I agree with you, entirely. The mental health services we offer in this country is, quite frankly, inadequate. Yes, the services for the severely insane do exist.... sort of. It's all very bureaucratic and ineffective.

I'll use Crazy Greg as an example. Crazy Greg was a guy who hung around my old town, who was generally jovial and friendly and more than a little "off". He was almost always singing and smiling, but if you got into a conversation with him, you could tell he was completely out of touch with reality. Occasionally he would flip out on someone and end up in the system, where he would be given his medication again. When he disappeared, the word on the street in my smallish town would be that he's not on the streets because he's back on his meds- but he always came back. Mentally ill people often don't like to take their pills. They just don't, I don't know why. You can't send a severely mentally ill person out on their own with no support system and expect him to take his pills.

I've also seen the quality of "therapy" these people get. It's not effective enough to rehab anyone- it's just enough to maintain the level they're at. This is not good enough. It's not good for the people in question, and it's not good for society.

But, like you, I don't know the solution. I don't think throwing money at the situation helps- because there's just a lack of accountability in government jobs. There just is. People get burnt out, shitty people get put in charge- and it's not easily measurable success or failure rates. My dad's state-appointed therapist, for example, just listens to him talk for an hour once every few months. He has never given a behavioral exercise, I don't think he even knows how to do that. His claim, to me: "He just wants someone to talk to, I just let him get things off his chest"- IIRC, he was diagnosed as schizotypal with severe bipolar I and major depression. The thing that keeps him off the streets is his family (his brother, my mom even though they have been separated for years, and me) monitoring him and helping him manage his life when he gets overwhelmed. When you don't have people helping you in your life, and you have mental issues, it's very easy to fall through the cracks- and the people who are supposed to catch you will only do so if sane family members chase them down and get them to help. If you're alone, you're superfucked.