I have overcome several severe and debilitating mental illnesses and am making great progress in therapy and with psychiatry. I've been stable for years. I've learned and come to realize that I would have been better off just going to jail than getting help through the healthcare system.
With my mental health record, I cannot adopt a child through most agencies. With a criminal record, many non-person offenses would not disqualify me.
As a psychiatric hospital patient, I didn't have access to my cell phone, the Internet, my own music, or mobility devices (I had a broken ankle and wasn't allowed to bear weight, and I was denied crutches because they're a weapon, my protective boot for the same reason, and a wheelchair because it limited my ability to exercise). In prison, even inmates who are there for first degree murder get to make video calls, watch movies, and listen to music.
With my mental health record, I am disregarded when I have a medical issue. With a criminal record, I would be treated like any other patient.
With my mental health record, I cannot sign a DNR order without jumping through hoops. With a criminal record, I'd have no problem getting one.
With a mental health record, I was removed from student housing in college because I was considered to be an emotional drain on other students. With a criminal record, students at the same school were housed on campus despite being convicted of violent crimes while attending the school.
With a mental health record, crises from over a decade ago are taken strongly into consideration, even if they occurred when I was a child. With a criminal record, criminals can become eligible for expungement for some convictions.
Had I known that getting the help I needed would create more obstacles later on than a criminal record would have, I would have never gotten that help.
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