How should treatment be different for those with severe mental illness?

Severe mental illness is often defined by its length of duration and the disability it produces. These illnesses include disorders that produce psychotic symptoms, such as schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder, and severe forms of other disorders, such as major depression and bipolar disorder.

Some 10 million Americans suffer from serious mental illness.

Twenty-six percent of the homeless staying shelters live with serious mental illness.

Those with a serious mental illness are also more likely to have physical medical problems like diabetes, hypertension and heart disease. They also have a life expectancy that could be up to 20 years less than the average American’s lifespan.

So how are those living with serious mental illness being treated? Sometimes it appears that treatment is all over the place.

On Smart Talk, we examine a residential treatment program for adults who struggle with serious mental illness.

It’s called Project Transition and places emphasis on apartment living, employment, family support and recovery. Project Transition’s CEO Luke Crabtree appears on the program.