REJOICE!

In response to judges who say they see too many people in their courtrooms because of undiagnosed mental disorders, D.C. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty cut the ribbon to an urgent-care clinic at the D.C. Superior Court building yesterday.

mental health and legal issues often go hand in hand, as any forensic psychiatrist – or defense attorney – will tell you. there’s an american academy of psychiatry and the law, founded by psychiatrists, as well as a number of law and psychiatry programs in law schools around the country. but as far as i know, this is the first mental health clinic in a courthouse. according to the chief clinical officer at the dc department of mental health,

“there seems to be a lot of mentally ill people who were being arrested for quality-of-life crimes like open containers, aggressive panhandling and trespassing.

“They can either go to jail or go to treatment,” he said, adding that of the 146 people who have been treated, 110 were homeless, 60 people were given a community mental health provider and eight were referred to an emergency psychiatric facility.

30 years on, we’re still dealing with reagan’s legacy.

and in the nick of time, too – great flying spaghetti monster, there’s a terminator television series starring summer glau!

too bad it’s on fox.

i’m sure there will be more exclamations of surprise from me (and responses of, “duh, laloca” from my cadre of four devoted readers) as i re-enter the world of the living.

oh, and a word to the wise (or those who would be wiser than me): working 155 hours in 13 days, trying to keep on top of laundry, remembering to eat, finding time to sleep, trying to notice an ongoing home remodel (kitchen – done; laundry room – done; bathroom… er….) is not the way to live one’s life. not even if you’re limiting it to 13 days.

you’re liable to end up in the ER with nervous exhaustion. no kidding. i’ll tell you all about it one day.

the more interesting story is that you get there because your husband, who has been running himself ragged trying to take care of you and not just noticing the remodel, but actually coordinating it, as well as working 13 hour days himself and trying to get a book finished, play with the dog, exercise the ferret, and fill in for a perpetually absent boss… you get there because he spikes a 103 degree fever, has rigors, chills, and a host of other symptoms that make you think he’s got meningitis.

and when you take him to the ER… lo and behold, he’s got meningitis (viral, not bacterial). yay differential diagnosis skills of the MPH. (as opposed to the differential diagnosis skills of the JD, who says to her friend, “you know, your wife is about to file divorce papers on your ass.”)

anyhoo. that’s been doings since the new year. i’m tired and going to sleep.

we care about the mental health of our returning soldiers… unless we don’t.

astonishing institutionalized disconnect in the army strikes again; psychiatrists finally tell prosecuting attorneys they’re full of shit. who knows if it will make a difference.

Military psychiatrists at Walter Reed who examined Whiteside after she recovered from her self-inflicted gunshot wound diagnosed her with a severe mental disorder, possibly triggered by the stresses of a war zone. But Whiteside’s superiors considered her mental illness “an excuse” for criminal conduct, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post.

At the hearing, Wolfe, who had already warned Whiteside’s lawyer of the risk of using a “psychobabble” defense, pressed a senior psychiatrist at Walter Reed to justify his diagnosis.

“I’m not here to play legal games,” Col. George Brandt responded angrily, according to a recording of the hearing. “I am here out of the genuine concern for a human being that’s breaking and that is broken. She has a severe and significant illness. Let’s treat her as a human being, for Christ’s sake!”

it gets better. general schoomaker, now the surgeon general of the army, was of the medical opinion that

“This officer has a demonstrably severe depression which manifested itself . . . as a psychotic, self-destructive episode…

and yet, military bureaucrats in the warrior transition brigade (mission: “to facilitate warriors’ transition and healing process“) maintained that

“Although the sanity board determined that at the time of the misconduct she had a severe mental disease or defect, she knowingly assaulted and threatened others and injured herself.”

and

her “defense that she suffers from a mental disease excusing her actions is just that . . . an excuse; an excuse to distract from choices and decisions made by 1LT Whiteside.”

read the whole article. it’s pretty sick.

The Army confirmed in a Thursday report that 99 soldiers committed suicide last year, the highest number in a single year since 1991.

The figures also showed that of the 44 soldiers who have so far committed suicide in 2007, 17 were in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Although occupational issues may have contributed to some of the suicides, the report said soldiers also suffered from failed relationships and legal and financial trouble. The overall suicide rate for soldiers in 2006 was 17.3 per 100,000 soldiers, up from 12.8 per 100,000 in 2005 and 10.8 per 100,000 in 2004.

and it just gets worse. full story at govexec.com

hat tip: kickgirl

i couldn’t take it anymore, so i dragged g off to my soul-restoring potomac hideaway. and took my camera. the views were beautiful, but rock textures were the order of the day.

then i found a new wp plugin and played with photoshop for awhile. relaxing.

gates promises to fix military mental health system.

troops’ one-month breaks blocked.

ah-huh.