More healthy debate!
TTWS reader Mike responds to the article EVS sent in. He has fairly dire predictions for Donald.
It’s a sad and scary story. Clearly he needs help and people need to be protected but I don’t think it’s as simply as yay he got meds. He will be chemically restrained, will endure horrid side effects, and be put at risk for tardive dyskinesia. Over a period of months or years he will lose drive, motivation, cognitive functioning, the capacity for joy, and much of his humanity. Statistically his life will be shortened by 25 years. He will risk fatal side effects from medications. He will have breakthrough psychosis CAUSED by the meds. He will frequently go off his meds and will be even more psychotic/dangerous because of rebound issues (much worse than his baseline state). He will have a worse prognosis than his unmedicated counterparts who receive different forms of treatment. Again, society needs to be protected, thoughtful pharmacotherapy has its role but these are very difficult and complex issues that can’t be reduced to “just say yes.”
I disagree. First of all, we don’t know what will happen, so such declarative statements don’t sit well with me. Secondly, the poor man was homeless, seriously delusional, and was swinging from violent to catatonic to despairing. When they arrested him, he was soaked in his own urine. Those of us whose, um, hygiene has suffered similarly while ill–we know how horrible that is. To be in your own filth; it’s humiliating, crushing. It’s hard to imagine, as Mike suggests, that getting treatment for his disease will make Donald’s life significiantly worse than it was. It may still be a crap life after he gets meds, but it won’t necessarily be more craptacular than it was before.
Mental illness is so different for every person. If all the things Mike says are true for every person who’s been hospitalized and medicated, how does that explain me? I take serious doses of antipsychotic medications and have for many years. I don’t have tardive dyskinesia, do not have horrid side effects, have lost none of my drive, motivation or capacity for joy. I would venture to say I’ve gained humanity, not lost it.
Recovery is possible. I really believe that. Why do we condemn this man we don’t know to such a tragic fate? Merely because he’s going to the hospital rather than to prison?
Being in a hospital is far better than being in prison. That’s a declarative statement I’m comfortable with.
liz | 4:37 PM | Uncategorized
Most hopeful last line of the day
Because Friday is Funday, I give you this depressing article (sent by EVS) about a schizophrenic man who punched a couple of women in an Arby’s. He sounds like such a sad soul; he was crying when police took him away. But the last line of the piece is:
“He’s in the hospital,” Lenzser said. “And he will get medication. And he will get treatment.”
That makes me feel better. Good luck, Donald.
Accused in hospital after punch
liz | 12:50 PM | Uncategorized
Noticias
El executive director de NAMI PA, Jim Jordan, visita el programa Puerto Rican Panorama esta semana.. La informacion que necesitan para mirar:
6abc Sabado, 26 de Mayo, 1:30 p.m.; Domingo a los 5 a.m., y overnight entre del Domingo y Lunes, 2:35 a.m. Despues del fin de semana, se puede ver el programa en WPVI digital channel a las horas siguientes:
:
· Monday @ 7 a.m. & 10 a.m.
· Tuesday to Friday @ 1:35 a.m., 4:05 a.m., 7 a.m., & 10 a.m.
· Saturday @ 1:35 a.m., 5 a.m., & 3:30 p.m.
· Sunday @ 5 a.m.
· Monday @ 12:05 a.m.
liz | 10:46 AM | Uncategorized
A healthy debate
As you may or may not remember, I recently wrote a column about gun ownership and people with mental illnesses. It got some people riled up. I used to hate it when people disagreed with something I wrote–I felt as though they didn’t like me– but now I enjoy it. It’s the best way to create dialogue, and when you talk about guns, the arguments get pretty fierce.
Below is a response to that column, from the Mental Health Association of Southeastern Pennsylvania’s Susan Rogers, who takes issue with my point of view. Susan and I go way back, and she’s always been very supportive of me. So I’m especially pleased to hear from her, rather than, say, an angry NRA member. Let Susan know your thoughts on this issues. I suspect the healthy debate will continue for a long time.
Dear Liz,
As you know, I am a big fan of your blog and also love your PW column!
That said, I was disappointed by your column on guns (“Bullet Point: Guns and mental illness are a lethal combination,” PW 5/2/07), particularly by the following: “Whether we’re talking about depression that leads to suicide or the kind of mental troubles that engender mass slaughter, the fundamental problem is the same: We don’t effectively keep guns out of the hands of people who—through no fault of their own and for organic reasons they have no control over—should not be allowed to own them.”
I fear that one result of your article will be to feed stigma, which is largely based on the public’s fear that people with mental illnesses are violent and that we don’t recover. I wish that, at the very least, you had provided some information about how rare violence committed by people with mental illnesses is. For example, here is a quote from a Duke University researcher, Jeffrey Swanson, Ph.D., referring to his study “Three Risk Factors Cited in Violent Behavior Among People With Severe Mental Illness,” published in the American Journal of Public Health in September 2002: “Violent crimes committed by psychiatric patients become big headlines and reinforce the social stigma and rejection felt by many individuals who suffer from mental illness. But our findings suggest that serious violence is the rare exception among all people with psychiatric disorders. The public perception that people who are mentally ill are typically violent is unfounded.”
And, of course, I have lots more such quotes. For example, according to a study by noted researcher John Monahan, “Clearly, mental health status makes at best a trivial contribution to the overall level of violence in society.”
Here is a link to a fact sheet on violence and mental illness on the Web site of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Among the points it makes is that people with psychiatric disabilities are far more likely to be victims than perpetrators of violent crime.
A study by researchers at North Carolina State University and Duke University found that “people with severe mental illness — schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or psychosis — are 21⁄2 times more likely to be attacked, raped or mugged than the general population.”
Frankly, I wish no one could buy guns! But, since they can, I am fearful that, when you start denying people with mental illnesses the rights that other Americans have, it’s a slippery slope. Clearly, any gun sales should be strictly regulated – which they’re not – and involve references, background checks and a waiting period. However, the thing is, as the American Psychiatric Association pointed out in a 1994 fact sheet, “Research has shown that the vast majority of people who are violent do not suffer from mental illnesses.”
Thanks for allowing me to respond!
Susan Rogers
Director of Special Projects
Mental Health Association of Southeastern Pennsylvania
liz | 4:31 PM | Uncategorized
Hero of the Day: Stephen Fry
I know he’s been hero of the day before–stop your carping. Thanks to Susan S. for sending the link.
Stephen Fry Named BT Mind Champion Of The Year 2007, UK
liz | 2:59 PM | Uncategorized
True confession: Wednesday, May 23
Lately all the comments on this blog have been spam, and they’re all dumb. But there’s one that keeps posting the phrase “Lieber grumble,” and every time I see it, I giggle. I just think the two words together are cute.
liz | 5:24 PM | Uncategorized
Legislators gettin’ busy
Senators Push For Better Mental Health Care
Assemblyman Rivera To Hold Public Hearing To Examine Mental Health Services
liz | 1:40 PM | Uncategorized
Men take breakups harder than women
After my worst breakup, I cried for a solid year. I followed my ex around in my car, gazing at him through bushes and wooden fences. (Yes, I was weird then.) He seemed so happy. He was probably relieved to be rid of me. He had such a love of life, and I just couldn’t keep up. The whole time we were going out, I thought he was too good for me–too charming, too handsome, too magnetic. He had an effortless social presence that I admired. Women loved him. Ooh boy. I shouldn’t even write about the breakup. It was that painful.
Anyway, new research shows that men have a harder time with marital breakups than women do, and are more likely to suffer depression as a result. I find that very surprising, but the research is in Canada, where I imagine men are more sensitive.
Study: Men more prone to depression after breakup
[Image is of Jeremy Northam--who to me is the epitome of the kind of man I could never date because he's too charming, handsome and magnetic.]
liz | 10:43 AM | Uncategorized
In Memoriam: Jennifer Yael Bates
A member of the PW “family” passed away this week, and I’m sending lots of comforting good wishes to her partner, David. She was truly a unique person. Whenever someone this interesting dies, I irrationally think, “Why couldn’t someone dumb and boring have died instead?” It makes no sense, I know, but if there were a giant toteboard in the sky, Jennifer would have lived forever.
Here’s a lovely tribute to her from the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Bookseller reflected in her wares
[This is a painting Jennifer did called Happy Birthday, Jennifer Bates]
liz | 1:45 PM | Uncategorized
Vivid Dream: Mitzy
I dreamt I met a jocky, pretty, blond-haired girl named Mitzy Brooks. She wanted to go on a date with me, and I with her, so I got out my datebook. I saw all kinds of work commitments listed, and thought about how depressed I was. I made a plan to meet her, but I knew I’d cancel at the last minute, even though I thought she was pretty and nice and she had gone to Oberlin. She wrote “Liz Spikol” with a flourish in her datebook, and I was frightened: How did she know my last name? Would my reputation suffer because I was going on a date with a girl? Would Mitzy tell all of her Obie friends about it?
Later, I saw my friend Jennifer’s mother, and she told me she was married to Ray Manzarek (pictured, with his real wife), of the Doors. “You can’t imagine how annoying it is,” she said, “to always have to find an excuse so I don’t have to go to concerts”–as though the Doors were playing out all the time. I notice she looked a little tough and cool in her leather pants and spiky hair, and I thought, “That’s what happens when you marry a rock star. You get cool.”
Later still, a building started to fall from the sky on top of people–another 9/11 dream, which I have every couple of months. We had to escape, and we decided to leave the country. Oaths were hurled at George Bush for putting us in danger and making the rest of the world hate us (the realistic part of the dream).
And later again, I sat on the ground a block away from where a shooting had occured, while a hip-hop group led by Kanye West rapped about the epidemic of homicide in the black community. I wanted to know all the words to it, but I only knew the chorus, which is kind of what happens when I listen to real Kanye West songs.
liz | 10:56 AM | Uncategorized
