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Rights of the Mentally Ill

Mental illness, especially the three serious diseases of bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and major depression are a huge social problem that affects more than just those it afflicts. More than 2.3 million Americans suffer from bipolar disorder and 20 percent of them commit suicide, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. Schizophrenia and major depression affects another 2 million and one in 10 eventually dies by suicide (LaFond 30). Add to that 19 million adults who suffer from major depression and it is a large amount of the population who suffer from a mental illness. Out of these 23.3 million people who suffer from these diseases, as few as 20 percent receive treatment for their conditions. (LaFond, 30) Many of the mentally ill simply shun away attempts to help them. Whether or not mental health patients should be allowed to do this is a question that is asked by many. It is argued that they, like every other human being, have the civil right to make their own decisions regarding their body. Many of these people do not even know the difference between reality and fiction, so how can they be expected to make conscious decisions concerning treatment for their illness? These people are given the opportunity to refuse needed treatment, and it is not their fault. The problem lies within a legal system that ignores the topic of mental health and refuses to come up with a working alternative to get mental patients the care they need and deserve.

It is impossible to understand mental disability laws if you do not have a basic understanding about mental illness. There are numerous different strains of mental illness, some more severe than others. They range anywhere from obsessive disorders to manic depression. As stated previously there are three mental disorders that are considered most serious; bipolar disorder, Schizophrenia, and major depression. Schizophrenia is a group of psychotic disorders characterized by six -month or longer disturbances in thought, perception, behavior, and communication. Both manic depression and bipolar disorder are pathological mood swings from mania to depression with a tendency to reoccur and remit spontaneously (www.mental health.com). Those who have been diagnosed with any of these three should be under the care of a doctor and or a psychiatrist. A problem that faces many people who have these illnesses is that they are unaware that is in fact what they have. Mental disorders can go undiagnosed for years. There are however numerous warning signs of mental illness. Marked personality change over an extended period of time, confused thinking and/or strange ideas, prolonged severe depression, withdrawal from society, and delusions or hallucinations are some of the warning signs that a person may be suffering from a mental disorder. (Attlen 306) Mental illness is hard to diagnose. A blood test or a simple visit to a doctor cannot determine a person's mental state. Diagnosing a mental illness is a long process that requires numerous tests and evaluations by doctors and/or psychiatrists. When evaluating a patient for mental illness the doctor takes a lot of information regarding the persons' family history, daily life, and childhood that can be helpful in diagnosing them.

Although doctors are now able to diagnose mental illness easier than in the past, they are still do not have a definite answer as to what causes mental illness. It is believed that those who suffer from mental illness are born with an inborn vulnerability to a particular condition. Signs of the disorder may not be visible until something triggers it, such as environmental stress. Scientists have found that a person who has a strong physiological vulnerability to mental illness requires relatively little environmental stress to provoke an episode. (Lewine 254) For people with severe mental disorders it also takes less and less stress to provoke every successive episode. The brain, therefore, becomes accustomed to responding to this tension and does so with increasing ease, unless therapy and/or medication intervene. The onset and course of the diseases can be dependent on all of these interrelated fields. Once a diagnosis is made the patient can be easily treated in most cases.

"Patients who suffer from severe mental illnesses are most times not aware or not accepting of the fact that they have a mental disorder", says Kathy Pemberton, a social worker for the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Centers psychiatric unit. Most feel that their delusions and their mania are normal. This is probably the main reason why so many people who are mentally incompetent do not seek treatment. Although these people are clearly victims of mental illness, their legal rights allow them to get away with refusing treatment. The sad reality is that this is too often the case in regards to mental illness. Most severely mentally ill patients obviously belong in a mental health facility for some certain period of time; the problem is getting them there.

This is where things begin to get complicated. People cannot be forced to receive treatment that they do not want. As Americans we are allowed to decide what happens to our own bodies; it is our civil right. Unfortunately, there is not a separate set of legal rights for mental health patients. To make matters worse, over the past few decades they have been receiving more and more legal rights concerning what they do as far as refusing treatment(Hiller 155-156). This is mainly because in the early and mid 1900's it was very simple to get someone committed (Hiller 155). Often times families of people with mental disorders or even people without a real disorder, would get them committed against their will. In most cases the families were rich and had something to gain by getting rid of the person they "locked up". One call to the authorities telling them that a family member was mentally ill, a man in a white coat would come out to their house retrieve the so called mentally ill person, and take them to a hospital. No examination, no evaluation like they have now, they just threw them in the asylum without any real diagnosis (Hiller 156). Granted, this is by far not the best way of getting mentally ill patient in a hospital, but letting them roam the streets isn't any better.

In many cases, a person requiring mental help may have friends or family who want to assist the person in getting treatment although they may not want it. This causes a great deal of stress for all parties involved. Families are torn apart in many cases of involuntary committal. This could be avoided if the legal system could implement an easier way of getting mental health patients the care that they need.

No area of mental disability arouses more controversy than civil commitment. Involuntary institutionalization