ASSISTED OUTPATIENT TREATMENT
Coalition on Homelessness, SF (coh@sfo.com)
Mon, 27 Dec 1999 17:49:33 -0800
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ASSISTED OUTPATIENT TREATMENT FOR THE MENTALLY ILL
There is a full-scale attack of the rights of people with mental
disabilities throughout the nation. The goal of this campaign is to
expand forced mental health treatment.
Current California law - the Lanterman, Petris & Short Act (LPS) -
allows involuntary commitment of people who, as a result of a mental
disorder, are in danger to themselves or others or are gravely
disabled.
AB 1028 proposes sweeping changes to the LPS Act, including: widening
the criteria for commitment to the perceived need for treatment,
increasing in-hospital detention time, initiating court-ordered
involuntary outpatient commitment and decreasing those safeguards to
the rights of persons with psychiatric disabilities now in place.
We believe that people with psychiatric disabilities are entitled to
the same rights and freedoms that any American citizen enjoys, and
that recovery and therapeutic relationships cannot exist in an
environment of coercion. Our reasons for opposing the proposed
changes in the law include the following:
o Changing the LPS Act is unwarranted because the current commitment
laws are adequate and provide necessary safeguards of individual
liberties. Under the current law, in Los Angeles County alone 43,000
people were involuntarily committed to 72 hour holds in 1998. 20,000
were held involuntarily for an additional 14 days. Moreover, current
commitment laws already allow for outpatient commitment.
o Studies indicate that people diagnosed with major mental disorders
account for a very small percentage of violence in American society.
In spite of this knowledge, proponents of the expansion of forced
treatment are conducting a campaign to link mental illness with
violence, exploiting public fears of crime, and promoting forced
treatment as a public safety measure.
o Most people with psychiatric disabilities are competent to make
decisions about their treatment. According to the MacArthur Treatment
Competence Study, most patients hospitalized with serious mental
illness have abilities similar to persons without mental illness for
making informed treatment decisions. Mental illness does not
invariably impair decision making capacities. In spite of this
knowledge, proponents of the expansion of forced treatment assert
that persons with mental disabilities are incapable of making
decisions and "lack insight" into their condition.
o Proponents of increased forced treatment argue that there are new
wonder drugs that provide safe and effective treatment for people
with mental illness, yet studies indicate that there may be yet be
harmful side effects with these new wonder drugs, that the successes
of drug trials are often exaggerated (JAMA 11/10/99), and for at
least 2 out of 3 people drugs do not appear to play a role in
recovery.
o The expansion of forced treatment will not stop treatment
non-compliance. In fact, researchers have found that forced treatment
causes noncompliance. The Well Being project, a research survey of
mental health clients, found that 55% of clients interviewed who had
experienced forced treatment reported that fear of forced treatment
caused them to avoid future treatment at all costs.
o It should be noted that with the increase of people with mental
health issues inside the criminal justice system, it is clear that
these people aren't able to access the voluntary community-based
services they seek.
o The bill, co-authored by Assemblywoman Helen Thomson and Sen. Don
Perata, is supported by the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill.
It should also be noted that this group receives financial support
from various pharmaceutical companies - to the tune of $12 million in
the last three years. That relationship in itself is questionable.
People who care about civil liberties and our Constitution should be
very concerned about this.
o Senate President Pro Tem John Burton, (D-San Francisco) has stated
he is skeptical
of the need for a major overhaul of the law. He also says he intends
to press for more money to strengthen California's failing
community-based mental health services.
(Special thanks to the California Network of Mental Health Clients
for their timely analysis of AB 1028)
END FORWARD
**In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material
is distributed without charge or profit to those who have
expressed a prior interest in receiving this type of information
for non-profit research and educational purposes only.**
*******************************************************
HOMELESS PEOPLE'S NETWORK <http://aspin.asu.edu/hpn>
6,000+ POSTS by or via homeless & ex-homeless people
Nothing About Us Without Us - Democratize Public Policy
*******************************************************
Coalition on Homelessness, San Francisco
468 Turk St.
San Francisco, CA 94102
vox: (415) 346.3740
Fax: (415) 775.5639
coh@sfo.com
http://www.sfo.com/~coh
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***********************************************************
HOMELESS PEOPLE'S VIEWS, News, Alerts, Actions & Research
6,000+ ONLINE POSTS by or via homeless & ex-homeless people
HOMELESS PEOPLE'S NETWORK http://aspin.asu.edu/hpn
***********************************************************
<bold>ASSISTED OUTPATIENT TREATMENT FOR THE MENTALLY ILL
</bold>There is a full-scale attack of the rights of people with mental
disabilities throughout the nation. The goal of this campaign is to
expand forced mental health treatment.
Current California law - the Lanterman, Petris & Short Act (LPS) -
allows involuntary commitment of people who, as a result of a mental
disorder, are in danger to themselves or others or are gravely
disabled.
AB 1028 proposes sweeping changes to the LPS Act, including: widening
the criteria for commitment to the perceived need for treatment,
increasing in-hospital detention time, initiating court-ordered
involuntary outpatient commitment and decreasing those safeguards to
the rights of persons with psychiatric disabilities now in place.
We believe that people with psychiatric disabilities are entitled to
the same rights and freedoms that any American citizen enjoys, and that
recovery and therapeutic relationships cannot exist in an environment
of coercion. Our reasons for opposing the proposed changes in the law
include the following:
o Changing the LPS Act is unwarranted because the current commitment
laws are adequate and provide necessary safeguards of individual
liberties. Under the current law, in Los Angeles County alone 43,000
people were involuntarily committed to 72 hour holds in 1998. 20,000
were held involuntarily for an additional 14 days. Moreover, current
commitment laws already allow for outpatient commitment.
o Studies indicate that people diagnosed with major mental disorders
account for a very small percentage of violence in American society. In
spite of this knowledge, proponents of the expansion of forced
treatment are conducting a campaign to link mental illness with
violence, exploiting public fears of crime, and promoting forced
treatment as a public safety measure.
o Most people with psychiatric disabilities are competent to make
decisions about their treatment. According to the MacArthur Treatment
Competence Study, most patients hospitalized with serious mental
illness have abilities similar to persons without mental illness for
making informed treatment decisions. Mental illness does not invariably
impair decision making capacities. In spite of this knowledge,
proponents of the expansion of forced treatment assert that persons
with mental disabilities are incapable of making decisions and "lack
insight" into their condition.
o Proponents of increased forced treatment argue that there are new
wonder drugs that provide safe and effective treatment for people with
mental illness, yet studies indicate that there may be yet be harmful
side effects with these new wonder drugs, that the successes of drug
trials are often exaggerated (<italic>JAMA</italic> 11/10/99), and for
at least 2 out of 3 people drugs do not appear to play a role in
recovery.
o The expansion of forced treatment will not stop treatment
non-compliance. In fact, researchers have found that forced treatment
causes noncompliance. The Well Being project, a research survey of
mental health clients, found that 55% of clients interviewed who had
experienced forced treatment reported that fear of forced treatment
caused them to avoid future treatment at all costs.
o It should be noted that with the increase of people with mental
health issues inside the criminal justice system, it is clear that
these people aren't able to access the voluntary community-based
services they seek.
o The bill, co-authored by Assemblywoman Helen Thomson and Sen. Don
Perata, is supported by the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill. It
should also be noted that this group receives financial support from
various pharmaceutical companies - to the tune of $12
<italic>million</italic> in the last three years. That relationship in
itself is questionable. People who care about civil liberties and our
Constitution should be very concerned about this.
o Senate President Pro Tem John Burton, (D-San Francisco) has stated he
is skeptical
of the need for a major overhaul of the law. He also says he intends to
press for more money to strengthen California's failing community-based
mental health services.
(Special thanks to the California Network of Mental Health Clients for
their timely analysis of AB 1028)
END FORWARD
**In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material
is distributed without charge or profit to those who have
expressed a prior interest in receiving this type of information
for non-profit research and educational purposes only.**
*******************************************************
HOMELESS PEOPLE'S NETWORK <<http://aspin.asu.edu/hpn>
6,000+ POSTS by or via homeless & ex-homeless people
Nothing About Us Without Us - Democratize Public Policy
*******************************************************
Coalition on Homelessness, San Francisco
468 Turk St.
San Francisco, CA 94102
vox: (415) 346.3740
Fax: (415) 775.5639
coh@sfo.com
http://www.sfo.com/~coh
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