NOTE: This diary has been significantly expanded to highlight the connection between Elyn Saks's work and issues of medical privacy and discrimination in the context of gun policy and law. The original diary was published on Wednesday Oct. 30, 2013.
We opened the topic of medical privacy in an Open Thread a few weeks ago. In that diary I wrote, "Our concerns about keeping guns out of the hands of "high risk individuals" runs straight up against our cherished notions of doctor-patient confidentiality."
I discovered Dr. Saks when I was researching schizophrenia after the Navy Yard shooting. In her TED Talk and in her NY Times OpEd below, she has some important things to say about the way we marginalize people with schizophrenia. In the talk she lays out some problems with commonly held assumptions about the way we lock up people who suffer from delusions and hallucinations, people who need and deserve medical treatment for untreated or under-treated illness.
Meet Dr. Eyln Saks, PhD, JD, Professor and Expert in Mental Health Law
Elyn Saks - MacArthur Fellow & Expert in Mental Health Law
Join us below the fold to hang out, chat and celebrate this brilliant woman, her extraordinary life, and her goal to break down the stigma surrounding mental illness.
NYTimes OpEd by Elyn Saks (January 25, 2013)
THIRTY years ago, I was given a diagnosis of schizophrenia. My prognosis was “grave”: I would never live independently, hold a job, find a loving partner, get married. My home would be a board-and-care facility, my days spent watching TV in a day room with other people debilitated by mental illness. I would work at menial jobs when my symptoms were quiet. Following my last psychiatric hospitalization at the age of 28, I was encouraged by a doctor to work as a cashier making change. If I could handle that, I was told, we would reassess my ability to hold a more demanding position, perhaps even something full-time.
Then I made a decision. I would write the narrative of my life. Today I am a chaired professor at the University of Southern California Gould School of Law. I have an adjunct appointment in the department of psychiatry at the medical school of the University of California, San Diego, and am on the faculty of the New Center for Psychoanalysis. The MacArthur Foundation gave me a genius grant.
… Continue reading Successful and Schizophrenic
TED - Elyn Saks: A tale of mental illness -- from the inside
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We have adopted Wee Mama's and akadjian's guidance on communicating. But most important, be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.
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UPDATED Oct. 31 2PM Thanks to oldpotsmuggler for a great question.
What does Elyn Saks have to do with Firearms Law and Policy?
The larger context is sometimes referred to as "criminalization of mental illness" and we already know fears about the "pre-crime" of seeking health services for mental health issues can prevent people from seeking care that they both need and have a right to.
"Farewell to Privacy. Hello to Arms." Open Thread w Poll
Our concerns about keeping guns out of the hands of "high risk individuals" runs straight up against our cherished notions of doctor-patient confidentiality. Calls for mandatory reporting of mental health treatment will likely intensify as part of efforts to prevent "the mentally ill" from having access to firearms. Such arguments may appeal to "common sense," even though the vast majority of people who seek mental health services are not violent. The risk is already evident; people who need mental health services may forego treatment when they perceive that they could stand to lose their job, their career, and/or their right to keep and bear arms when they seek mental health services. We must be cautious about unintended consequences of mandatory reporting, that would discourage people from accessing healthcare services or foregoing treatment that they need.
One of the questions that echos through my mind when I think about Aaron Alexis is What if he had started treatment years ago? I imagine he would have lost his security clearance and would probably have had to change careers. In addition, with the stigma that still surrounds mental illness, it's easy to understand that someone might try to cope with symptoms on their own rather than tell their doctor.
As calls grow louder to "do something" about gun violence, do we care enough, as a civil society, to carefully balance the civil rights of all involved?
...Continue reading "Farewell to Privacy. Hello to Arms." Open Thread w Poll.
In a comment thread in that diary I wrote:
In stark contrast, the entire country is subject to a loss of medical privacy and is required to have their mental health records subject to inspection/repository in state and federal databases. This invasion of privacy is tolerated by all even though a majority of the country has NOT been convicted of any crime, does not own a gun and may have no interest in ever owning or carrying a gun. Fears about the loss of medical privacy very likely inhibits some people who need treatment from seeking care.
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