Britney Spears is back in the hospital now that rumors of her alleged drug use are rampant, and her disheveled public appearances and chameleon-like personality have raised suspicions that the former pop star has multiple personality disorder.
The question is: Will she finally get treatment? Many don't, unfortunately, because mental health services are woefully inadequate for people who are committed for the first or second time.
In most cases, the first or second commitment is a jail commitment. The nation's largest psychiatric facility, professionals say, is the Los Angeles County Jail. Psychiatric problems aren't usually detected unless someone commits a crime, and then they're forced to undergo an evaluation.
From The Lost Angeles Times:
Los Angeles Police officers physically removed pop star Britney Spears from her home early today, placing the troubled celebrity on a "mental health evaluation hold," authorities said.
More than a dozen motorcycle officers and a Los Angeles Fire Department ambulance swept through the front gates of Spears hilltop Studio City residence shortly before 1 a.m., as a police helicopter hovered overheard. At 1:08 a.m., officers inside the home radioed to commanders that "the package is on the way out."
Spears was rushed from a side entrance of her home into an ambulance. As she was driven down Coldwater Canyon Boulevard, her vehicle was escorted by more than a dozen motorcycle officers, two cruisers and two police helicopters. Her final destination was the UCLA Medical Center, authorities said.
This is the second time in a month that Spears has been placed on a 72-hour welfare hold. The first occurred on Jan. 3, when Spears declined to give up custody of her children to ex-husband Kevin Federline.
The Summit, the winding street on which Spears lives in Studio City, was jammed with the vehicles of journalists and photographers for several hours prior to the police operation.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Britney Spears hospitalized for "mental health reasons;" but will she get treatment?
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Of course, we have to wonder if being on a psychiatric unit necessarily means getting treatment let alone that which is frequently represented. Too often inpatient treatment is little more then "meds, beds and milieu." A far cry from what we would associate with non-psychiatric inpatient care. Perhaps it will be different for Ms. Spears; perhaps it won't. Tragically, words and deeds rarely intersect in the mental health system.
For example -
New Jersey has long had a statute requiring state psychiatric hospitals deliver inpatient care in accordance with the highest professional standards. More recently the State asserted in both its CMHS Block Grant Report and its Transformation Action Plan "..... Recovery now implemented in all State psychiatric facilities." (see below for recovery) Ancora, New Jersey's largest inpatient psychiatric hospital states on its website, "Our mission is to provide quality comprehensive psychiatric, medical and rehabilitative services that encourage maximum patient independence and movement towards community reintegration with an environment that is safe and caring." In January, a patient at Ancora who was on two-on-one watch committed suicide which led to yet another examination of this institution. The Assistant Commissioner later wrote, "The changes that will be made at Ancora to ensure a safe, therapeutic, and dignified environment will be challenging." Who would have thought that it would be challenging to institute a safe, therapeutic, and dignified environment at an institution within an inpatient system which has represented the same for so long?
Let's hope Ms. Spears is afforded the care we would expect and might well be represented. I wonder if despite all the press coverage anyone will bother reporting on what constitutes treatment at the very inpatient facility she is in and what outcomes it regularly engenders.
SAMHSA: The 10 Fundamental Components of Recovery, http://download.ncadi.samhsa.gov/ken/pdf/SMA05-4129/trifold.pdf
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