In the News
Every time the country is shaken by a tragic mass shooting and the loss of innocent lives, the same debates are repeated. Besides sending thoughts and prayers for the victims, a common theme – especially when the shooter is not a Muslim – is discussing warning signs of mental illness, and its role in the actions of the murderer.
In a Feb. 28, 2018 meeting at the White House, in addition to suggesting stricter gun laws, the president said he thought due process for mentally ill people was not as important as making sure that they do not have guns.
In the wake of the horrific school shootings in Parkland, Fla., President Trump has called repeatedly for building or reopening mental institutions.
Strangely, perhaps, he has echoed an argument made by some experts who study the mental health care system.
One in every 5 young people between the ages of 13 and 18 live with a mental-health condition — yet the average delay between the onset of symptoms and intervention is between eight and 10 years. Those statistics come from the National Institute of Mental Health, and they underscore the problems facing parents as well as educators who are raising and/or teaching children who have untreated mental illnesses.
OAKLAND, Calif. — Gerardo Alejandrez used to punch classmates, throw chairs and curse at his teachers, conduct that forced him to switch from school to school. "I had a lot of anger issues," the 16-year-old said recently.
Then Gerardo entered a class at Oakland Technical High School for students who have mental health or behavior issues. In that classroom, the teacher gets support from Erich Roberts, a psychiatric social worker assigned to the group. Oakland Unified School District bills Medicaid, the nation's insurance program for low-income residents, for Roberts' services.
California counties are sitting on money from a special tax on millionaires that should be spent on mental health programs, but the state isn't moving fast enough to reclaim the funds, according to a state audit released on Tuesday.
California State Auditor Elaine Howle found that county mental health programs had stashed $231 million from the tax that should have been returned to the state by the end of the 2015-16 budget year.
The woman known as Miss Chevron has lived on a Los Angeles County bus bench for nine years, which is why people just call her by the name of the gas station behind her.
Wrapped up to her chin in jackets and blankets, her eyes shoot a fierce, hard stare straight ahead. Believed to be in her 70s, she won't tell anyone her real name and doesn't want anyone to tell her what to do or where to go.
Professionals without proper training are deciding whether suspected criminals in the District are competent to stand trial and patients are being unnecessarily held at the public psychiatric hospital, according to a report released Monday.
The 191-page report, by the nonprofit Council for Court Excellence and the D.C. auditor, examined the way the city's Department of Behavioral Health handles defendants suspected of being mentally ill. The authors presented their findings Monday at an oversight hearing of the D.C. Council.
I got the call every addiction doctor dreads: A patient of mine nearly overdosed. He had a long history of addiction, starting with opioid pain pills in his teens after a sports injury and progressing to heroin by his early 20s. He had been in recovery for six months.
"Was it heroin?" I asked the doctor, who was calling from the emergency department.
"Not opioids," said the doctor. "Benzos."
Last night, my wife and I placed an Internet time-limit app on my 12-year-old son's iPhone. It seemed long overdue, but he threw the kind of stink I would have expected if we gave away our puppy.
In medicine, we talk a lot about advance directives, mainly in the context of end-of-life treatment. But, recently, while treating a patient with schizophrenia, I realized how powerful and important that same document could be in caring for someone living with mental illness.
My patient had catatonia, and was gripped by psychosis. He could barely move or speak. He refused treatment, and in suffering from paranoia, also refused food and water. He wouldn't even let us talk to his family. Soon, his electrolytes were imbalanced, and his kidneys started to malfunction.