Victims of untreated mental illness

Two recent stories at opposite ends of the criminal justice system mirrored those of Andrea Yates, LaShaun Harris, Sherry Sims, Christine Wilhelm, and so many others.

In Massachusetts yesterday Helen Kirk was found not guilty by reason of insanity for fatally strangling her 3- year-old son. Kirk had a long history of mental illness and believed her son was the devil when she strangled him. She will finally be getting treatment in the state hospital where she is committed.

A young mother in Texas faces a capital murder charge. On Saturday, Alysha Green doused her three girls and herself with gasoline and lit them on fire. One of the girls died; two remain in the hospital.

Alysha’s husband says his wife had a history of mental illness with a past diagnosis of bipolar disorder. She was prescribed medication. She stopped taking her medication and, her husband reported, her behavior deteriorated in the last three weeks.

Will Alysha Green someday be committed to treatment as Helen Kirk was? Maybe.
For now four children are victims of untreated mental illness. The mothers are victims too; once they're brought back to reality they must live with something unfathomable.

An overloaded criminal justice system

A news article in the Eagle Tribune in Massachusetts describes the current situation in the Rockingham County Jail in which an estimated 15 percent of the jail population has a severe mental illness. Jail superintendent Al Wright says it feels like he’s running a psychiatric ward rather than a forensic facility. “I tell people I’m the superintendent of Rockingham County jail, the biggest provider of services for the mentally ill in the county.”

The article continues:

Also, there is a shortage of psychiatric beds at the state hospital — down from 3,000 beds in the 1960s to 300 today. This leaves police little choice but to transport mentally ill suspects to jail.

There is no doubt the criminal justice system is overloaded with patients who should have received psychiatric treatment long before they landed in jail.

Ken Braiterman, coordinator with the National Alliance for Mental Illness in New Hampshire, hit the nail on the head when he said:

Treatment has never been better for mental illness, but it has never been harder or those in need to get it.

Treatment via criminal conviction

A 34-year-old Massachusetts woman will finally be getting the treatment she needs for her schizophrenia. Unfortunately, she had to enter the forensic system to get it.

Denise Bonilla pleaded guilty to assault and battery in court on Friday. As a result, she is ordered to participate in a treatment plan devised by the state.

Doctor’s examinations of Bonilla say she’s a different person when on her medication.

It’s too bad Massachusetts doesn’t have assisted outpatient treatment, and that citizens like Bonilla have to commit a crime to get meaningful treatment.

Who is left to do the right thing?

William Demegall got 25 to life for the stabbing, bludgeoning and burning of 56-year-old George Mancini. His severe mental illness, though acknowleged by the court, was not seen as a factor in sentencing.

Despite pleas by members of the local NAMI, the judge gave Demegall the maximum sentence possible.

Once again, we turn to the prison system as the last hope for treatment. As the editors of the local paper noted in an editorial today:

"It is now up to the New York State Department of Corrections to be the institution, at last, to do the right thing in this case and assign Mr. Demagall to a facility that can properly treat mental illness." [Berkshire Eagle, March 23, 2007]

Not a happy Thanksgiving in Mass.

Thanksgiving is looking more grim than ever if you live in Massachusetts.

The Department of Mental Health appeared poised last night to go ahead with its plan to freeze admissions to state psychiatric hospitals today in response to recent budget cuts, despite intensive meetings with Romney administration officials who want the agency to find less painful ways to reduce spending.

The department has notified private hospitals that "admissions are shut down starting tomorrow until further notice, and we haven't gotten any further notice," David Matteodo , executive director of the Massachusetts Association of Behavioral Health Systems, said yesterday.

...Mental Health Commissioner Elizabeth Childs is planning to reduce spending on hospital staffing by $1.9 million, meaning some of the 850 or so beds in the hospitals would have to be left empty. The agency also plans to cut services to the mentally ill in the community. Advocates for the mentally ill on Monday circulated an analysis estimating 170 agency jobs would have to be cut.

Treatment Advocacy Center honors three of psychiatry's heroes

The board of directors of the Treatment Advocacy Center today announced that Dr. Jeffrey Geller from Massachusetts, Dr. H. Richard Lamb from California, and Dr. Darold Treffert from Wisconsin are the winners of its annual Torrey Advocacy Commendation.

“TAC can change laws and encourage treatment, but ultimately it is the mental health professionals who have to make it happen,” said psychiatrist and board president Dr. E. Fuller Torrey, for whom the award is named. “Psychiatrists such as Drs. Geller, Lamb, and Treffert, and psychologists, social workers, and psychiatric nurses who have a special interest in the severely mentally ill are the bedrock of the system. The battle for treatment is one that they wage every day in ways large and small. It is an effort and sacrifice that should not be ignored.”

More …

Read essays by the three winners and more on community psychiatry in a special issue of TAC's newsletter dedicated to community psychiatry.