"Bus Therapy" has been going on significantly since the 1960's, escalating also under the Reagan administration that drastically cut funding for state mental hospitals. The historical term is "deinstitutionalization." The problem is there aren't enough resources devoted to state hospitals (has anyone really heard of a therapist in the community putting people on buses?), which means there are not enough beds, so they have to keep the sickest people and discharge those who are the most likely to survive on the streets. The other problem is that we don't have places in the community where people discharged from the hospital (a good thing, especially if they don't want to be institutionalized) can go to live and receive help, not enough group homes, or even shelters with mental health resources. It's not as if the state hospital staff don't like certain people and ship them out on a bus. They don't have enough beds and there aren't community resources to send them too, so they put them on buses to places that are less populated or who have greater resources for homeless people. It's not about therapy, it's about a lack of funding at all levels of government to care for people who need help. The problem with the theory of deinstitutionalization is that it asserted a noble motive (to release people from mental hospitals to the community) but it didn't follow through with the resources to actually help them. Increase in homelessness, increase in the mentally ill being arrested, blah blah.