answer:I’m not sure what should be done, because I’m not a mental health expert. But I would caution against some sort of “he doesn’t want treatment, so let’s lock him up” mentality. I think that opens the door to all sorts of abuse by powerful people—it could easily be stretched by political forces to mean “You don’t like Reaganomics? You must be sick, so let’s lock you up in a mental hospital!”. I’m very wary of forced confinement for people who are simply not in tune with the rest of the population. Mental health care has never been a priority in the US—primarily due to cost. In the current political environment, it is much easier to get money for planes and guns than doctors and psychologists. While it might be good to have 100,000 more mental health counselors (of course it will take 20 years to train that many), there will never be the funding to make it possible. It’s just not the American way. Finally, I also worry about the squishy definition of mental illness. I would say that 98% of the population—you, me, and all of our neighbors – could be described as having one sort of mental illness/disorder/syndrome or another. Mostly minor, and mostly well compensated for, but—none of us are without issues.