Recently in Mental Illness Category

Nearly 3 million people who are crime victims every year in the United States are severely mental ill.

This article is published in the Psychiatric News, published on September 2, 2005. 
Volume 40 number 17 page 16.

This is a very fascinating article on mental illness and how they are more apt to be victims of crime rather than the perpetrators of crimes.

Click here to read the article.

On April 29, a 40 year old man came into a preschool classroom and injured 5 preschoolers with a hammer. Right after this, he set himself on fire, killing himself. Officials think this is a copycat attack because there have been several similar attacks on young children. The previous day, a man went into a kindergarten classroom and stabbed 29 students. The day before this incident, a man injured 18 children in a different primary school. Luckily, no one died.  Last month, a former doctor, Zheng Minsheng, went into a classroom and stabbed 8 children to death and wounded 5 others. He was executed on April 27. Why would these men want to harm innocent children? Before Minsheng was executed, he said that he committed these murders because of his "failures in his romantic life and in society". It seems that he had some psychologically issues to take out his failures on young children. The other men who carried out similar attacks most likely had some psychological issues as well. They may have had depression or at worst, antisocial personality disorder, or something similar.

The trauma that students, parents, and children had to go through will need some counseling. The article states that schools have brought in people to help with these issues. The students will definitely suffer from some psychological problems but hopefully they can be resolved early on to prohibit further issues.

Here is the article: http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/04/30/china.school.attack/index.html?iref=allsearch

The case I'm going to discuss is several years old but I found it very interesting and relevant to psychology and law. In 1992, a hunter found the body of a decomposing woman while hunting. After the police found out that the dead woman had been a prostitute, it led them to believe that a possible suspect was Thomas Huskey, a man known for bringing woman to the area. Huskey had a reputation for taking women, tying them up behind the zoo, beating them, and then having sex with them.

About a week after the first body was found, police searching the area found three more dead women. Huskey was arrested and confessed, on tape, to all four murders. During the confession, Huskey changed his voice and expressions and said that he was now "Kyle". Apparently, "Kyle" was the one who killed the women, not Thomas. After "Kyle" emerged, "Philip Daxx", a British man, surfaced. This lead investigators to believe that Huskey had multiple personality disorder.

After 6 years had passed, the trial finally began. Huskey plead not guilty by insanity. The defense psychologist said that Huskey suffered from multiple personality disorder, however, the prosecution psychologist said that Huskey simply created these personalities to manipulate the court. During the course of the trial, the cellmate of Huskey, testified that Huskey had read Sybil and was going to try to make it seem like he had multiple personality disorder to avoid the death penalty. Huskey's mother also agreed that he did not have this disorder. To further the case against Huskey, the prosecution noted that he gave specific details about the crime while he was Tom but if he really did have multiple personality disorder, he would have no recollection of these memories, since they belong to "Kyle".

After the jury deliberated for quite some time, they still had not come to a unanimous decision. The judge declared a mistrial. Huskey was to be tried again in 2002 but he asked for a lawyer during his confession, which was then ruled inadmissible. Huskey is currently in prison for 44 years for previous rape charges.

On another website, I found that the murder charges against Huskey were dropped due to detective errors. He is still in jail for the rape charges mentioned earlier.

Psychology is obviously present here. Because multiple personality disorder is so rare, it probably wasn't Huskey's  best idea to pretend he had it. Any personality disorder is severe and it's likely that Huskey may have had some other form of one. Although he wasn't proven guilty, it seems pretty possible that he did commit the four murders. I'm glad that he's at least in jail for the rape crimes he committed so that he can't go out and murder more innocent women.

http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/criminal_mind/psychology/multiples/index.html 

Last summer in San Antonio Texas the police were sent to a grizzly crime scene that was almost too grusome to describe. From what they did indicate in news it was something from a slasher zombie movie. The 33 yr old mother used a knife and 2 swords to kill her 3 week old son and that is not even the horrible part is just gets more strange and guresome. The police commented that the infants toes were actually bitten off, decapitated and his face ripped off and some of his brain were eaten. After the mother did that she stabbed herself twice. She is alive still though and when asked why she did it, she said because the devil told her to. So is she in fact mentally ill or suffering from some type of postpartm depression (possibly psychosis)or is it just a way to cover her track so later on she can take the insanity plea. Just as Andrea Yates also did. http://newsone.com/nation/associated-press/police-say-woman-killed-infant-son-and-ate-his-brain/ 

A new study suggests that a hyper-reactive dopamine reward system may be a characteristic of a psychopath.  Up until this study, research studied what psychopaths lack (interpersonal skills, etc.), whereas the current study focuses on what psychopaths have excess of (impulsivity and risk-taking).

The participants initially filled out a personality test to measure the amount of psychopath traits they had.

In their first test, the researchers gave amphetamine to the participants and gave the a PET scan.  Because psychopathy is often times associated with substance abuse and substance abuse is associated with more dopamine release, the researchers hypothesized that participants who had more psychopathic traits would have greater rates of dopamine release than participants who had less psychopathic traits.  The researchers did find support for their hypothesis - when participants with psychopathic traits were given amphetamines, they released four times as much dopamine than did participants who did not have as many psychopathic traits.

In the second part of the study, participants were told they would be given a reward after finishing a simple task.  Researchers scanned the brains of the participants while they were completing the task and found that individuals with psychopathic traits would continue to do the task until they finished and received their reward. 

Three year old Wang Xiaoyi went outside to play around 5 p.m. on May 19th, 2009 and never returned home.  A thirteen year old boy (unnamed) saw her playing outside of his apartment building on his way back from school and took Xiaoyi to his apartment.  There, the boy tied her to the bed, drowned her, had sex with her corpse, and threw it out of his fifth-floor apartment window.

Abnormal psychology describes necrophilia as the sexual attraction to corpses.  As far as classification goes, necrophilia falls under Paraphilia NOS (not otherwise specified) according to the DSM-IV-TR.  The criteria includes the presences, over a period of at least six months, of recurrent and intense urges and sexually arousing fantasies involving corpses which are either acted upon or have been markedly distressing.

There are three main types of necrophilia: necrophiliac homicide, regular necrophilia, and necrophiliac fantasy.  Regular necrophilia is the use of corpses for sexual purposes after the person was already dead.  Necrophiliac fantasies are envisions of such acts, but not actually acting upon them.  The last type, necrophiliac homicide describes the case above.  This type is characterized by murdering to obtain a corpse for sexual pleasure.

Necrophilia is not the only type of paraphilia which can lead to problems with the law.  There are 8 main types of paraphilias (5-8 are especially likely to run into problems with the law):

1. Fetishisms
2. Sexual Masochism
3. Sexual Sadism
4. Transvetic fetishism
5. Exhibitionism
6. Frotteurism
7. Paedophilia
8. Voyeurism

All other paraphilias, such as necrophilia, telephone scatalogia, partialism, zoophilia, coprophilia, klismaphilia, urophilia, and emetophilia all fall under the not otherwise specified category.

We don't hear of very many cases of paraphilia as it is not frequently diagnosed in a clinical setting, but there is no doubt they exist.  Accurate prevalence rates are unavailable because people with paraphilias do not typically admit it or seek treatment unless they are required by law, but most cases of paraphilias are seen in males and some (exhibitionism especially) are considered exclusively a male disorder. 

For more information about the case above, visit here.

For more information about particular paraphilias, visit these sites:
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2009-05/28/content_7950768.htm
http://web4health.info/en/answers/sex-paraphi-what.htm
http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/dsm-iv/content/article/10168/55266?pageNumber=1

I found this article interesting because it kind of shows what goes through a juror's head when trying to figure out if a person is guilty or innocent.  This juror was involved in the Mark Becker case.  Mark Becker was accused of murdering Ed Thomas of Parkersburg.   The juror talked about how the jury debated over five days whether or not Becker was not sane at the time of the murder.  He said how everyone had their opinions on the case and that eventually the evidence showed no proof that Becker was insane.  Becker was then charged with first degree murder.

http://www.kwwl.com/Global/story.asp?S=12079656

Reading through the blog and just hearing things people say in everyday life has made me realize just how stigmatized we have made mental illnesses.  Everyone is guilty of this, including myself, but I think we would all do ourselves a favor if we were more aware of what we are really saying and how this may have an effect on the lives of those people who suffer from mental illness. 

People with mental illness are immediately labeled.  Upon arrival at a psychologist or psychiatrists office, most people are given a term for their condition: schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, antisocial personality disorder, etc., etc., etc.  We cannot help this particular label, but what we can do, is help support those with mental illness by not stigmatizing them any further.

One thing I always try to do when talking about people with a mental disorder is referring to them as suffering from paranoid schizophrenia or bipolar disorder instead of calling them paranoid schizophrenics or bipolar.  Just as I try to not refer to people with schizophrenics, they should try to eliminate labeling themselves schizophrenics as well.

Calling people "messed up," a "mental case," "psycho," or "crazy" does not in any way help them deal with their illness.  People who suffer mental illness are more than likely having a difficult time dealing with the issues they are facing, let alone knowing that other people think they are "freaks."  Often times, many people who need treatment neglect seeking it because they do not want to be viewed negatively by their peers, spouses, boyfriends, family, etc.
 
Neglecting to seek treatment could have serious repercussions, and in terms of this class, create troubles with the law.  For example, as we all know, committing murder is very common among people who suffer from various mental illnesses.  Many may feel rejected by their families and peers (all of which could be effected by the negative stigmas we give their illness) and feel their only other option is killing innocent people.  Instances like this anger us all, but ask yourself - what may you have done to contribute to this?  Did you unknowingly say something to the person who committed this crime that may have effected the negative emotions they are already experiencing?  Was it you that said the one thing to them that pushed them over the edge?

People with mental illness may experience the self-fulfilling prophecy.  If they are continually given cues, subtle or blatant, that we fear them, they will eventually pick up behaviors that really do instill fear in us.  For example, I would not hesitate to assume that many people are afraid of individuals who suffer from paranoid schizophrenia because in some cases, people with paranoid schizophrenia have become violent (Mark Becker for example).  To what extent does our constructed idea that people with paranoid schizophrenia are violent really affect and cause those with paranoid schizophrenia who are not violent turn violent?      

It is no surprise that everybody needs social support and people who will always be there for them, but people facing mental illness need more of this support than those who are not suffering from a mental illness.  Instead of looking down upon them and avoiding their "disease," we should be a little more compassionate and understanding.  In my opinion, a little less judging and stereotyping on all of our parts has the potential to really help and support those in need and may help stop the instances we all cringe about and cause us to fear those with mental illness.  If nothing is ever done, this seemingly endless cycle will continue.

I know it is really hard to teach an old dog new tricks, but I truly believe that society could only benefit if we all start to be more self-conscious and aware of what we say regarding mental illness.

As we all know Parkersburg, Iowa and the whole state of Iowa suffered a tremendous loss, Ed Thomas. Mr. Thomas was the high school football coach, track coach, teacher, driving instructor, and most of all a father, husband, and grandfather.

The trial for Mark Becker is in some of its last states. The jury has been in deliberation for over 8 hours now. They will either find of him guilty of 1st degree murder with life in prison without parole, or they will find him guilty, but categorize him as insane and Becker will undergo dramatic psychiatric evaluations.

This is a trial that is using the Insanity Plea, which is very unheard of for today. It is hard to prove someone legally insane, because you have to prove to everyone that before the crime, the time of the crime, and after the crime, that Mark Becker had no idea what was going on and it was out of his control. I want to make it clear that insanity is a legal term when used in law, not a medical term. Insanity is when they try to see if Mark Becker knew what he was doing, and if he knew right from wrong throughout the whole process of the crime.

This is going to be a hard case to defend based on the facts. Mark Becker did plan out this murder. He dressed so that he could hide a gun in his clothing. He drove himself to the high school and admitted to being scared that he would be pulled over with a loaded gun on him. These are just a few things that push away from the insanity plea.

Below is the Des Moines Register, which has been following the trial very closely. On the left side bar is over 15 blogs that take you through the trial, even a blog just recently posted about the juror's deliberation. In the middle of the web page will a section also taking you through the trial in detail.

I urge everyone to go through theses blogs and really see what it is like for the people of the court system. They have an expert witness, a Psychiatrist that the prosecution hired and his diagnosis and thoughts are very interesting to read.

http://dmjuice.desmoinesregister.com/article/20100225/NEWS01/2250354/1001/NEWS

I haven't been paying much attention to the Mark Becker trial, but I was talking with my secretary and this trial is very important to her because her son knew Mark Becker and was coached by Ed Thomas. I've started paying a little bit more attention towards the end of the trial and I really wanted to have a report on the verdict but it doesn't look as if the jury will have reached a conclusion by 3:15.
Mark Becker has been accused of killing teacher and coach Ed Thomas in a weight room last year.

The prosecution has explained a timeline of events in their opening statements saying Becker broke into his parents' gun cabinet and practiced shooting a 22-caliber gun at a bird house.

The prosecution says Becker then went to the school and asked the junior high assistant principal where Coach Thomas was so they could talk about the Tornado Relief Fund. According to the prosecution, Becker went into the weight room, shot Thomas multiple times, then began kicking Thomas and swearing at him.

The prosecution says even if Becker suffered from a mental illness, it does not mean he was insane at the time of the crime.

The defense argued during their opening statement that Becker suffered from mental illness that kept him from distinguishing right from wrong. The defense says Becker had delusions the night before the murder and believed Thomas was Satan and was turning people into fish.

The defense has brought in four medical experts that all diagnosed Becker as having paranoid schizophrenia. In light of this, I believe that Becker was insane at the time of the murder, and while he should be held fully responsible for his actions, he should not be sent to prison.

I say this because I believe that he will only get worse in prison. He needs to be sent to a place where he can receive proper care and support. He should be sent to an asylum where he can receive proper medical care and rehabilitation. If he is sent to a prison, he will degenerate and likely cause more harm to himself and others, and he will not be rehabilitated, and if he is eventually paroled or released, he will be much worse off than he is now.

I know that many people disagree with my thoughts on this trial, and I would love to have people politely explain their views in the comments to this post.

To learn more about the trial and to learn what the jury decides, visit www.kwwl.com

Reading this case that was brought before the Supreme Court in 2006 made me think about the insanity defense. In a short sentence at the end of the article it is pointed out that the insanity defense is used in less the 1% of all cases and is successful less the a quarter of the time it is tried. One of the key points of the defendants argument is that state laws unfairly shifts the burden of proof from the State to the Defendant which runs counter to almost everything else in the legal system. As much as I think that people should pay for their crimes it seems wrong to not only hold someone who entire deck short of a deck of cards responsible for their actions, but to force them to prove that they are insane. This is further complicated when you consider Justice Souters question "What if he knew right from wrong, and knew it was wrong to kill aliens?" how do you handle people who are clearly nuts but are doing something wrong even within the standards set by their delusion. I honestly don't have an answer for this. 

This article is about a pediatrician from Delaware who has been accused of sexually abusing 103 children.  This article stood out to me because it shows how people can be so messed up that they will use their job to satisfy their sick obsessions.  The article said that there has been video tapes found so the man is going to be charged without a doubt.  It also said that the man's mental health will be questioned to see how he is charged. I understand that people can suffer from serious mental illnesses but i just don't see how they can blame all 103 cases on this man's mental health.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/02/22/delaware.pediatrician/index.html

In 2001 Rusty Yates received a call from his very calm, cool, and collected wife Andrea telling him that he needed to come home the children were dead. That day Andrea's plan that had been in progress finally happened. Andrea had been suffering for years from post-pardum depression and schizophrenia. She had been on medication for her illnesses and seeing a therapist, until recently when she just stopped helping herself all together. Her family attended church regularly and she, as a woman, was drilled with her being a bad mother. She heard it from her husband and her preacher, and the voice of the devil she heard in her head. She was told that since she was a bad mother her children would be eternally damned, and who wants that to be the fate of her children. So the devil agreed to help her solve her problem. If she killed her children- she was guaranteeing there way in to heaven instead of eternal damnation. So she planned for months the murder of her 5 children ranging from ages 6 months- 7 years. Finally the day came for her to execute her plan. SO she filled the bathtub full of water and drowned each one starting with the 2, 3, and 5 year olds followed by the baby and then her oldest son who actually managed to get free and run- where she chased him down and listened heartlessly to him crying and telling her he was sorry! She then called her husband and the police. She knew what she was doing was wrong, knew she was going to get punished, and was totally alright with what she'd done.

The following site leads to a full case run-down of the Andrea Yates trial: http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/notorious_murders/women/andrea_yates/5.html 

Sam is a mentally challenged man that seems to have an obsessive compulsive disorder who had barely became a father of a young baby girl and he is also a mentally challenged man.  The mom is normal but ditches the father along with the daughter.  So Sam is left alone to raise his daughter and with help from his neighbor he learns that babies need to be fed every two hours.  I am guessing that mentally challenged people have to have a set schedule and if it is changed it has to be changed gradually or else panic or a sense of anxiety will hit them.  His little girl is unbelievably smart; she and her father have a close relationship.  There comes a point where his daughter makes him realize that he is different from the other daddies and where she becomes the adult at a young age.  Sam's friends help them both a lot, "it takes a village to raise a child."  Lucy teaches him to read and finds it difficult at times to make her classmates understand the way he is.  Unfortunately he did not know that he was talking to a prostitute one night, so he got arrested and then they found out that he had a child.  A child can only learn or expand their mind so much depending on the environment that they are exposed to.  At times it will be easy for the child to rebel but discipline can still be added.  As all children they grow embarrassed of their parents so it gets harder for Lucy to deal with her father's special needs.  Because he is special, he could not control his emotions, since the social worker was there, a bit of it was exaggerated, that he poses as a danger to his daughter and other children.  The lawyer that he is trying to talk to is a bit of a snob but he tries, he can't afford her but he tries to impress his boss so he can get a promotion to pay for the lawyer.  His lawyer is a very selfish woman that will only do his case for free because of peer pressure; she is very miserable and treats the people around her like crap.  Lucy convinces her father to runaway with her so they can be together.  Finally Annie shows up even though she has something against the outside world to help testify in court for Sam's sake.  In the end Lucy's adopted family set up a schedule for Sam to spend time with Lucy, so at the same time Lucy may grow up normally.  So are there certain tests that by law a person who is considered to be mentally challege should take just to see if they are a fit parent or not, there are tons of unfit parents that abuse there children and still have them all because they are able to comprehend things the way society wants them to, or makes it seem like they do.  Another thing in real life if the father, even if he is mentally challenged, were to be tricked by his daughter to run away, I am pretty sure he would have been charged with kidnapping.

This article made me absolutely sick!  A man from Sioux City was charged with punching his puppy to death.  The worst part was, he was found guilty of animal torture and was only sentenced to jail for year, which he will only spend a month of there, since he was credited for previous time spent there.  The judge wanted to keep in mind that he didn't kill an actual person, but how is it ok that an innocent puppy was murdered and in an awful way.   Since this man didn't have a history of domestic violence the judge was even more lenient.  Along with his Jail time Loggins is to pay a $625 fine, $300 to the Iowa Department of Corrections and he will have to reimburse the Woodbury County Jail $50 for each day he is there. He's also required to undergo substance abuse counseling and a psychological evaluation.

http://www.wcfcourier.com/news/local/article_e8246bac-1896-11df-b181-001cc4c002e0.html

After watchin the movie Gridiron Gang the other night I found myself fearing things like the chance of a gun man in the mall. When a person starts thinking about these kinds of things they sometimes start to consume my thoughts. I started thinking about our campus and the safety of it. I'm very thankful to go to a college the gives me a great sense of safety. I started to think about small towns. I grew up in one and found myself not worrying if I walked across town and not witnessing or ever hearing about crime in my small town hardly ever growing up. It makes me wonder if because of the fear of crime people in bigger cities would be more psychologically unstable when it came to fearing crime and what kind of impact this would have on depression rates in small towns and big cities. I also thought this article was neat because of the correlation between fearing crime and people's mental health.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/09/070927164455.htm

I also wanted to look deeper into researching the presence of depression in the law system. I found shocking information relating to depression and lawyers. According to a study at Johns Hopkins, that when 28 occupations were studied, the one most likely to experience depression was the occupation of lawyer. Why is this? For one, it appears that the legal profession attracts people who are perfectionists. There also seems to be a large amount of pessimistic personality traits in people who are lawyers. Of another study at Johns Hopkins it showed that optimism out performed pessimism. However, there was one exception and that was people working in law school.

I am taking the class Psych of Personality. I wouldn't say that Psych of Law and that class are very compatible. However, personality does have a large effect on what professions people choose. This is something that affects the types of people who do indeed become lawyers. Psychology reaches so many different aspects of life, and this is clearly an example of that.

http://www.legalunderground.com/2005/03/lawyer_depressi.html

 

http://www.crimeandclues.com/index.php/behavioral-evidence/49-criminal-psychology/88-child-abuse-munchausens-syndrome-by-proxy

 Munchausen's Syndrome By Proxy (MSBP) is a form of child abuse that often times is not caught by social services, law enforcement, or other reporting agencies. This is because the behavior of the offender (typically the child's mother) doesn't fit the stereotype we imagine a child abuser to have. MSBP is a disorder where the abuser will purposely fain or sometimes cause a child's illness so that the child must receive medical care (usual hospitalization). This is so the abuser may gain sympathy and attention from others and receive praise for being such a "good parent."
 The article above describes the characteristics of both victim and abuser, warning signs to look for, and how to properly investigate a case where MSBP may be a suspicion.

  In October 2008, Michelle Kehoe drove herself and her two boys, Seth (age 2) and Sean (age 7) to Hook-n-Liner Pond near Littleton, IA. She then tied both of her boys up, duct taped their eyes, nose, and mouths, and slashed their throats leaving little Seth dead and seriously injuring Sean. She then proceeded to the edge of the pond and attempted suicide by slashing her own throat. When she did not succeed with her suicide attempt, Kehoe went to a nearby house and claimed that a man kidnapped them and killed her children. Unbeknown to Kehoe, her son Sean had survived the attack and was able to tell authorities in the hospital later that day what truly happened.
 In November 2009, Kehoe stood trial for the murder of her son Seth and plead insanity. She was later found guilty of 1st Degree Murder, Attempted Murder, and Child Endangerment. In December 2009, she was sentence to life without the possibility of parole for the murder, 25 years for attempted murder, and 10 years for the child endangerment charged.
 
 Click here for the article about the trial. This also has short video clips of the trial including testimony from both psychologists, the recorded statement from Kehoe's surviving son, and the Kwik Star surveillance video of the family shortly before the horrific crime.
 Click here for the article about the sentencing hearing and how Kehoe's husband asked for leniency but the judge denied it. (Please note that the dates written in the article are wrong. Kehoe committed the crime in 2008 and the trial was held in 2009)

 For me, this case hit extremely close to home, in more ways than one. First off, there is the physical aspects of the crime. Kehoe stopped with her boys at the Kwik Star in Jesup, Iowa (which is where I live) and the store clerk who testified is a person that I know.
 After leaving Kwik Star, Kehoe drove down the road and stopped to let her boys play at the playground in front of St. Athanasius School. This playground is located directly behind my house (all that separates my yard from the playground is a single row of trees) and my oldest son plays there often. At this point in the time line, Kehoe purposely left her cell phone so that nobody could call for help.
 From the park, Kehoe drove a few miles further to Hook-n-Liner Pond. This happens to be my husband's and my fishing spot (since this happened though, we have decided to find a new spot). It is located in an extremely secluded location so a person would have to be familiar with the area to find it. Kehoe was originally from this area. In fact, the house down the road from it used to be owned by one of her relatives.

http://www.texasobserver.org/features/gone-baby-gone

 This article depicts the story of Otty Sanchez, who murdered her baby while she was suffering from postpartum psychosis. The article investigates how Sanchez actually sought help prior to the murder but had slipped through the cracks of an under-budgeted mental health system in Texas. Despite clear evidence supporting a legal insanity defense, prosecutors are planning to seek the death penalty. It is truly a tragic but eye-opening article for anybody who is interested in the problems that the mental health systems face and what happens when there is a break down in communication between professionals seeking mental health help for their clients. It is true that hindsight is 20-20. However, as it pertains to the Sanchez case, so many clear warning signs were left ignored by so many people and the two people who did recognize the pending break-down went unheard.
 Just to warn those who may read this article, some of the facts listed in it tend to be graphic in nature.