(July 21, 2015) Betty and her 54-year-old, schizophrenic son tell their story in an investigative series that takes an in-depth look at how the 2006 closure of Pennsylvania’s only remaining mental health hospital has been disastrous for people with serious mental illness (“From patients to prisoners,” PennLive).
Even though episodes of violence were common during his psychotic breaks, it was her son’s 48-month stay in a correctional facility that “pushed his delusions to a new level,” Betty told PennLive (“'Just a nightmare': Prison turned Harrisburg man's schizophrenia from bad to beyond control,” July 20).
"When they released him from prison it was hard to believe…that they released him in the condition that he was in," Betty said, "because he was not stable, not by any means."
Seven months into his sentence, a prison psychiatrist told Betty that her son was refusing to take his prescribed medication and was spending a considerable amount of time pacing back and forth and talking to himself in his cell.
But Betty’s son does not believe he has a mental illness; a condition known as anosognosia, not uncommon among those diagnosed with a severe mental illness.
Not surprisingly, Betty’s son was transferred to an isolation cell, as punishment for being loud and disruptive. She believes the 63 days he spent in solitary confinement accelerated his deterioration.
"Wouldn't that do something to you mentally?" Betty asks. "Even if you were sane when you went in, you'd be nuts when you came out.”
Since his release in 2013, Betty’s son has been involuntarily committed three times, become increasingly difficult to reason with and descended further into his delusions.
Betty argues that people with mental illness who are in the throes of psychosis have too much autonomy over treatment decisions.
"I think the laws should listen to the loved ones," she said. "To the people who are around them the most, so they can get their insight into what's going on."
Stories like Betty’s are far too common. “There are now 10 times more individuals with serious mental illness in prisons and jails than there are in state mental hospitals,” according to 2012 Treatment Advocacy Center data.
The elimination of psychiatric facilities, in Pennsylvania and across the country, is wreaking devastating impacts on individuals in need of treatment, their families and the communities in which they live. We will continue to see devastating consequences until we recognize the need to overhaul our ineffective mental health system.
Read the Treatment Advocacy Center report “No Room at the Inn” to learn more about the trends and consequences of closing public psychiatric hospitals.
(Photo courtesy of PennLive)