A missed psychiatric medication should not become another disaster (24 August 2026)

Summary

When people talk about emergency preparation, we hear the same list again and again: water, canned food, flashlight, batteries and important documents.

Those things matter. But for many people living with mental illness, one often forgotten item may be just as life-saving: psychiatric medication.

A flood, wildfire, tornado, heatwave or power outage can close a pharmacy in one day. It can cut phone service. It can cancel clinic appointments. It can force someone to leave home without enough medication. For a person with bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, severe depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, or anxiety, this is not just a small inconvenience. It can become a medical crisis.