Do People Have the Right to Leave Mental Illness Untreated?

Do people have the right to leave mental illness untreated? That is the question of the day. Now, I know some of you are offended by this and are likely saying, “Heck yeah! Of could people have the right not to treat a mental illness!” Well, let’s think about this for a minute. Maybe this doesn’t apply to all groups of people; maybe there are select groups of people who truly don’t have the right to untreated mental illness (Violence in Aurora: Untreated Mental Illness, Again?).

Why Do People Leave Their Mental Illness Untreated?

There are a whole variety of reasons people choose not to treat mental illnesses. For example:

• They don’t believe in mental illness or psychiatry
• They don’t think they have a mental illness (denial or anosognosia)
• They deal with their mental illness through destructive means (like through substance abuse)
• They think they’re doing fine without treatment

And, of course, I’m sure there are many other reasons why people choose to be floridly ill as well.

Note that I’m talking about people who are ill, hurting others and have access to treatment and choose not to accept it. I’m not talking about those in other situations.

The Right to Untreated Mental Illness

And I would suggest that, yes, some people do have the right to untreated mental illness both legally and morally. For example, you take a person who lives alone and chiefly chooses to hurt him or herself, well, then I guess it’s his or her choice to be sick.

And when it comes to the law, the vast majority of people have the right to maintain an untreated mental illness. The law does not, generally, go about forcing treatment on many people. (There are exceptions to this, here and there.)

The Right to an Untreated Mental Illness That Harms Others

But what about all the people who choose to have an untreated mental illness who seriously hurt others? What about all the people who have a serious, untreated mental illness and this causes them to commit violent acts? What about the people who have untreated mental illness and this drives them to criminal acts? And what about the people for whom these acts are a lifestyle? I’m not talking about beating a guy up in a bar one time or being caught shoplifting once at the mall. I’m talking about people who chronically hurts others and society because of their untreated mental illnesses.

Do these people really have the right to untreated mental illness – particularly in the cases where these people do not even comprehend the mental illness if they have and the harm they are doing? Should someone not step in and try to, at least, stabilize them so they can start making conscious decisions about their own mental health?

And this does happen, sometimes. For example, when in front of a judge, a person with a mental illness may get sentenced to treatment instead of jail? (This does not happen nearly enough but that’s another post. [The Need for Mental Health Courts]) Or when in jail, a person may receive treatment there. Either way, the person is institutionalized for doing whatever criminal act he or she did and then that is the only way he or she receives treatment.

Of course, when these people are released from institutions they may choose to go back to being untreated – many do. And this creates a revolving door where these people go from incarceration to hospitalization over and over and over again – harming themselves, the system and society over and over and over again.

And, seriously, do these people have the right to do that? Would these people not have the chance at a better life if treatment were applied? A society can easily be judged by how it treats its sickest and poorest and, right now, I’m not sure what it says about us that we really don’t.

People in Positions of Authority with Untreated Mental Illnesses

And this brings me to the subject of people in positions of authority. What about your child’s daycare worker? What about a teacher? What about your dentist? If they don’t harm people to the extent of going to prison, they absolutely, legally, have the right to untreated mental illness but, morally, should they?

Do Parents Have A Right to Untreated Mental Illness?

And then there are parents. Naturally, I have an opinion on whether parents have the moral right to untreated mental illness because that’s what my father chose. He once said, “If I choose to die drunk in a ditch, that’s it no one’s business but my own.”

See the following video for my thoughts on this.

So, you see, it’s not so clear cut. Who has the moral and legal right to an untreated illness is something we’re still working on as a society.

For more information on the rare cases when the courts do mandate treatment when a person leaves an institution, please see the Treatment Advocacy Center’s information on assisted outpatient laws.

You can find Natasha Tracy on Facebook or Google+ or @Natasha_Tracy on Twitter or at Bipolar Burble, her blog.