When the Prozac runs out: lack of psychiatric drugs in a SHTF

Read an article today that 21% of all Americans have been on at least one psychiatric drug the past year.

Anti-depressants are the most common. But quite a number are on long term medication for more serious psychiatric illnesses.

So--what happens in a SHTF, when these drugs become unobtainable?

What happens when the extreme paranoids, the schizophrenics, the psychopaths, those subject to delusions---are no longer on medication?

Remember--all psychiatric drugs do is "cover up" the symptoms. They don't cure the underlying cause.

Many of these people have been on long-term medication. Just barely keeping a lid on their potentially violent behavior.

Take them off the meds, and their symptoms come back. In spades.

Add to that, the stress of being in a SHTF environment. Maybe patients let out of half-way houses and mental hospitals. Roaming the streets and roads. There will be some very dangerous folks out there.

How do you deal with a situation like this? Some of these people might appear perfectly normal, from the outside, at least.

Yet something innocent or completely unknown can trigger them off. And then you've got a major problem on your hands.

From the NIMH.gov website:

Prevalence of Serious Mental Illness (SMI)

In 2016, there were an estimated 10.4 million adults aged 18 or older in the United States with SMI. This number represented 4.2% of all U.S. adults.

If anything, the figure is probably underestimated.

10.4 million is an awfully lot of crazy people out there!

Thoughts? Opinions?

What do you do if this guy shows up on your doorstep, asking for food?

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Last edited by zooeyhll; Today at 02:28 PM..

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When the Prozac runs out: lack of psychiatric drugs in a SHTF