PSYC 3402 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Dsm-5, Personality Disorder, Antisocial Personality Disorder
14 Dec 2016
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PSYC 3402 Mental illness and persons in contact with the law Nov 23rd 2016
• Housing is a major issue for the mentally ill and those coming out of the prison system
o The simple needs of finding housing or structures in place for you to go to you may
end up on the streets
• Or you are in a shelter.
• If you are on the street and have untreated mental illness, and no one is there to check up
on you, you may end up starting a downfall and ultimately end up in contact with the
police.
• The correctional services are trying to fix these services, because many are starting to
believe that this is a community issue.
o Where does the responsibility lie.
Situating mental illness in the media and corrections:
• There have been many news cases that have further stigmatized or stuck fear into the
public about mental illness
• The media gives the impression that individuals with mental illness are very dangerous
• But if we look at most cases people with mental illness are not really dangerous
o People may be inclined to see these "violent cases" and stigmatize mentally ill
people
• Under our new legislation we have a new categorization of NCRMD of high risk
o This means that they have to be put into a psychiatric facility and given treatment
before being in front of a review board.
o If the psychiatrist can prove that they can stabilize the symptoms, then they have
the right to come back into the community.
Media plays a huge role into why mental health patients are seen as problematic
Ashley Smith Case
• This was one that was also about a 19-year-old women, who went into the youth justice
system for throwing crab apples at a postal worker.
o Whe she et ito the syste she did’t adapt ell to the geeral populatio, thus
she spent most of her time in segregation
• It was clear that there was mental illness as she started showing symptoms of harming
herself.
• She was then put into a woman's institution because she continued to commit charges in
her incarceration
o She was never given a opportunity to have access to mental illness facilities as she
was always locked into segregation.
o She eventually committed suicide
• The CJS eventually concluded that it was a preventable death, as it was a systemic flaw
with how they dealt with mental illness
o People who are mentally ill continually decompose within prisons as they aren't
usually given the help needed to treat it.
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
• Sie e hae see the report of Ashley sith, there still has’t ee ay derease i self
har ad etal illess i prisos as they hae't do’t aything.
• However, they have reduced isolation from 30 days to 15.
History of DSM:
• When we look at the history it was first published in 1952 by APA.
o This started to garner a form of record keeping and classification for different types
of behaviour.
• Since then it has evolved, as currently we are in the DSM5, and mental disorder has been
discussed differently
o The DSM classifies mental illness as psychological distress, and in many instances it
has to have significant disturbances on your behaviour, emotional state, and your
cognition.
o Life situatio does’t fall uder this ategory.
Critiques-
• The favored tool is the DSM4, not the 5.
o The reason is because the DSM4 is more categorical and is more user friendly
compared to the DSM5
• There is a lot of emphasis and overlap on symptoms of mental illness
o People can be diagnosed on different disorders because all the symptoms that they
may carry
• Example- may by bipolar, but diagnosed with anxiety and depression
▪ Because these are symptoms that can be included in bi polar disorder.
• It kind of adds to the stigma, as you are still giving a label to the person being diagnosed
o A lot of people do not like this stigma of diagnosis in order to get the treatment that
they need to treat their illness
• If you look at the expansion of the DSM there have been many categories that have been
developed, and the question becomes are all these things warranted to be deemed a
mental disorder
o Or are they part of everyday life?
o If we look historically there has been a tendency to stigmatize, as homosexuality at
one point was considered a mental illness
o From the first DSM to now there has been a 208% increase of classification.
NCRMD and Unfit to Stand Trial:
• It has been deemed by the courts that you classify under NCRMD when you can't
appreciate the consequences of your actions.
• People who meet this criterion will be diverted to a mental health institution that will
eliminate the harms of them being sentenced into a regular prison
o However not many people are found under NCRMD, as just having a mental disorder
gives you the status of this.
o There are many factors that come into play to make this determination
• What we will see is that there is a growing number of mentally ill offenders in our regular
institution
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
If the psychiatrist can prove that they can stabilize the symptoms, then they have the right to come back into the community. Media plays a huge role into why mental health patients are seen as problematic. If we look historically there has been a tendency to stigmatize, as homosexuality at one point was considered a mental illness: from the first dsm to now there has been a 208% increase of classification. In this case, the individual will be diverted to a mental health facility before being sentenced, as though they will not enter the criminal justice system. Deinstitutionalization primarily occurred in 1960 to 1980. People with anti-social personality disorders engage in criminal behaviour. Is very intertwined with this: this is because we have ideas about mental illness and what it means to have it. Idea that mentally ill patients are violent and unpredictable. Creates a situation for where people with mental illness are treated inequitable and unfairly.
