Involuntary Commitment for the Mentally Ill
In the movie, "Michael Clayton," Arthur, a bipolar lawyer, is lead council representing UNorth, a company fighting a $3 billion class-action lawsuit against one of its products. Before a deposition in Wisconsin, Arthur stops taking his medicine, falls in love with one of the plaintiffs, and engages in alarming behavior, which lands him in a Wisconsin jail.
Michael Clayton comes to get him out. It seems Arthur has found irrefutable, incriminating evidence against the firm he's supposed to represent and is pursuing it. Without medicine, his conscience found freedom. Clayton doesn't give up pleading. "How do I talk to you Arthur, so you hear me, like a child, like a nut, like everything’s fine? What’s the secret? Because I need you to hear me."
Arthur’s answer was extraordinary, a moment of pure clarity that emerged as unexpectedly as a rare orchid..
Arthur says, "Michael, I have great affection for you, and you lead a very rich and interesting life, but you’re a bag man and not an attorney, if your intention was to have me committed, you should have kept me in Wisconsin, where the arrest report, the videotape, and eyewitness accounts of inappropriate behavior would have had jurisdictional relevance. I have no criminal record in the state of New York, and the single, determining criterion for involuntary incarceration is danger. Is the defendant a danger to himself or others. You think you got the horses for that? Well good luck, and God bless, but I tell you this, the last place you want to see me is in court."
He was right. However, all bipolar people are not brilliant lawyers, and life is not a movie.
In a study done by the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, approximately 250,000 people with severe mental illnesses are incarcerated at any one time. Most receive no treatment beyond medication. "A Chicago study of thousands of police encounters found that 47 percent of people with a mental illness were arrested, while only 28 percent of individuals without a mental illness were arrested for the same behavior."
For those who are alone with their disease; who are poor; whose families tried, failed, or ran away; who can't get through the bureaucracy; jail seems to be where they end up.
References:
Michael Clayton, movie scene transcription
http://www.bazelon.org/issues/criminalization/publications/mentalhealthcourts
Michael Clayton comes to get him out. It seems Arthur has found irrefutable, incriminating evidence against the firm he's supposed to represent and is pursuing it. Without medicine, his conscience found freedom. Clayton doesn't give up pleading. "How do I talk to you Arthur, so you hear me, like a child, like a nut, like everything’s fine? What’s the secret? Because I need you to hear me."
Arthur’s answer was extraordinary, a moment of pure clarity that emerged as unexpectedly as a rare orchid..
Arthur says, "Michael, I have great affection for you, and you lead a very rich and interesting life, but you’re a bag man and not an attorney, if your intention was to have me committed, you should have kept me in Wisconsin, where the arrest report, the videotape, and eyewitness accounts of inappropriate behavior would have had jurisdictional relevance. I have no criminal record in the state of New York, and the single, determining criterion for involuntary incarceration is danger. Is the defendant a danger to himself or others. You think you got the horses for that? Well good luck, and God bless, but I tell you this, the last place you want to see me is in court."
He was right. However, all bipolar people are not brilliant lawyers, and life is not a movie.
In a study done by the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, approximately 250,000 people with severe mental illnesses are incarcerated at any one time. Most receive no treatment beyond medication. "A Chicago study of thousands of police encounters found that 47 percent of people with a mental illness were arrested, while only 28 percent of individuals without a mental illness were arrested for the same behavior."
For those who are alone with their disease; who are poor; whose families tried, failed, or ran away; who can't get through the bureaucracy; jail seems to be where they end up.
References:
Michael Clayton, movie scene transcription
http://www.bazelon.org/issues/criminalization/publications/mentalhealthcourts
Tags: bipolar-disorder, involuntary-commitment, mental-illness, michael-clayton
Add a Comment
-
Comment by Jolyn on April 1, 2008 at 4:55pm -
You are so right, Barbara! Jails and nursing homes still have more people with mental illnesses in them than are actually served by mental health practitioners. This is changing, somewhat, with jail and nursing home outreach programs run by mental health folk, jail diversion programs and alternative mental health courts, but there's a long way to go. These models programs can't spread without public dollars to support them. Yet, this is very shortsighted planning since the savings to the public coffers, when these programs are in place, are enormous -- not even to mention the saving of lives.
We must move beyond labeling people with bipolar and other mental health disorders as criminals and invalids. We have to stop the bandage approaches, like releasing people from hospitals and jails with only medications -- usually only a month or six weeks of meds at that! There are good models for treating people with these disorders humanely, helping them manage their disorders and live meaningful lives and avoid incarceration and commitment. We must insist that our tax money be spent to this end.
Yes, the mental health world is very political. Keep on saying the truth!
© 2009 Created by Marie
You need to be a member of WEGO Health to add comments!
Join this Ning Network