All Categories

Mental Health, Arguments from Authority, Circular Arguments, & the Criminal Justice System

3/3/2018

Arguments From Authority

I make "arguments from authority" all the time -- so do most of us.
You may have noticed that the Orchid website is full of quotes and references to Dr. Tom Insel, former Head of the US National Institute of Mental Health.
That is no accident. I think, and I think many people would think, he is a higher or better authority than most clinicians including forensic clinicians and examiners, for the points I'm trying to make -- largely:

We don't know it all in mental health,
Many of our mental health diagnoses and treatments are sub-standard, and
That is NOT irrelevant to the Criminal Justice System.

With respect to diagnosis, Insel maintains that in mental health we don't even have a "valid" diagnostic manual.

People-- How can we be ignoring this? Well:

We don't have anything else, and
"Mental Health" is seen as an "ameliorator" of the harsh effects of the Criminal Justice System;
BUT Mental Health "Classifications" can also magnify the Justice System's harsh effects with unscientific personality disorder diagnoses, most specifically "Anti-Social Personality Disorder"

I would contend that our society & mental health professionals define out a lot of "Mental Illness"/insanity that is NOT Florid Psychosis because:

they don't know what to do with it; and
our society is afraid that too many people would "get away" with bad acts.

Circular Logic or Begging the Question Combined with Failure to Substantively Question The Premises

So there are problems both:

Logically, and
Substantively

With respect to Logic, we have deeply ingrained beliefs and assumptions about criminal behavior. AND those assumptions are used for both our conclusions and premises for why someone is or is not "mentally ill" or "insane."

Bob is anti-social because Bob is anti-social. Now, Bob may very well commit anti-social acts -- BUT how do we know Bob is not Mentally Ill? Not Insane?

Are we going to use definitions from an "invalid" mental health diagnostic manual?
Are we going to use criteria for "insanity" that in Colorado looks like it was written in the Middle Ages?

Well, yes that is exactly what we are going to do.

Criminal Justice

Getting back to arguments of authority. Who is testifying in criminal courts? It is generally NOT Dr. Insel, or for that matter neuroscientist David Anderson @ Caltech, or any number of scientists who might really question the premises and conclusions we're making.

It is primarily well-meaning clinicians and examiners who have found a way to make a living, and who don't have a huge interest in thoroughly questioning the Status Quo.

Mental disorders are among the most complex problems in medicine, with challenges at every level from neurons to neighborhoods.

Yet, we know so little about mechanisms at each level.

Too often, we have been guided more by religion than science.

That is, so much of mental health care is based on faith and intuition, not science and evidence.

On the plus side, we put a premium on listening and compassion.

We help people to change through understanding.

But not enough of our care has been standardized to a high level of quality, as expected in the rest of medicine.

------------Dr. Tom Insel, Director of the National Institute of Mental Health

from his October 2014 Blog Atonement

From Dr. Thomas Insel's 2013 blog "Transforming Diagnosis":

"The weakness is its [DSM 5's] lack of validity. Unlike our definitions of ischemic heart disease, lymphoma, or AIDS, the DSM diagnoses are based on a consensus about clusters of clinical symptoms, not any objective laboratory measure.

"In the rest of medicine, this would be equivalent to creating diagnostic systems based on the nature of chest pain or the quality of fever.

"Indeed, symptom-based diagnosis, once common in other areas of medicine, has been largely replaced in the past half century as we have understood that symptoms alone rarely indicate the best choice of treatment.

"Patients with mental disorders deserve better. NIMH has launched the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) project to transform diagnosis by incorporating genetics, imaging, cognitive science, and other levels of information to lay the foundation for a new classification system."

https://www.nimh.nih.gov/about/directors/thomas-insel/blog/2013/transforming-diagnosis.shtml

Personality Disorders

Insanity

Our Bottom Line: NO CHARGING FOR MEETING WITH GOV'T OFFICIALS OR CANDIDATES TO DISCUSS MENTAL HEALTH POLICY

3/1/2018

Mental Health Colorado: Charging $50 for a Governor Candidates' Forum is NOT OKAY-- In fact, it is OUTRAGEOUS.

$50 for a Governor's Forum on Mental Health

http://www.mentalhealthcolorado.org/event/meet-colorados-next-governor/

So we are pretty FEROCIOUS in our objections to CHARGING for ACCESS to PUBLIC LIFE, especially as it relates to Mental Health Policy discussions.

It is a practice that just couldn't be more non-inclusive. Please --- don't offer SCHOLARSHIPS to ACCESS PUBLIC LIFE.

Invariably, these ideas to raise money, or more likely to cover costs -- come from SUPER Caring, SUPER, Bright, SUPER Innovative People --- and it just doesn't occur to them that the people they are trying to help can't afford to pay to participate in a public policy discussion involving government officials and or candidates.

It seems to us that the University of Denver has in the past offered FREE Candidate Forums that one had to register for. Of course, they already had the facilities.
Maybe there is an opportunity to collaborate.

So who have we called out on this:

The Hillary Clinton Presidential Campaign -- doing fundraising by offering a mental health policy chat with former DHS head Kathleen Sebelius;
The Equitas Foundation in its Criminal Justice Policy Summit;
The State of Colorado in its participation in the Equitas Summit-- over $200 a piece but offering "Scholarships."

We want to emphasize this is not just a problem for one political party and it involves NON-PROFITS and FOUNDATIONS doing incredibly important work in this State.

BUT FOLKS IF YOU ARE HAVING POLICY DISCUSSIONS WITH GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS OR CANDIDATES FOR OFFICE ON MENTAL HEALTH POLICY ---From our perspective you best NOT be charging for it or offering scholarships.

Pericles led Athens in the 5th Century BCE. He is known for many things -- one of which was public financing of democratic representatives, recognizing that only the rich could afford to participate as representatives if they were not paid.

There are REAL ECONOMIC & PSYCHOLOGICAL Realities & Barriers to participating in a democracy--- if we want INCLUSION -- we have to make it EASY to INCLUDE people and for those people to participate.

AND first and foremost that means, NOT CHARGING to meet with pubic officials or candidates to discuss MENTAL HEALTH POLICY.

ULTIMATELY, IT MEANS OUTREACH.

Mental Health's Tower of Babel: Science, Clinical Practice, the Criminal Justice System, Politics, and Individuals with "Mental Illness"

2/24/2018

There's A LOT to be said about the current lack of:

logic,
reason, and
coherent, clear and precise definitions

in Mental Health practice and policy.

We are only scratching the surface, but we will be continuing to develop these ideas because it is so important to rational:

Mental Health practice
Legal practice, and
Public Policy discussions and decision-making.

Ultimately, this ISN'T about knowing everything. It's really about:

Honesty
Honesty about what we do know;
Honesty about what we don't know;
& the Honesty to Limit Our Actions accordingly.

WE ARE NOT DOING THAT.

We've got an incoherent mess of systems and we've lulled ourselves into believing it doesn't really matter -- EXCEPT it does matter -- A LOT.

Science: The DSM 5 is not a valid diagnostic tool because it just describes symptoms and does not get to the underlying biology.

Science Up

New Science is Amazing, and it has HUGE Moral Implications for our society -- Now

Clinicians: Rely on the DSM 5 because they largely don't have anything else. This reliance extends to reports and testimony in the Criminal Justice System.

Criminal Justice System: They have their own standards for "insanity" and "incompetent to proceed" that don't mesh well with the DSM 5 much less current scientific knowledge and lack thereof. Of course, those LAWS are largely the result of the political process.

"Even a dog distinguishes between being stumbled over and being kicked"

Insanity

Politics: The will of the majority, largely concerned with SAFETY. Public policy discussions tend to use BROAD categories like "MENTAL ILLNESS" to discuss extremely complicated issues such as gun control. Clinicians can provide some refinement, but are largely unable to provide the clarity and precision that is needed.

Housing & Service Provision for people with "mental illness" are not provided as required by LAW or as needed, but on the basis of political budgetary calculations that may not be irrational from a SHORT TERM political calculation but are irrational both with respect to the TRUE NEEDS of people with disabilities and the LONG TERM COSTS to the Society. So we have a grossly inadequate supply of:

Housing;
Bed Space;
and Intensive Mental Health Services

Even though our Federal Laws and CMS Oversight Procedures would seem to prevent the ABUSE, NEGLECT and RIGHTS VIOLATIONS of people with disabilities that are rampant in most States and in Colorado -- when we don't follow or adequately enforce the LAWS -- it doesn't prevent the ABUSE, NEGLECT or RIGHTS VIOLATIONS of people with disabilities.

Colorado Abuse & Neglect Scandals

Alicia Keys & 60 Minutes: "Cause Right Now It Don't Make Sense"

Individuals with "Mental Illness": Are probably more acutely aware than most in the society, that "MENTAL ILLNESS" is BOTH a Biological Reality and a Social Construct. Tens of Millions of people with "mental illness" in the US are vulnerable to unfair stigma and refusal of reasonable accommodations. Additionally, over 300,000 people with mental illness are in the US Justice System, and Thousands are in the Colorado Justice System.

The CRYING NEED for Mental Health Policy Inclusion: for Planning, Coordination, Service Design, Oversight & Ultimately Innovation

2/22/2018

I do think that there are challenges for including anybody in public policy decisions. I think the challenges are generally overstated by governmental entities and often used as a SCAPEGOAT for why State policies are not more inclusive of the people they affect.

We just can't accept that anymore, and we really never could.

We REALLY NEED the voices of the people who are affected by these policies -- and they are often Homeless or Incarcerated.

I've been to some of those State meetings involving Criminal Justice and the LOW LEVEL OF INCLUSION is absolutely frightening.

If the State needs to contract out duties to provide for REAL INCLUSION -- THEN IT NEEDS TO DO THAT.

We don't mind if the State is CREATIVE and is able to come up with an ALTERNATIVE that is different than what we originally proposed but is mutually acceptable.

BUT what we won't accept are

PLATITUDES,
Non-Inclusive Policy Making that affects Marginalized People
FAILURE TO COMPLY WITH THE LAW, &
STONEWALLING

We've had ENOUGH of it.

Minnesota Court-Ordered Olmstead Plan

Includes Annual Goals To Increase the Number of People with Disabilities Involved in Public Planning Projects.

http://inclusion-international.org/

With regard to how far Colorado is behind a few States and some Countries in Public Policy Inclusion, is it a matter of Degree or Kind?

Whatever -- Colorado Public Policy Inclusion Can & Should Be Better

UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities -- Norway's Initial Report

The Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration (NAV) must offer services and benefits that are based on the capabilities and needs of the individual user.

Active user involvement is facilitated at individual and system levels to achieve this.

This requires a fundamental respect for users and a willingness to listen to and make use of users’ knowledge of their own situation and needs.

The object of such a focus/user perspective is to learn about users' needs by engaging in dialogue to find out what they need and how they experience the services, and to use this knowledge in constant efforts to improve quality and service.

This also entails a challenge in terms of how services are provided and how to design benefits so that they are perceived as relevant and beneficial to users. User involvement at individual level entails having the power to influence one's own personal services.

Each user must be heard in all phases of service provision, both when they are allocated and when they are provided. The right to be involved in one's own case is established by law.

User involvement at system level means having the power to influence the organisation and quality of services. User representatives sit on user councils at both local and national levels.

https://www.regjeringen.no/contentassets/26633b70910a44049dc065af217cb201/crpd-initial-report-norway-english-01072015.pdf

The Hickenlooper Administration Mixed Bag is Alive & Well with Politeness & Unresponsiveness

2/20/2018

The level of both good government and bad government within the Hickenlooper Administration on first blush seems pretty extraordinary -- except when one realizes most Administrations are like that.
Generally, most people shrug those things off and to a great degree we do, too.
BUT some of it is really SCARY BAD GOVERNMENT and for the most part there is no real intent to do harm or for that matter even an appreciation that they are doing harm.
So why would you modify anything, if you don't even realize there is a problem?
So what is it that is so BAD:

Not responding to a question about starting a waitlist for a critical mental health treatment, specifically Assertive Community Treatment-- now working on 3 years since the question was first asked -- (CO Dept. of Health Care Policy & Financing--- -- I mean you) ;
Putting your own agenda above complying with Federal Law, specifically Olmstead (CO Department of Human Services -- I mean you)
Putting forth bad faith, non-legal grounds for the State's non-compliance with Olmstead -- Gov. Hickenlooper's Office --- I mean you.
Parity: The State's Response [paraphrasing] -- "we were really too BUSY to talk about this right now in DETAIL -- BUT we will take your concerns into account." The BUSYNESS DEFENSE to REAL INCLUSION & SUBSTANTIVE ENGAGEMENT is a real favorite of the Hickenlooper Administration and we've encountered it numerous times over the years.

All three of these Departments or Offices with the State are full of--- super bright, super talented. and super caring people--- BUT they are NOT above:

STONEWALLING,
VIOLATING THE LAW, or
Rationalizing all manner of non-inclusive, non-responsive bad government.

We need all the people in those State Departments and the the Departments that weren't specifically mentioned.

BUT we gotta have some REAL SUBSTANTIAL CHANGE in Colorado Medicaid & CDHS & the Gov.'s Office (of course, that's getting ready to change anyway but we don't want the STATUS QUO or heaven forbid something worse).
If such bright, talented, caring people can't do what needs to be done in mental health -- who can?
Well, we do know we want an Administration that:

WILL CONFRONT TABOR. Such confrontation of TABOR is needed in order to prevent the abuse, neglect and rights violations of Coloradans with disabilities, including rights to Housing & Sufficient Services;
OR An Administration that will put in the TIME & ENERGY for an EFFECTIVE WORK-AROUND to TABOR to prevent the abuse, neglect and rights violations of Coloradans with Disabilities, including rights to Housing & Sufficient Services.
Is committed to RADICAL INCLUSIVENESS for State Mental Health Policy-- what we want isn't really "radical" --- the inclusion of people with intensive mental needs in service planning & oversight -- BUT it would be "radical" for Colorado;
Is committed to COMPLYING with Federal CIvil Rights Laws; and
Does not engage in very polite but NON-RESPONSIVE, STONEWALLING tactics -- we don't want rude non-responsive, stonewalling tactics, either.

There are so many people in the Mental Health Community that want to work with the State--BUT we want a BIG BREAK with the STATUS QUO--like

REAL INCLUSION -- NOT just platitudes of "Thank you for your comments we'll take them into account";
Federal Civil Rights Law Compliance BOTH in Theory & Practice.
COURAGE -- to confront the State's Funding Difficulties and its HORRIFIC IMPACT ON COLORADANS WITH DISABILITIES.

TIME IS RUNNING OUT ON THE HICKENLOOPER ADMINISTRATION & MOST PEOPLE HAVE ALREADY MOVED ON TO THE GOVERNOR'S RACE.

BUT EVEN IF THAT IS WHERE YOUR FOCUS IS -- KNOWING WHAT YOU DON'T WANT IS AS IMPORTANT AS KNOWING WHAT YOU DO WANT.

The Hickenlooper Administration isn't all bad -- and in many respects they do GREAT things -- BUT we don't want the PAST SCARY BAD HABITS of COLORADO STATE GOV'T to be our PRESENT OR FUTURE REALITY.

Tribes, Being "Different," Mental Health & Social Inclusion

2/20/2018

Most of our human ancestors started out in small groups and they were pretty wary of strangers -- picked up on differences very quickly -- to survive.
Societies have gotten A LOT MORE COMPLICATED in the interim.
One of the BIGGEST CHALLENGES for MODERN SOCIETY is recognizing the ENORMOUS DIVERSITY of the HUMAN POPULATION and providing for SAFETY and SOCIAL INCLUSION.
The Truth is none of us are really average -- and we have both a TREMENDOUS OPPORTUNITY and DUTY to take what we get and "TURN IT INTO HONESTY."
It's what we need as RUGGED INDIVIDUALS & it's also what the TRIBE NEEDS & what INDIVIDUALS within the TRIBE need for SAFETY and SOCIAL INCLUSION.
Human Health is extraordinarily complicated -- and one can definitely over-simplify it.
Yet, more and more, we are realizing the importance of SOCIAL INCLUSION to our HEALTH and the HEALTH of THOSE AROUND US.
i don't believe "Social Inclusion" will solve ALL our HEALTH problems --- BUT I think it could help A LOT, along with a STRENGTH-BASED approach to EDUCATION & EMPLOYMENT, with "reasonable accommodations" both for the individual and the majority.
Further, SOCIAL INCLUSION appears to be a STRONGER HEALTH PREDICTOR than:

Diet
Exercise, or even
A POSITIVE ATTITUDE.

Our need to belong to the TRIBE is pretty hard-wired and ALL those INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES have the potential to make the TRIBE much STRONGER --- IF WE ARE SMART ENOUGH TO HARNESS THEM.

"You Take What You Get and You Turn It Into Honesty,"

---from "Complicated"
Avril Lavigne

I'm including the above video again specifically regarding the observations on bipolar disorder: who gets it -- people who are intellectually above-average in the humanities, below-average, the main thing NOT average.

There is an emotional cost to being "different" in a society and the differences that societies focus on change with geography and from Age to Age. That "emotional cost" can and often does affect one's physical & mental health.

In modern Society --We sometimes like to think that discriminating on the basis of "intellectual" differences is more acceptable and objective -- but we don't have a great understanding of those "differences" and we often don't realize this filter contains as many biases as prior filters.

Of course, our DIRTY, LITTLE SECRET is that most of us are above-average in some things & below-average in others -- and very few of us are AVERAGE..

----Rumi

Author Johann Hari

Comedienne Lilly Singh

Mental Health & Sleep Apnea: When the Coping Mechanism You Need is OXYGEN -- There Really Is No Substitute

2/19/2018

More and more we are realizing the importance of SLEEP to our overall health.
SLEEP has been recognized for awhile as an important factor in Bipolar Disorder.
AND now it is recognized as a FUNDAMENTAL COMPONENT of our overall mental health.
So if there is something interfering with the natural restorative effects of SLEEP -- it turns out that can be a pretty BIG DEAL.
Further, NOT RECOGNIZING conditions that interfere with GOOD SLEEP & OVERALL GOOD MENTAL HEALTH--- can be a REALLY BIG DEAL.
SLEEP APNEA is just one of the IMPORTANT RISK FACTORS that is TOO OFTEN OVER-LOOKED in MENTAL HEALTH.
Further there are A LOT of things that can cause SLEEP APNEA:

obesity
allergies
deviated septum
high altitude
substance use
etc.

Strikingly, it has consistently been documented that high altitude counties in the US and specifically the Mountain States, have higher rates of Suicide -- EVEN THOUGH their rates for premature death from other causes are lower.
COLORADO has a very HIGH SUICIDE RATE, but it's rate for GOOD overall health is in the TOP 10. Hmmm . . .
Really across the Country, but especially in the Mountain States, we need Systematic:

Training,
Public Education
Routine Clinical Screens for Sleep Apnea;
Access to Sleep Studies, &
Proper Treatment

through our INTEGRATED PHYSICAL & MENTAL HEALTH Systems so that BOTH primary care and mental health professionals can address SLEEP APNEA effectively in the mental health context.
There is A LOT of skepticism about Altitude as a risk factor in the mental health professional community -- BUT the research is REALLY VERY STRONG that Sleep Apnea is a factor in mental health.
Further, it is not really counter-intuitive -- it's kinda what one would expect -- getting Oxygen to the brain is like really important.
It's just important to recognize that there are different types of sleep apnea such as altitude-induced or substance-induced -- and those risk factors are pretty significant -- including ALTITUDE.
We've known about Sleep Apnea since 1965. Since that time a lot of important connections with mental health have been made --It's more than time that mental health patients can systematically and routinely benefit from that knowledge.

Yes, You Can Die From Sleep Apnea--
Carrie Fisher Did

https://www.sleepapnea.org/carrie-fisher-yes-you-can-die-from-sleep-apnea/

CU School of Medicine Altitude Research Center

Institute for Altitude Medicine @ Telluride

See Also:

Prenatal Lack of Oxygen and Infant Sleep Apnea associated with later mental illness.

(Science Daily: ADHD Linked To Oxygen Deprivation Before Birth https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/12/121210080833.htm)

(Science Daily: Children's Sleep & Mental Health) https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/05/150506084427.htm)

Harvard: Sleep and mental health
Once viewed only as symptoms, sleep problems may actually contribute to psychiatric disorders
.https://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletter_article/sleep-and-mental-health

"Traditionally, clinicians treating patients with psychiatric disorders have viewed insomnia and other sleep disorders as symptoms.

"But studies in both adults and children suggest that sleep problems may raise risk for, and even directly contribute to, the development of some psychiatric disorders.

"This research has clinical application, because treating a sleep disorder may also help alleviate symptoms of a co-occurring mental health problem."

Altitude

CO HAS EXTREMELY HIGH USE OF SUBSTANCES -- & likely a high rate of substance-induced sleep apnea

Taiwanese Study Linking Sleep Apnea to Bipolar Disorder

Politics, Truth & Disability Rights --- No Colorado is NOT Complying with Olmstead, Parity or Medicaid Network Adequacy --- & It's Going to Take Honesty & The Combined Talents of the Disability Community & the State To Get Us There

2/17/2018

When I was in high school in the very early 80's, I took Russian language courses taught by a former US military guy who was still in the National Guard.
The Cold War was still raging.
Well, one of the first things our teacher taught us was a saying of the Russian people: правда не правда or The Truth is NOT the Truth.

I don't know anybody in the Disability Community who believes Colorado is complying with Olmstead -- that's mainly because Colorado is NOT complying with Olmstead. -- Where are those Measurable Goals, Reasonable Time Frames, & Funding to Support a Comprehensive, Effectively Working Plan as required by US Dept. of Justice Guidance (& US Attorney General Sessions Hasn't Stricken the Guidance -- Yet)
Parity: this is pretty new for Medicaid, and we've focused largely on Assertive Community Treatment -- it is going to take A LOT for Medicaid to get Parity for Intensive Community Mental Health Treatments.
Medicaid Mental Health Network Adequacy: OMG -- We don't have a network that is adequate for the people it's trying to serve -- & there are THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE WITH MENTAL ILLNESS who are incarcerated, homeless, in nursing homes, or in mental institutes because CO Medicaid Managed Care WAS NOT/IS NOT providing sufficient Mental Health Services in the Intensity needed and in the manner acceptable to Individuals.

So I'm coming back to this video of Tina Seeling on Divergent Thinking to make a Slightly Different Point than I've made before.

So the example Tina Seelig uses is a Math Problem -- and if you think of it in simple addition terms -- there's only one right answer.

On the other hand, if one thinks of the problem in algebriac terms -- there's an infinite number of RIGHT ANSWERS.

The Point I want to make is there is also an INFINITE NUMBER OF WRONG ANSWERS, TOO.

We would submit that LYING about Compliance with Disability CIVIL RIGHTS LAWS is REALLY STILL the WRONG ANSWER whether one is thinking about this in simple terms or algebriac terms.

Further it is the WRONG ANSWER POLITICALLY -- as hard as that may be to believe.

Complying with these LAWS is NOT EASY. It is really going to take the COMBINED:

CREATIVITY,
DIVERGENT THINKING,
ENTREPRENEURIAL SKILLS,
PRACTICALITY, &
SAVVY of

BOTH the DISABILITY COMMUNITY, of which the MENTAL HEALTH COMMUNITY IS SUCH A SUFFERING MEMBER, AND THE STATE.

The Mental Health Community & Mass Shootings: Are You a "Mental Illness Denier" In the Name of Stigma Prevention?

2/15/2018

Look, most people -- over 300 million in the US --- are NOT committing mass shootings.
Further, the one-fifth (1/5) to one-fourth (1/4) of the US population with a "diagnosable" mental health disorder is NOT committing mass shootings.
On the other hand, disturbing mental health indicators such as:

Suicide
School Shootings
Etc.

Are going up.

AND WE DON'T HAVE A REALLY GOOD HANDLE ON THESE PROBLEMS.

The DSM 5 is NOT VALID as a diagnostic tool -- How do you know the person doesn't have a "mental illness?"

Further, the National Drug Institute says Drug Addiction is a Mental Illness.

To talk about such a BROAD Category as MENTAL ILLNESS-- which is many MILLIONS of people in this Country doesn't make sense with respect to MASS SHOOTINGS.

BUT IT ALSO DOESN"T MAKE SENSE to be in a sense a "MENTAL ILLNESS DENIER" in the name of STIGMA PREVENTION.

Because there is a HOLOCAUST going on in the US Mental Health Community, and especially for those with intensive mental health needs ---- that impacts them, their families, the people they are around, and the ENTIRE COUNTRY.

Now most people with intensive mental health needs do not commit school shootings---- BUT we really have to question why we are going to SUCH LENGTHS to DEFINE people out of the HUGE MENTAL ILLNESS category who seem so clearly a part of it --- even if just a tiny, tiny fraction of it.

Hmmm . . . . BUT Doesn't It Depend On How We Define Mental Illness? ---------

Should we do more about gun control -- ABSOLUTELY. BUT Mental Health is having a HARD TIME coming to terms with REALITY -- AND if we can't do it -- someone's going to do it for us.

AND that could be VERY BAD for people with MENTAL ILLNESS.

Science Up

Drug Addiction Is A Mental Illness

An Orchid Valentine to the Mental Health Profession

2/13/2018

It probably has not escaped most people's notice that:

On the one hand, we are extremely critical of the Mental Health Profession,
On the other hand, we are vigorously arguing for intensive mental health treatment.

What's Going On?

Well, there's the idea that there is a fine line between Love & Hate.

We think what is really going on is: REALITY.

The Mental Health Profession is an incredibly complicated mixed bag -- right up there with the Legal System.

It does an enormous amount of GOOD, and it does an enormous amount of HARM.

For the most part it is pretty OBLIVIOUS to the HARM that is does, the mental health profession's first reaction to such claims is to assert the other person's "LACK OF INSIGHT" or maybe the person has an "ANTI-SOCIAL PERSONALITY DISORDER" [generally, for boys] or a "BORDERLINE PERSONALITY DISORDER" [often, although not always, for girls.]

Of course, that's a pretty HUMAN reaction -- that's pretty much what we all do.

EXCEPT, it is in the mental health profession and the CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM -- that one can really do A LOT of HARM with that kind of CRAP, and NOT EVEN REALIZE IT.

So most medical disciplines DON'T HAVE PERFECT KNOWLEDGE --- BUT they're generally not making claims in a CRIMINAL JUSTICE System beyond the discipline's or profession's knowledge base -- the mental health profession does it across this Country and in Colorado EVERYDAY.

So We've Got A BIG Problem with That.

On the other hand, we DON'T have a problem with the Mental Health Profession providing:

Person-Centered, Strength Based Care;
Engaging in Shared Decision-Making;
Doing the BEST IT CAN to determine Dangerousness;
ACKNOWLEDGING the PROFOUND Gaps in its Knowledge Base;
Refusing to allow itself to be used for purposes of punishment.

IT IS VERY COMPLICATED -- & IN MANY WAYS WE'RE RELYING ON THE MENTAL HEALTH PROFESSION AS CRITICAL PLAYERS IN THE TRANSFORMATION OF OUR SOCIETY.

BTW -- Wear a HELMET when going Skateboarding & Biking.

We Gotta Talk

So what are we trying to say with this video? We've been telling the mental health profession it needs to "Science Up" -- so that could be read as making things more "complicated." AND if one has followed our policy prescriptions, one realizes how complicated our relationship with the mental health profession really is. BUT what we're trying to say with respect to this video, is that the mental health profession's pretension to knowledge it doesn't have [even though they do have some knowledge in some respects quite a bit, in others not very much] -- DEEPLY HURTS the people they are trying to help -- that is certainly true in the Criminal Justice System.

----Stephen Covey

I love this video., and what I love about it is how HONEST the speaker is -- Steven Morgan with Soteria Vermont. Psychosis, mental health are COMPLICATED and we DON'T HAVE IT ALL FIGURED OUT -- acknowledging that might help give patients a mental health professional they could TRUST.

Soteria Project

Unscientific & Vague: Personality Disorders Must Be Reformed

<<Previous

Forward>>

Val's Blog