tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3125132926699584358.post9191114482272407599..comments2024-03-28T09:59:51.779-05:00Comments on Family Dysfunction and Mental Health Blog: Anti-Psychiatry Civil Rights Activists Drop the BallDavid M. Allen M.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/06280912088483192599noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3125132926699584358.post-83579709699271635452012-10-01T03:22:39.104-05:002012-10-01T03:22:39.104-05:00So Doctor what would you suggest for a person like...So Doctor what would you suggest for a person like myself who has witnessed my son repeatedly victimized by mental health professionals? Including 2 who perjured themselves and used fraud to have him Court Ordered? The Community Clinic that employ them shredded ALL the original Court Documents so it is obvious to me that lying to and lying about the people and the events which have occurred are considered acceptable behavior for professionals to have. <br /><br />the fact that it took me three weeks to convince my son he was safe enough into our fenced yard speaks volumes to me about how necessary drugging and controlling people in distress is. It is effective alright. It's a pity it isn't actually therapeutic for the person who is traumatized by it. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04985667747299418582noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3125132926699584358.post-12615863719970681022012-07-15T20:24:23.000-05:002012-07-15T20:24:23.000-05:00Hi Eastcoaster,
You are right - there's no qu...Hi Eastcoaster,<br /><br />You are right - there's no question that the majority of anti-psychotic medications prescribed in patients with dementia are for chemical restraint, and not for psychosis.<br /><br />With nursing homes, the places are so expensive you wonder why they can't pay a decent wage so they could hire more or better help - so the drugs might not be necessary. Where is all this money going? I don't know, but I've got my guess.David M. Allen M.D.https://www.blogger.com/profile/06280912088483192599noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3125132926699584358.post-28760267248855314272012-07-15T20:03:01.362-05:002012-07-15T20:03:01.362-05:00Two things, I work with department of Mental Healt...Two things, I work with department of Mental Health Clients. The standards for hospitalizing them when they are doing very badly are kind of interesting. Some of these people are psychotic all the time, but they do okay with our help. If they have a guardian, of course, it's simpler, but the guardians are rarely involved.<br /><br />The Alzheimer's thing is tricky. I do think that far too many Alzheimer's patients are being prescribed antipsychotics to make them more manageable rather than for their benefit. My Mom just got an Alzheimer's diagnosis, and I find it kind of disturbing. The rate of antipsychotic prescriptions in my state seems to be higher than average, and I don't think it's psychiatrists with geriatric training who are doing most of that prescribing.EastCoasternoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3125132926699584358.post-73871266464014744932012-07-05T14:45:54.064-05:002012-07-05T14:45:54.064-05:00I also read that article. I think it's importa...I also read that article. I think it's important to distinguish between allowing people to live the lives they want to be living and abandoning people. My thought when I read the article was that it was very sad that our society would abandon someone who was that frail. Obviously, he was very feisty and physically active for an elderly gentleman. But his mind was frail. What he went through wasn't some well thought out philosophical decision. He wasn't just taking the road less traveled. He was self-destructing and our legal/medical system abandoned him. So it was ridiculous. The family tried abandoning him so that the legal or medical systems would get involved. But then those two systems would quickly abandon him and the family was back to square one. Oh dear. No clue what the answer is to all of that.Janehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06030949818467743750noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3125132926699584358.post-14799086074216888432012-07-05T09:35:39.649-05:002012-07-05T09:35:39.649-05:00Rossaa,
Because they aren't psychotic, deliri...Rossaa,<br /><br />Because they aren't psychotic, delirious, or demented. By your logic, we shouldn't be locking up the Alzheimer's patients either.David M. Allen M.D.https://www.blogger.com/profile/06280912088483192599noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3125132926699584358.post-44489604434122676102012-07-05T06:32:01.204-05:002012-07-05T06:32:01.204-05:00By your logic, then, why don't we force therap...By your logic, then, why don't we force therapize dysfunctional families? They're a pain in the ass, too. The rest of us "normals" have to put up with their awful children, their missed days of work, their divorces, their guns and violence. No? Why not?Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06700295858497275586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3125132926699584358.post-88203666058051839772012-07-03T14:14:57.760-05:002012-07-03T14:14:57.760-05:00Mr. Holmes,
We pretty much have that already. It&...Mr. Holmes,<br /><br />We pretty much have that already. It's usually the police or a trained crisis team that bring the potential patient to an emergency room. A few cases are judgment calls, but most are pretty obvious. It has become rare that someone who is not either obviously completely out of touch with reality or clearly suicidal is committed. Some jurisdictions require two different psychiatrists or other mental health professionals to sign a commitment. And then the patient can always request judicial review. <br /><br />If it can be shown that actual malice was involved, the doctor can even be sued for false imprisonment.David M. Allen M.D.https://www.blogger.com/profile/06280912088483192599noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3125132926699584358.post-11522447682823900002012-07-03T12:40:21.481-05:002012-07-03T12:40:21.481-05:00It is good to hear that, in some cases, psychiatri...It is good to hear that, in some cases, psychiatric commitment does make sense, from someone that cannot be suspected of ignoring the social factors in mental issues.<br /><br />That said, I wonder if the case for psychiatric commitment laws will not always be weak as long as it relies too much on a medical argument from psychiatrists ("being diagnosed with a mental illness"). Most mental issues varies along a continuum, and so the exact boundary for commitment or diagnosis will always be a social construct rather than a scientific one (and I consider that social construct necessary and healthy).<br /><br />I think we would make patients, families, psychiatrists, and the court system, a favor by restricting the input of psychiatrists to the question of whether psychiatric or jail commitment (or other more limited forms of probation/assisted-outpatient-treatment) is better to help bring back somebody's behavior within socially acceptable norms. But we should let the question of whether those social norms have been broken to the common law system.Stanley Holmesnoreply@blogger.com