Deck 15: Involuntary Psychiatric Commitment the Case of Joyce Brown

Question 1

Kendra's Law allows involuntary hospitalization for:

A) homeless, psychiatric children under the age of 18.
B) violent people who have been hospitalized for mental illness and who refuse to take their medication.
C) violent people awaiting trial who appear mentally unstable and who otherwise could go free on bail and harm someone.
D) violent people awaiting trial who have been diagnosed in the past with a mental illness and who pose a "clear and present" danger to their families or others.
E) violent people awaiting trial who have been diagnosed in the past with a mental illness and who would benefit from psychiatric medication.

Answer 1

violent people who have been hospitalized for mental illness and who refuse to take their medication.

Question 2

In the Alabama legal decision of Wyatt vs. Stickney, Judge Frank Johnson held that:

A) a person must be dangerous to self or others to be committed.
B) if a person is a minor, different standards must be obtained for commitment.
C) a state institution must release inmates or provide some minimal treatment for them.
D) a person has the right to refuse medication even if she has been legally committed.
E) a person can be committed on the testimony of two psychiatrists.

Answer 2

a state institution must release inmates or provide some minimal treatment for them.

Question 3

Joyce Brown's ultimate medical problem was:

A) schizophrenia
B) addiction to cocaine
C) homelessness
D) being a minority citizen
E) having her sisters persecute her

Answer 3

addiction to cocaine

Question 4

Thomas Szasz holds that, to be real, mental illness must be rooted in:

A) failure to adjust to social life.
B) proper values.
C) functioning well in a family.
D) biology.
E) diagnosis by a psychiatrist.

Question 5

The 1976 Tarasoff decision concerns:

A) involuntary commitment.
B) definitions of legal insanity.
C) therapist's duty to take reasonable steps to warn patients of lethal threats.
D) definitions of psychiatric competence and incompetence.
E) minimally decent living conditions in psychiatric hospitals.

Question 6

According to the O'Connor vs. Donaldson decision, which of the following conditions in state laws would NOT be Constitutional?

A) Legislating that a person must suffer a mental illness to be committed.
B) Legislating that a person can be committed if (A) is true, and she is also dangerous to others.
C) Legislating that a person can be committed if (A) is true, and she is also dangerous to herself.
D) Legislating that a person can be committed if she has no mental illness but neglects herself so much that her health is weakened.
E) Legislating that a person can be committed if (A) is true and if she is dangerous to herself, and specifying that "dangerous to herself" includes an overt threat to others.

Question 7

The chapter on Joyce Brown suggests that, in relation to Project Help:

A) Joyce was a good person to pick up first.
B) picking up Joyce was Mayor Koch's idea.
C) although Joyce may have been a good person to pick up first, her story shows the dangers of involuntary commitment.
D) minorities get picked on for involuntary mental commitment.
E) childless people get targeted for involuntary mental commitment.

Question 8

The Rosenhan study is famous for showing:

A) the best way to predict dangerousness in the emergency room is simply to ask patients if they have previously acted dangerously.
B) that psychiatry can't do much for most mentally ill patients.
C) that mental illness has biological causes.
D) that problems in living are wrongly called mental illnesses.
E) the power of being labeled schizophrenic inside mental institutions.

Question 9

Deinstitutionalization failed to work because of:

A) NIMBY
B) Fragmentation of services for mentally ill homeless people
C) Most of the people released were not mentally ill
D) A and B
E) A and C

Question 10

Mayor Koch supposedly wanted to commit Joyce Brown for one reason, but lawyers of the Americans Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) claimed that she was being committed because she was:

A) insane
B) dangerous to herself
C) dangerous to others
D) homeless
E) an intravenous drug-user and prostitute