So Lucas says that he walked around a lot, and did art therapy, basically drawing with markers like a 6-year-old.
He's got to be hiding the real story of therapy, right? There's no possible way that someone with his serious mental problems gets dragged into a psych facility and they don't even try to do a deep dive into what's wrong with him, right?
I mean, this is Lucas simply not wanting to talk about the stuff that makes him look bad and crazy, right?
Because if this is anywhere near true, if the psych wards in Spokane take Lucas in, and their treatment for him is letting him cool off by drawing with crayons, and loading him up with drugs, that's a pretty sad statement on the nature of treatment in the mental health system.
I'm thinking he's lying and hiding things, because I doubt they would dose him with drugs that hardcore and specific, without any sort of analysis.
Lucas just doesn't want to talk about the sort of stuff that he tells psychiatrists. Which is one of the reasons why these sort of conversations are my holy Grail of Wernalia.
I don’t think he is lying and what he is saying pretty much matches up with contemporary mental health practices. Lengthy inpatient stays (i.e. more than 30 days) require one of two conditions being met: (i) the person is either a continuous danger to themselves/others or (ii) they voluntarily stay and someone is footing the bill. Since Lucas is indigent and on the dole, (ii) will never happen unless his circumstances change radically. So the question at hand is, “Does Lucas pose a danger to himself and others?”
Big picture? I think him getting charged with some kind of assault on a young woman is an inevitability. Yet, what I think doesn’t mean shit when it comes to forensic psychiatry and American jurisprudence. Lucas’ right to due process and the relevant legal standards that have to be met pretty much guarantees that he’ll never be deemed that much of a risk to trigger the legal process to keep him for a lengthy involuntary stay. He’ll need to commit some kind of crime that carries consequences above and beyond the nuisance shit he catches paper for.
Lucas was brought in for ostensibly making statements about suicide and with a diagnosis of bi-polar, that is a garden variety admission seen on a daily basis. Typically being suicidal is a transitory state and the majority of people with or without a diagnosed mental illness won’t stay suicidal past a 72 hour hold and almost no one can go longer than 14 days in such a state. Those who do manage to stay in the state for longer than 14 days transcend the usual categories and doctors, judges, families, and patient advocates are usually on the same page in those circumstances. At that point neurologists are being consulted, expensive brain imaging is being done, and so on.
The game plan with someone who is suicidal is pretty much keep them safe, medicate them, and observe. Even if they refuse all medication and simply stare at the wall, the suicidal state is going to pass and when it does, the staff start planning your discharge. If you are no longer suicidal and you don’t want to be there, they pretty much have to release you unless there are mitigating reasons. Lucas and his lack of housing is a potential one, his diabetes could be another, perhaps they started him on a new medication with serious side effects that merited a longer stay, all sorts of things.
Lucas' narcissism or whatever personality disorders he has wouldn’t be a reason. The crazy shit we read and hear from him does not even begin to meet the criteria for a delusional disorder by a meaningful diagnostic tool that has doubtless been administered to him more than once already. Realistically, there aren't any effective treatments for what keeps Lucas obsessing about young women and fertility. He will always be like this, no matter what his personal circumstances are. Theoretically, there are therapies that could help him manage whatever his personality issue is, but even if it was made available to Lucas, he’d never stick to it.
Lucas left the hospital with at least two things in his possession: a script for a variety of medications for his physical and mental health, and a referral for continued treatment with some kind of professional like a social worker or licensed therapist. He will disregard both and in lieu of that will eat far outside his budget and get high on legal pot.
