SAMHSA Ignores 500,000 Seriously Mentally Ill

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Agency's most recent and widely-quoted report on the prevalence of 'any' mental illness and 'serious' mental illness in America failed to count the 300,000 individuals with serious mental illness in jails and prisons, the 200,00 who are homeless and the 51,000 mentally ill who are in hospitals. Excluding these individuals led SAMHSA to understate the incidence of serious mental illness and overstate the percentage who receive treatment.

The new report acknowledges in the introduction and methodology sections that they ignored the incarcerated, institutionalized and homeless, but did not do so in their press release which is what most media apparently worked off of. Excluding these populations led to understating the number with serious mental illness, and since the chances of homeless or incarcerated receiving good treatment is next to nil, also understating the percentage who receive treatment.

SAMHSA has come under increasing criticism for their failure to focus on serious mental illness. A recent article by leading researcher Dr. E. Fuller Torrey in National Review, is but the latest example. I have written on SAMHSA waste of taxpayer dollars for DC Insider, a whistleblower group and Washington Times. Those articles highlight the mission-creep, waste, and counterproductivities at SAMHSA and suggest eliminating it would save money for taxpayers and improve care for people with serious mental illness. Worthwhile programs within SAMHSA (and they do exist) could be transferred to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and other organizations that are much more effective, efficient, and focused than SAMHSA.

Allegedly Knife-Wielding Mentally Ill Roscoe Cambridge Shot By Anaheim Police

According to the Orange County Register, on Thursday, Anaheim police shot and killed Roscoe Cambridge, who was wielding a knife. Like Kelly Thomas, who also died in police custody, he was apparently mentally ill. Tracy Bowden, his cousin's wife posted on the "Justice for Kelly Thomas" Facebook page that her family " feared that Roscoe could be a victim of the police, because of his schizophrenia." "Justice for Kelly Thomas" is a group formed in memory of Kelly Thomas who is also alleged to have suffered from untreated schizophrenia before he was shot by police in Fullerton, CA. Roscoe Cambridge's Family started their own Facebook Group

The Facebook posting went on to say

PLEASE HELP! YESTERDAY A ANAHEIM HILLS POLICE OFFICER SHOT AND KILLED A 24 YEAR OLD, WHO SUFFERED FROM SCHIZOPHRENIA! HE WAS SITTING UNDER A TREE IN THE POLICE PARKING LOT, APPARENTLY WITH A BIBLE AND A KITCHEN KNIFE. THE SERGEANT WAS IN HIS POLICE CAR, ON HIS COMPUTER. NOW UNDER INVESTIGATION. ROSCOE CAMBRIDGE WAS MY HUSBAND COUSIN, HIS MOTHER WOULD CALL TO TELL ME HOW SHE SUPPORTED MY INVOLVEMENT WITH JUSTICE FOR KELLY. AND EXPRESSED HER FEAR THAT ROSCOE WOULD SUFFER THE SAME FATE. SHE CALLED ME THIS MORNING IN SUCH GRIEF. AND SAID "IT IS JUST LIKE KELLY'. ... GOD HELP OUR SONS AND BROTHERS WHO SUFFER FROM MENTAL ILLNESS....

Families and advocates for the mentally ill have argued that Orange County needs to adopt Laura's Law to prevent incidents like this, but Orange County supervisors have failed to act, many believe because the Orange County Behavioral Health Care Department gave the supervisors highly misleading information about the law. Carla Jacobs of the California Treatment Advocacy Coalition is leading families of people with mental illness who want Laura's Law adopted. According to her, Laura's Law would allow courts to require a very narrowly defined group of seriously mentally ill individuals (only those with a past history of violence or multiple arrests or hospitalizations) to stay in treatment while in the community. It is not known if Mr. Cambridge would meet the criteria, but the family of Kelly Thomas has stated Kelly would have. Likewise the father of Aaron Bassler says his son also had untreated schizophrenia before he shot several people in Mendocino, CA and was himself killed by police. James Bassler believes his son Aaron would have met the criteria. The father of Kelly Thomas and the father of Aron Bassler have both become proponents of Laura's Law because they believe it would have helped their children live safely in the community.

Background Docs:
New Survey of CA Law Enforcement Officers shows they are overwhelmed caring for seriously mentally ill who are abandoned by Mental Health Officials.
Mental Health Services Act can be used to fund Laura's Law
Orange County Health Care Agency Misleads Supervisors on Laura's Law
Laura's Law Orange County Homepage

Should Parent Guardians of Mentally Ill Be Allowed To Mandate Abortion

I recently came across one of the most confounding 'cases' I have come across, even if one takes away the fact that it centers around abortion. What do you think:

BOSTON (AP) — A Massachusetts court on Tuesday overturned a ruling by a judge who ordered a mentally ill woman to undergo an abortion against her wishes and be sterilized.
The Massachusetts Appeals Court said the woman, who has schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, had described herself as "very Catholic" and made it clear she did not want an abortion.
The ruling reverses a decision by Family and Probate Court Judge Christina Harms, who found that the 32-year-old woman was not competent to decide whether to get an abortion.
Harms found the woman would choose to end her pregnancy if she were competent and agreed to appoint her parents as guardians "for the purpose of consenting to the extraordinary procedures of abortion and sterilization," the Appeals Court said.
....
The judge reasoned that if Moe were competent, she would opt for an abortion to benefit from medication that otherwise could not be given to her because of its effects on the fetus.
The Appeals Court said the judge also directed the clinic to sterilize the woman at the same time "to avoid this painful situation from recurring in the future."
The Appeals Court reversed the order, saying no one had requested it and the judge "appears to have simply produced the requirement out of thin air." The judges sent the case back to the lower court.