A RESPONSE

This is one of the responses I got to my last blog.
Hi Ed:
I had to look up this article; I also looked at the review article written by Compton et al from which he quotes. Reading between the lines it would seem the esteemed Dr. Geller has something personal against CIT—but hey, that’s just an opinion. The disdain for “many folks who are the ‘beneficiaries’ of frequent police pickups which lead to jail, emergency room, psychiatric hospital, or shelter…” is obvious. After all, “In a short time they’ll be back on the streets, and the play will repeat itself.” In other words, CIT is a waste of time and money because training cops to take people to treatment when the people don’t want it doesn’t work. It didn’t make the hairs on the back of my neck stand up; it turned my stomach. But you can ask Dr. Geller any question you want. At the bottom of the first column on the first page of the article is his contact information:
Jeffrey L. Geller, MD, MPH
Department of Psychiatry
University of Massachusetts Medical School
55 Lake Avenue North
Worcester, MA 01655
Better yet, his email is jeffrey.geller@umassmed.edu
I’m too pissed to email right now; if I ever do, I would ask what he would recommend, in light of the numbers of people who are on the streets untreated. And I would disabuse him of the delusion that treatment is readily available and accessible, because you and I know that it is not. And I would remind him, because he might have forgotten, that mental illness is a relapsing, chronic condition, and that we are prone to setbacks. Unlike superior specimens like him, of course, who have no need of professional help and who never have encountered the criminal justice system from the bottom side. By the way, his disdain is not only for consumers—did you catch the “I’ve trained police officers, and those who are interested pay attention; those who are not, do not.” This, obviously to him, is because police officers are different than other people? I know lots of psychiatrists who don’t listen or pay attention to their own patients!
What, I wonder, does he really want? Maybe he thinks cops should just be cops, and leave the treatment of mentally ill persons to the professionals.
He is a pompous ass. All that intelligence and all that ability, and this commentary is nothing but a mean spirited criticism of people who are trying to help. There is not a single positive recommendation, not a shred of evidence of concern for consumers, or for police officers, or family members, or anyone. I think we do need research. Evidence-based is always best. Always. I think CIT can be improved. So---we wait and do nothing until someone conducts a multicenter, randomized, double-blind study?
E-mail him if you must, Ed, but let’s not you or I spend too much time fretting over this. We have our own recovery to work on, and lots of friends to support in their recovery.
Jana
You can reach me directly at edcooper@projectdreamagain.com
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