Busting the Deinstitutionalization Myth: We Actually Have More Beds Than Ever Before

New data upends common beliefs about asylum closures, deinstitutionalization, and rates of psychiatric coercion.

Many people who know almost nothing else about the mental health system can nevertheless recount the story of the “failure” of “deinstitutionalization” in America. The story is repeated so often that it’s widely accepted as if it were a famously indisputable math formula:

Large state hospital asylums started closing decades ago, but promised community beds and services never came. As ...