Little Children

The investigation and prosecution of crimes perpetrated by the mentally ill is an excessively sensitive issue. As you will come to understand, legal systems throughout the world have struggled with the determination of one’s guilt in the face of a coexisting psychotic disorder. One controversial case recently tried in Texas is that of Andrea Yates, an American woman who drowned her five children while suffering from postpartum psychosis. In 2002, she was sentenced to life imprisonment for first degree murder. The jury at her second trial in 2006 found her to be not guilty by reason of insanity. Such a ruling remains an extremely rare one in most nations. In a 1991 study of eight U.S. states, the National Institute of Mental Health found that less than 1% of felony cases involved this mental disorder defense and only a fraction of those were successful.

In Kuwait, the man responsible for slaughtering his fourteen-year-old daughter in front of her siblings, after accusing her of no longer being a virgin, was found not guilty by reason of insanity (irresponsible for his actions). According to the Arab Times article, the man was subsequently referred (they likely meant committed) to the Psychological Medicine Hospital for treatment of schizophrenia (???). More recently, a man who attempted to poison eight of his children, successfully killing five, and then trying to commit suicide, was also found not guilty and was committed to the psychiatric facility until deemed fit for discharge.

No Health without Mental Health

Depression is one of the leading contributors to the global burden of disease in close proximity to ischemic heart disease. It is also a major cause of disability worldwide. Other mental disorders like substance abuse and psychotic disorders have shown to contribute to the global burden of disease in a significant way as well. Despite these well-established facts, mental illness remains marginalized in the majority of developed nations. As opposed to the growth witnessed in funding and resources granted for research in other, more “recognized” diseases, mental illness has suffered a decline in this vital support.

In developing countries, the situation is even worse with long term hospitalizations, infrequent contact with mental health providers, use of old medications with poor safety profiles and few, if any, rehabilitative therapies. The stigma of mental illness extends beyond the public to include health care providers making mental health an undesirable profession exacerbating the poor services.