President Obama said the federal government has to do something meaningful to prevent future shootings, like the recent massacre of 26 children and adults at a school in Newtown, Connecticut. Here is what the federal government can do to prevent violence related to mental illness:
Here is what states should do.
States should make greater use of Assisted Outpatient Treatment,
especially for
those with a history of violence or incarceration. AOT
allows courts to order certain mentally ill people to stay in treatment
as a condition of living in the community. AOT works.
New Yorkers remember Larry Hogue, the “Wild Man of 96th Street,” who
kept getting hospitalized, going off meds, terrorizing neighbors, and
going back into the hospital. Connecticut does NOT have an AOT law on the books (see these facts about the Connecticut mental-health system), and we can’t say for sure if it would have helped in this case, but all states should have one to prevent similar incidents.
•
States should make sure their civil-commitment laws include all
the following, not just “danger to self or others: (A) Is “gravely
disabled”, which means that the person is substantially unable, except
for reasons of indigence, to provide for any of his or her basic needs,
such as food, clothing, shelter, health or safety, or (B) is likely to
“substantially deteriorate” if not provided with timely treatment, or
(C) lacks capacity, which means that as a result of the brain disorder,
the person is unable to fully understand or lacks judgment to make an
informed decision regarding his or her need for treatment, care, or
supervision.
• When the “dangerousness standard” is used, it must be interpreted more broadly than “imminently” and/or “provably” dangerous.
State laws should also allow for consideration of a patient’s record
in making determinations about court-ordered treatment, since history
is often a reliable way to anticipate the future course of illness.
(Currently, it is like criminal procedures: what you did in the past
presumably has no bearing, so the court may not know past history when
deciding whether to commit someone. In fact, there are ways to know which mentally ill individuals become or are likely to become violent.)
– D. J. Jaffe is executive director of Mental Illness Policy Org.
DJ Jaffe is the founder of Mental Illness Policy Org
http://mentalillnesspolicy.org which provides the media and public
officials with unbiased information about "serious" mental illness from a
pro-treatment perspective. It covers issues of violence,
deinstitutionalization, not guilty by reason of insanity, assisted
outpatient treatment, involuntary commitment, involuntary treatment and
other issues. DJ has been advocating for better treatment for individuals with serious mental illness for over 30 years.
DJ has served multiple terms on the board of directors of the Metro-New York City Alliance on Mental Illness, New York State Alliance for the Mentally Ill, and National Alliance on Mental Illness. He is a member of the Leadership Council of the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression. He was a cofounder and former board member of the Treatment Advocacy Center in Arlington, VA.
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