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Mental Health System

Representing Clients Held Against Their Will In Mental Hospitals

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An attorney can make a difference in the life of a client under an involuntary hold In California, the mentally ill may be held for a limited period of time for treatment against their will if their mental illness causes them to be dangerous to themselves or others or leaves them “gravely disabled.” The Lanterman Petris Short Act, codified at Welfare and Institutions Code Sections 5100 et seq., permits the police to arrest, and doctors to confine, a person against his or her will for treatment of a mental disorder. One of the purposes of the act is to prevent the indefinite involuntary commitment of mentally disordered persons. Forced confinement in a mental institution is a denial of the fundamental right of clients to physical liberty, something that is guaranteed to all citizens of the United States. As the U.S. Supreme Court reasoned in its opinion in O'Connor..

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Understanding Risk Of Homicide Among Mental Health Patients

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When we contemplate the association between violence and mental health, caution is warranted before we make assumptions or generate opinions, because of the stigma of violence in mental health; the vast majority of people suffering from mental health difficulties are not violent. Unfortunately, inaccurate beliefs about violence and mental health lead to stigma and even discrimination.

In The Lancet Psychiatry, Cathryn Rodway and colleagues examine the characteristics of a national case series of victims of homicide across England and Wales, specifically the characteristics of homicide victims who were mental health patients. One of the most striking findings of this study is the fact that mental health patients are twice as likely to be victims of homicide than are people in the general population. Furthermore, a third of patient victims were killed by another mental health patient. These findings raise the question as to why these rates were increased in this population. In particular, which factors (both individual and within relationships) put mental health patients at increased risk? Although findings from this study will improve awareness of potential...

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Katia JULIAN, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. MISSION COMMUNITY HOSPITAL et al., Defendants and Respondents.

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Synopsis

Background: Teacher brought action against school district, district's police department, five individual police officers, a hospital, its owner, and the physician who treated teacher after the officers transported her to the hospital, alleging violations of the Lanterman-PetrisShort (LPS) Act, section 1983, and the Tom Bane Civil Rights Act. The Superior Court, Los Angeles County, No. LC100529, Frank J. Johnson, J., sustained demurrers without leave to amend. Teacher appealed.

Holdings: The Court of Appeal, Segal, J., held that: [1] there was no private right of action for the alleged violations of the LPS Act; [2] police sergeant had probable cause to detain teacher under Fourth Amendment; [3] district and police department were immune from liability for any violation of the state constitution's protection against unreasonable searches and seizures;

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Admitting Mental Health Evidence To Impeach The Credibility Of A Sexual Assault Complainant

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INTRODUCTION

The 1970 edition of Wigmore on Evidence offers the proposition that every female complainant in a rape prosecution should be subject to a psychiatric examination and echoes turn-of-the century psychoanalysts in its explanation: “The unchaste (let us call it) mentality finds incidental but direct expression in the narration of imaginary sex incidents of which the narrator is the heroine or victim.” In other words, some women falsely accuse men of rape because, either intentionally or inadvertently, they have confused a sexual fantasy with a violent crime. The focus of this Comment, and the focus of considerable controversy and difficulty in rape trials, is evidentiary procedure when the defendant claims that the complainant consented to the intercourse. Putting aside the philosophical problem of defining consent, in the absence of physical injuries the only relevant evidence of the crime will be testimony from the defendant,,

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Deinstitutionalization and Its Discontents: American Mental Health Policy Reform

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INTRODUCTION

Mental illness is real. 10 percent of children and 25 percent of adults in America struggle with serious emotional and mental disorders which cause significant daily functional impairment.

Mental illness is pervasive. 4 of the 10 leading causes of disability in the United States are mental disorders. Children, adolescents and adults from all classes, backgrounds, faiths, and walks of life suffer.

Mental illness is ruinous. 31 percent of homeless adults have a combination of mental illness and addiction disorder. Adults living with serious mental illness die 25 years earlier than other Americans. Over 90 percent of those who die by suicide have a mental disorder. 24 percent of state prisoners and 21 percent of jail prisoners have mental illnesses. 70 percent of youth in the juvenile justice system have at least one mental disorder. Over 50 percent of students with a mental disorder drop out of high school...

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Police Response to Emotionally Disturbed Persons: Analyzing New Models of Police Interactions With the Mental Health System

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Abstract:

Birmingham's Community Service Officer program (Alabama) uses in-house mental health specialists employed by the police department to handle police contacts that involve emotionally disturbed persons. Knoxville's mobile mental health crisis unit (Tennessee) uses community mental health-based crisis teams in coordination with the police department. The Memphis Crisis Intervention Team (Tennessee) is composed of sworn officers with special training in mental health issues. A primary focus of this study was to examine the extent to which use of a pre-booking diversion program is associated with a "specialized" police response (in contrast to a general dispatcher call) and with reductions in the arrest of people with mental illness. The study was also interested in how police officers perceived the specialized response used by their department, as well as in what factors might be associated with their differential effectiveness ratings. Based on how the two pre-booking programs and the traditional mobile mental health crisis team performed and...

See Also: Police Response to Emotionally Disturbed Persons: Analyzing New Models of Police Interactions With the Mental Health System

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Deinstitutionalization and Its Discontents:

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INTRODUCTION

Mental illness is real. 10 percent of children and 25 percent of adults in America struggle with serious emotional and mental disorders which cause significant daily functional impairment.

Mental illness is pervasive. 4 of the 10 leading causes of disability in the United States are mental disorders. Children, adolescents and adults from all classes, backgrounds, faiths, and walks of life suffer. Mental illness is ruinous. 31 percent of homeless adults have a combination of mental illness and addiction disorder. Adults living with serious mental illness die 25 years earlier than other Americans. Over 90 percent of those who die by suicide have a mental disorder. 24 percent of state prisoners and 21 percent of jail prisoners have mental illnesses. 70 percent of youth in the juvenile justice system have at least one mental disorder. Over 50 percent of students with a mental disorder drop out of high school...

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A Modified Labeling Theory Approach To Mental Disorders: An Empirical Assessment

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Abstract

Proposes a modified labeling perspective that claims that even if labeling does not directly produce mental disorder, it can lead to negative outcomes. The authors' approach asserts that socialization leads individuals to develop a set of beliefs about how most people treat mental patients. When individuals enter treatment, these beliefs take on new meaning. The more patients believe that they will be devalued and discriminated against, the more they feel threatened by interacting with others. Such strategies can lead to negative consequences for social support networks, jobs, and self-esteem. The authors test this modified labeling perspective using samples of psychiatric patients (n = 164) and 429 untreated community residents (aged 19–59 yrs), and find that both believed that most people will reject mental patients. Additionally, patients endorsed strategies of secrecy, withdrawal, and education to cope with the threat they perceive. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)...

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Bias in Mental Health Assessment and Intervention: Theory and Evidence

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Abstract

A recent surgeon general’s report and various studies document racial and ethnic disparities in mental health care, including gaps in access, questionable diagnostic practices, and limited provision of optimum treatments. Bias is a little studied but viable explanation for these disparities.

It is important to isolate bias from other barriers to high-quality mental health care and to understand bias at several levels (practitioner, practice network or program, and community). More research is needed that directly evaluates the contribution of particular forms of bias to disparities in the area of mental health care. RACIAL AND ETHNIC DISPARITIES are as widespread in the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness as they are in other areas of health. In 2001, then–Surgeon General David Satcher issued the report Race, Culture, and Ethnicity and Mental Health,1 in which he convincingly documented disparities in access and treatment that leave too many minority individuals...

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Mental Fatigue Impairs Physical Performance In Humans

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Abstract

Mental fatigue is a psychobiological state caused by prolonged periods of demanding cognitive activity. Although the impact of mental fatigue on cognitive and skilled performance is well known, its effect on physical performance has not been thoroughly investigated. In this randomized crossover study, 16 subjects cycled to exhaustion at 80% of their peak power output after 90 min of a demanding cognitive task (mental fatigue) or 90 min of watching emotionally neutral documentaries (control). After experimental treatment, a mood questionnaire revealed a state of mental fatigue (P = 0.005) that significantly reduced time to exhaustion (640 ± 316 s) compared with the control condition (754 ± 339 s) (P = 0.003). This negative effect was not mediated by cardiorespiratory and musculoenergetic factors as physiological responses to intense exercise remained largely...

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Deprivation of Liberty: the Mental Health Act or the Mental Capacity Act?

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Abstract

Both the Mental Health Act (1983) and the Mental Capacity Act 2005 now have provisions that authorise the care and treatment of a person in circumstances that amount to a deprivation of liberty. In accordance with the requirements of article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights both regimes require a person to be suffering from a mental disorder before they can be subject to a deprivation of liberty. This article rebuts the assumption that practitioners can pick and choose which method to use when authorising a deprivation of liberty. It goes on to highlight the primacy of the Mental Health Act (1983) when a deprivation of liberty is necessary to treat a mental disorder in hospital or care home...

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Community Mental Health Team Management In Severe Mental Illness: A Systematic Review

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Abstract

Background Community mental health teams are now generally recommended for the management of severe mental illness but a comparative evaluation of their effectiveness is lacking.

Aims To assess the benefits of community mental health team management in severe mental illness.

Method A systematic review was conducted of community mental health team management compared with other standard approaches.

Results Community mental health team management is associated with fewer deaths by suicide and in suspicious circumstances (odds ratio=0.32, 95% Cl 0.09-1.12), less dissatisfaction with care (odds ratio=0.34, 95% Cl 0.2-0.59) and fewer drop-outs (odds ratio=0.61, 95% Cl 0.45-0.83). Duration of in-patient psychiatric treatment is shorter with community team management and costs of care are less, but there are no gains in clinical symptomatology or social functioning.

Conclusions Community mental health team management is superior to standard care in promoting greater acceptance of treatment, and may also reduce...

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Mental Health Medications

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Overview

Medications can play a role in treating several mental disorders and conditions. Treatment may also include psychotherapy (also called “talk therapy”) and brain stimulation therapies (less common). In some cases, psychotherapy alone may be the best treatment option. Choosing the right treatment plan should be based on a person's individual needs and medical situation, and under a mental health professional’s care.

The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), a Federal research agency, does not provide medical advice or referrals. Resources that may help you find treatment services in your area are listed on ourHelp for Mental Illnesses web page.

NIMH also does not endorse or recommend any particular drug, herb, or supplement. Results from NIMH-supported clinical research trials (What are Clinical Research Trials?) that examine the effectiveness of treatments, including medications, are reported in the medical literature. This health topic webpage is...

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How To Convince Politicians That Mental Health Is A Priority

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Politicians, especially ministers of health, are crucial to drive national policy and strategy, because they can bring political will to bear on decision making, speed up decision making, and steer decisions in a specific direction. Therefore it is important to persuade politicians that mental health should be a priority.

One of the most helpful things a minister of health can do to make mental health a real priority is to ensure that mental health is well integrated into the national health sector strategic plan at each level (community, primary care, district, provincial and national). This will make it much more likely that community based and primary care health staff will see mental health as an integral part of their work, that district staff will see mental health as an essential part of their support responsibilities to primary care alongside other health priorities, and that provincial level staff...

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Deprivation, Discrimination, Human Rights Violation, And Mental Health Of The Deprived

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INTRODUCTION

Human behavior is conceived of as an outcome of genetic and biochemical characteristics, past learning experiences, motivational states, psycho-social antecedents, and the cultural context in which it unfolds[1] Culture plays a complex role in the natural history and psycho-social development of human behavior[2] comprising of customs, beliefs, values, knowledge, and skills.[3] Social norms, the shared rules that specify appropriate and inappropriate behaviors;[4] mores, that people consider vital to their well-being and to their most cherished values,[5] and sanctions, the socially imposed rewards and punishments that compel people to comply with norms,[6] constitute important ingredients of a culture. Orlandi et al. (1992),[2] define culture as shared values, beliefs, norms, traditions, customs, art, history, folklore, and institutions of a group of people. A society which is a cohesive group of people shares all the ingredients of the culture among its members...

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Injunction Sought to Bar DSHS from Using Jail Settings for Mental Health Competency Services

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Plaintiffs in the class action lawsuit A.B/Trueblood v. DSHS filed a motion last night in U.S. District Court seeking a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO). The TRO would prevent the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) from violating the Court’s order requiring DSHS to ensure that competency restoration treatment is provided in a therapeutic environment similar to what is found at state psychiatric hospitals. Instead of creating a plan to increase capacity at the state psychiatric hospitals, DSHS developed a competency restoration program in a Yakima jail wholly unsuitable for treating people with mental illness.

“The use of jails to treat people with mental illness is inhumane, and a plain violation of the Court’s order. It is an unsafe practice that is further evidence of this State’s continued disregard of its legal obligations,” said La Rond Baker, ACLU-WA Staff Attorney.

The underlying lawsuit was filed in 2014 on behalf of people with mental...

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