Challenging behavior continues
During the course of the interview, he was able to demonstrate that he understands the meaning of making a threat, of committing a crime, and of the roles of the different courtroom personnel. However, the stress of court highlights his interpersonal problems. In this particular case, he recounts: “Court had not yet started; I was talking to my lawyer, and the judge interrupted me, so I answered: Wait your turn [expletive] … not my greatest idea.” When asked about his past referral for competency, he mentions it was in response to trying to fire a public defender because “she was Mexican. I don’t work with those.”
Given his behavior, it is unclear how else a judge or a lawyer could have acted. One could argue that it would be a mistake not to refer this defendant for a competency evaluation, considering his outbursts. On the other hand, he had been evaluated many times before, and the opinion of well-respected forensic psychiatrists was that he did not have a mental illness.
While we reflect on our experience with this defendant, we are unsure of the lessons to be learned. We ponder whether psychiatry does a disservice when not being clearer about what constitutes a serious mental illness. We wonder if we exacerbated the confusion by the removal of “Axis II” categories from the DSM, implying that severe personality disorders are no longer different from, say, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Rarely do we hear psychiatrists point out that unusual behaviors do not equal mental illness. We are often too pleased in advocating for more resources by saying that all crimes, all substance misuses, and all annoying behaviors are forms of mental illness when, in reality, the criminal4, the addictive5, and the less common6 are not always biologically based mental disorders or even the real problem, for that matter.
This defendant is difficult. He argues, he yells, he provokes, and he hurts others physically as well as emotionally. While many psychiatrists have decided to codify this pattern of behavior within the B cluster of personality traits, have we misled the public into thinking that patients with personality disorders require the same attention and care as patients with other forms of mental illness, like schizophrenia? Often, we see patients with schizophrenia, bipolar depression, or major depression, who even at their best, are too impaired to file their taxes, apply for an identity card, or understand the complexity of the legal system.
Psychiatry’s difficulty in verbalizing the difference between those disorders harms the public perception of mental disorders. As a result, we have a forensic system similar to the rest of the community health care system – with an abundance of individuals with severe mental illness not referred for treatment or evaluation, and several patients with personality disorders bogging down a system with very limited resources. It is our responsibility not only to educate the public on how to manage and contain the emotions that patients with personality disorders engender in us, but also to educate the public on how to recognize patients with profound mentally ill patients who are quietly suffering.
Dr. Badre is affiliated with the county of San Diego, the University of California at San Diego, and the University of San Diego. Dr. Rao is a San Diego–based board-certified psychiatrist with expertise in forensic psychiatry, correctional psychiatry, telepsychiatry, and inpatient psychiatry.
References
1. Competency to Stand Trial and Mental Illness: Final Report. Rockville, Md.: National Institute of Mental Health, 1973.
2. Youth on Trial: A Developmental Perspective on Juvenile Justice. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000.
3. J Am Acad Psychiatry Law. 2007;35(4 Suppl):S3-72.
4. Clin Psychiatry News. 2017;45(8):5.