|Purred: Wed Mar 19, '08 9:41am PST |
|I watched the video, too, and it was disturbing to say the least.
If there is a history of mental illness, she probably took one or several medications to help control the symptoms, which allowed her to function normally in society. And in some cases the patient starts to feel better and stops taking the meds. Once the meds are gone the symptoms return.
Unfortunately, there are no laws that force people to take their meds. In PA and NJ, someone can only be held involuntarily for psychiatric evaluation for up to 72 hours. This is only used when the patient presents as a harm to him or herself or others (humans).
We had a case in NJ where a guy with mental illness lived in a house with 30 cats. He took his meds as prescribed and actually maintained 3 jobs to make sure the cats were well cared for. Then he stopped his meds. The health department had to intervene because the living conditions for humans and animals had deteriorated so much. I won’t get into the details.
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