Timely Treatment Tested

Although I planned to avoid the topic that is currently in most newspapers and on every news station lately about Britney Spears and her need to, at the very least, be evaluated for treatment for a possible illness, I decided to write about my views after all. I ignored it until now because it was presented in the typically exploitive way that most Hollywood stories are told. But, there are important lessons that can be learned about the importance of timely treatment from this situation.

As a mother who experienced the need to have my own daughter involuntarily committed into a hospital for treatment, and as a friend of many people who have had to seek this type of supportive help for their family members when they desperately needed it, I know the heartache, frustration, sense of hopelessness and mixed feelings that we all encounter.

In a perfect world, whenever someone needed help for any illness or disease, they would seek it out on their own, and find the appropriate level of care, services, and treatments that would be beneficial. However, with some illnesses, such as schizophrenia and bipolar, approximately half of the people may lack the insight that they have a diagnosed, treatable illness and therefore they do not seek any medical advice at all. If a family member or friend does not step forward to help and advocate on their behalf, individuals with untreated symtoms of mental illnesses can find themselves in terrible situations, can become a victim themselves or end up homeless or incarcerated.

Watching someone you love deteriorate to a level that is often required by many state laws is both heartbreaking to observe and frustrating, especially when effective treatments are available and could help him or her return to their usual level of health and competency. A family member does feel hopeless if they try to enlist the help that mental health services could provide but are told, "No, your loved one must first pass a test - he or she must first do something that is considered dangerous, otherwise we can't provide any treatment."

Although families who have witnessed this process with their loved one can identify with this experience, others who may not have had this experience can now begin to see the illogical reasoning that withholding treatment implies, and although I still think that this young rock star (who may or may not have a mental illness) and her family should be able to privately handle this situation without cameras and reporters following their every move, they may be helping to bring attention to an issue that is often ignored and misunderstood.

Yes, even families and friends who advocate for changes to treatment laws have mixed feelings about involuntary commitments because we would rather see our loved ones seek treatments on their own, or would rather that their loved one didn't have an illness at all. All of the parents I know hope to see their family members make their own choices and live independent lives. But, when we see our loved ones suffer and watch them deteriorate, few can turn their backs and just hope for the best. If you put yourself in that position, would you?