Bonne Viviante
[one of sour, two of sweet, three of strong, and four of weak]
35%-54% of prisoners have symptoms of mania,16%-30% have major depression, 10%-24% have some psychotic symptoms, such as delusions or hallucinations.
In the United States there are at least 3 times more people with mental illness in prisons than in mental health hospitals.
” -Caring for Current and Past Convicts. Dr. Elizabeth Ford, Director Division of Forensic Psychiatry at the Bellevue Hospital Center in New York.
History of incarceration… many practitioners neglect to ask about this when going over a pt’s history when it may bring awareness of of issues related to PTSD and mood disorders that may have been exacerbated or triggered by incarceration.
[via psydoctor8].
(via librarysciences)
It is sad that this is the case. Although there are special mental health pods in jails and prisons often provide the most minimal care: outdated drug therapy, doctors visiting their patients only once every 60 days, etc. Many prisoners become stuck in the system, particularly if no previous mental illness has been observed or diagnosed, and yet it is not uncommon for police to become involved in situations which lead the mentally ill to incarceration. Often, these people are shuffled from jail to state hospitals, to jails, back to state hospitals.
What can we do? I think it is necessary for states to increase the use of mental health courts, the outcome of which focuses on community-based treatment in lieu of incarceration. I believe this demonstrates the kind of social responsibility one would like to see from the justice system, and it is also fiscally advantageous to states and counties.
Recently I have become involved in the mental health and criminal justice systems, and the problems are glaringly obvious. To that end, I have been thankful for being able to become involved with my local NAMI, and would encourage anyone who is interested in increasing awareness of mental illness to look into their local NAMI organizations.
(via librarysciences)
