The trouble with our mental health system

I just posted a comment on the blog site, The Trouble with Spikol, regarding an article, Leave Britney Alone, that she had posted on February 19th and which I had also referenced on my post of February 13th, Understanding Mental Illness.

My comment to her post:

I've been on the phone this morning with a friend whose daughter was incarcerated for attempting to rob a drug store and who, after spending over a month in jail, was just cleared last week of the charges because they realized that she did so while she was not receiving treatment for her mental illness. Her mother had paid $440 to get her out of jail just barely a month ago, (jails and prisons are now the places where many people with a severe mental illness end up instead of psychiatric hospitals). After bringing her daughter home, she wandered off, listening to the voices in her head that told her to leave, and was found walking in Philadelphia with no shoes on her feet on a very cold, rainy day in January by a good Samaritan who took her took a hospital. Her daughter was given treatment through a 303 involuntary commitment which should have been for 20 days but lasted for 2 weeks.

Back home since this past Monday, she still leaves her home and walks away (she does not drive) at all times of the day and night. Her mom, brother, and neighbors try to take turns watching her, trying to keep her safe on these cold, wintry snowy days. In the past few months, she has been found wandering and has slept in parks and was once found in the parking lot of the Philadelphia Zoo, having taken an overdose of over-the-counter drugs (they did hospitalize her then because she was a "clear and present danger" as required by our current law).

But the voices continue to tell her to leave, and this morning she wandered off again. Her mom called 911. The police picked her up and the mom told him that her daughter was still technically on a commitment order to be in treatment (which should have been the 20 days commitment in a hospital). But, she was released early and, in case you're not aware, that commitment order means nothing in this state once you're released. In theory it should, but it doesn't.

So, this mom and son of this very ill woman who desperately needs treatment just took her to an emergency room to see if they would involuntarily commit her this daughter/sister again, because they are concerned for her health and safety and for want could happen the next time she wanders off without medications or an understanding of the need to seek shelter on a freezing day or night. The mom just called me to say that the crisis center would not admit her because she doesn't qualify under our state’s "clear and present danger" criteria requirement.

So, for anyone who believes that someone with a severe mental illness who lacks the insight to remain in treatment and who constantly put themselves in precarious situations, who does something while not thinking clearly and ends up in jail, who is found unconscious in a parking lot or walking around the city without shoes on a cold, wintry day, please explain to me why you wouldn't want to help someone so vulnerable and ensure that she receives shelter and treatment in a hospital.

No, this woman does not want to be in a hospital, she says that she needs to listen to the voices in her head (these are audio hallucinations that are a part of the psychotic symptoms of some severe mental illnesses). But as a caring, humane society, shouldn't we be helping her in a time of need when she doesn't know better and is making decisions that put her very life in jeopardy? Someone, please explain why withholding treatment is the right thing to do.

Yes, our current laws say that is the right thing to do, do you?