Mental illness after SHTF

The big problem with the mentally/neurologically ill after say an economic collapse is that the medications they rely on to stay sane will no longer be there. In Greece when the economy collapsed, all medical imports stopped. Gradually the pharmacies ran out of everything, which was just as well since there was no money for medicine anyway.

If you're Type I Diabetic, and depend on refrigerated insulin, it's pretty clear that you would die after an economic collapse. Does anybody remember the scene after Hurricane Katrina where the TV crews are at the convention center, and this woman is telling them that she hasn't had her insulin shots since the storm, and then she just keels over on camera? Luckily, somebody had a vial of insulin, or it's likely that she wouldn't have woken up.

But if you are mentally ill, and depend on antipsychotics to stay sane, you will still be alive and physically healthy, but out of your mind. Without meds, schizophrenics are prone to bouts of confusion (I'm one of the few who can stay lucid while still hearing voices), and autistics to bouts of rage that can result in property damage (at a time when the stores are empty) and even injury. Few people truly need antidepressants or anti-ADHD meds, most of the latter are simply legal meth anyway and while taking them away may cause psychotic breaks in some people, they will be better off without them in the long run. Schizos truly NEED antipsychotics or else they may do bizarre things.

The first thing to do, before a SHTF, is make sure that there's no wheat, or preferably other grain, in your preps. Ever notice how everybody on Doomsday Preppers weighs 400 lbs? That's from wheat. When the UK was deprived of wheat during WW2, psychiatric disorders in the population greatly decreased. You don't need to feel agitated while you're cooped up in the house during a riot or coup! Carbohydrates are cheap, but humans tend to react badly to them. Chickens eat corn. Humans eat chickens. If you can raise small livestock, do so. Sticking to a diet composed generally of meat and avoiding wheat should greatly decrease confusion and agitation.

If you're eating from cans, you will eventually get salt poisoning. The remedy for this is a shot glass full of lemon juice mixed in with 16 oz of lukewarm water. If you can't plant a lemon tree, you might want to stock lemon juice in your preps. Salt poisoning causes agitation, which makes me wonder how many "ADHD" kids simply have eaten too much salt, since it's in literally everything. Then of course the kids are given speed, which if they're ever taken off it can cause psychotic breaks, and if they're not eventually turns the kids into dope fiends.

These two precautions should help greatly with the rages that autistics suffer, and should lessen a schizo's confusion and voices.