. Fuller Torrey, perhaps the most vocal critic of the current mental health system, says that before deinstitutionalization there were 312 public psychiatric beds for every 100,000 people. That was clearly too many. But today there are a paltry 14 beds for every 100,000. Torrey estimates that we need at least 50 beds per 100,000.