Adventures with Dr. Lady Cutie Troublemaker

Life is in flux BIG TIME these days. I want to keep in touch with all of my peeps. The Internet is this beautiful thing. I can move to a brand new city and still stay in easy, near-daily contact with the people I love. When I feel connected to the people in my life that matter, I am unstoppable!

This May Be Dad’s Best Letter Yet

By Abby at 6:30 am on Saturday, July 2, 2005

He sent this one to the Commercial Appeal. Maybe they will print this one. I mean, he mentions stupid ole Tom Cruise. What’s not to like?!

While the general outrage at Tom Cruise’s Scientology based attack on Psychiatry is certainly justified, there is a part of what he said that is pertinent to a contemporary Memphis issue.  In the past, some individuals were, in fact, committed to mental institutions by their families inappropriately.  There was abuse of the desparate treatments of the time – psychosurgery, insulin coma therapy, excessive electroconvulsive therapy.  Thereafter, Mental Health Codes were radially changed to protect people from being deprived of their civil liberties by some loophole of mental illness.  Facilities offering treatment of any kind had to be licensed, inspected, and had to have specific legal procedures to insure that treatment was consistent with the Bill of Rights – our Constitutional guarantees of Freedom.

The Love in Action facility is a program that offers treatment for "addictions,"  yet it is operating outside the regulation required for such places.  They have no process for guaranteeing "due process" for their clients.  Parents can apparently sign their children in for a long period of "treatment," even children sixteen years old.  The case of Zach brought this to the public’s awareness, but beyond the specific case, how can such a facility exist without licensure?  How can a self declared "treatment" center that holds children against their will be operating with no oversight from the State of Tennessee?  If legitimate treatment centers for the treatment of alcohol or drug addictions require licensure, how can a fringe group like Love in Action treat something they claim to be an addiction, namely Homosexuality, without any review by the State?

They were investigated and cleared by DFCS of "Child Abuse."  "Child Abuse" is hardly the point.  The point is that Love in Action is a Mental Hospital operating without a license!

Filed under: Dad's Wisdom,Politics/Social Justice,Zach/Love in Action/Refuge2 Comments »

Legality of “Treating” Homosexuality

By Abby at 8:41 pm on Friday, July 1, 2005

While driving, I had a flash of inspiration. What if card-carrying members of the two APAs (and maybe even all the other opponents of Reparative Therapy) started a letter-writing campaign. My dad and I know plenty of members of both organizations. There is definite illegailty here. I was shocked at the response my Dad received from the Tennessee Department of Mental Health.

The Tennessee Department of Mental Health licenses mental health facilities that treat mental illnesses.  The group/program in question is not a mental health facility and we have no relationship, nor do we have first-hand knowledge of the group/program you reference.  The Tennessee Department of Mental Health is in compliance of all laws related to mental health issues and mental health facilities. However, the program/group in question is currently being investigated by the Tennessee Dept. of Childrens Services, which is the proper channel.

Whuh?! LIA/R is treating homosexuality as if it is a pathological mental illness, even though all of the major mental health associations say it isn’t. So all I have to do if I want to skirt the laws of the Tennessee Department of Mental Health is to say, "I’m not a mental health facility." Wow… so that’s easy. Good grief.

After driving, I read about this on EJ’s blog. It’s very good news. I think I’m going to continue to think through my idea of earlier this evening. See, I keep my online life and my work life separate… and for good reason. But just because I learned about this online doesn’t mean it isn’t highly relevant to my professional life. Enlisting the support of other APA member in Memphis may be just the ticket. I’m still considering it. 

My Dad’s resonse to the message he received from the TDMH was classic Abby’s Dad. I know you fans out there won’t be disappointed:

I appreciate your response, though I don’t agree with it.  Love in Action IS a mental health facility.  They claim to be treating an "addiction,"  They "hold" children based on their parent’s wishes.  If you read their application – it is written like a "mental health" application.  Their facility IS a treatment facility, hiding as a ministry.  If they were "treating" any of the more usual "addictions," you’d require a license.  Maybe it’s too delicate to want to take them on, but don’t kid yourself – it is a treatment facility skirting your laws.

This latest Blade article makes me wonder if maybe they read dad’s letter.

When it comes down to it, I probably wouldn’t be putting up this fight if it were only serving adults who signed up willigly. I’d heard in a Psych seminar at the beginning of this year that a place like this existed, and I thought LAME, but I didn’t get all activist about it, but this? Completely ridiculous, and it seems illegal.

Filed under: Dad's Wisdom,Politics/Social Justice,Uncategorized,Zach/Love in Action/Refuge2 Comments »

Watch This Space

By Abby at 12:55 pm on Saturday, June 25, 2005

Keep watching this space for my dad’s rants about Scientology. I think there are about to be many! Tom Cruise up and opened his big stupid mouth to Matt Lauer. Sigh. I liked it better when Tom was all private ‘n’ shit! 😛

Filed under: Blog Announcements,Dad's Wisdom2 Comments »

FREE ZACH! Tenn. investigates ex-gay camp (Oh, and Abby’s Dad and EJ Kick ASS!)

By Abby at 8:52 pm on Thursday, June 23, 2005

E.J. contacted me recently about a journalist from the New York Blade who was writing a piece on Zach’s predicament. He wanted to know if I was willing to have this journalist contact me. It’s interesting, because I don’t really see myself as highly involved in this situation. I post about it as much as I can because I know people read my blog, but I haven’t been able to go to the protests. I see myself more as a publicist. I post about Zach here, and I put up a lot of links on Tribe. That’s about it.

I was contacted, and I answered the questions, but I told the journalist that my Dad was the one who had really been looking into the mental health laws and writing to "a gajillion Tennessee Health Agencies." He was the guy to talk to. Dad was contacted, and his response to the journalist (similar to the one to a gajillion) was as follows:

It is quite confusing. The Tennessee Mental Health Code is here. In general, it follows the Codes that are common throughout the United States. Involuntary Commitment requires that a person be both mentally ill and dangerous to self or others [meaning suicidal or homicidal]. Voluntary admission to a mental heath facility is something parents of minors can sign, independent of the child’s wishes. The issues here are multiple:

  1. Is Love in Action a Mental Health Facility? I found no evidence that it is, but I had access to only the internet and they haven’t responded to my requests for information. Nothing on their site suggests any certification of any kind.
  2. Are the people working at Love in Action mental health professionals? That one seems to be clear. No they aren’t.
  3. Does Zach have a mental illness? As best one can determine, he’s a kid who told his parents he is gay. Homosexuality is not classified as a mental illness by any scientific discipline. As you will see on their site, Love in Action defines it as not mental illness.
  4. Is Zach dangerous? He says no. Certainly homosexuality isn’t dangerous.
  5. Zach is 16 years old. Here’s what the Tennessee law says: 33-8-202 [NEW; derived from former §§ 33-6-101 and 33-6-102] (a) If a child with serious emotional disturbance or mental illness is sixteen (16) years of age or older, the child has the same rights as an adult with respect to outpatient and inpatient mental health treatment, medication decisions, confidentia linformation, and participation in conflict resolution procedures under this title except as provided inpart 3 of this chapter or as otherwise expressly provided in this title. If the child’s parent,legal guardian, legal custodian, or treating professional believes that the child’s decision to terminatetreatment, other than a
    request for discharge under chapter 6, part 2 of this title, will havesevere adverse effects on the child, the conflict resolution procedures under chapter 2, part 6 of this title shall be used.

So, I can see nothing that suggests that Love in Action would have any reason to hold a kid against his will. It’s not a hospital; It’s not staffed by trained professionals; Zach’s not mentally ill; and Zach’s not dangerous.

The only possibilities are that:

  1. Zach’s parents signed him in. That wouldn’t hold up in any court anywhere for the reasons enumerated above.
  2. Zach was coerced into signing himself in. There’s no way to verify that, as Love in Action won’t respond. The only way to deal with that would be through legal channels.

Even if he was induced to sign himself into the program, they would be hard pressed to defend his being voluntary. See his blog entries: Link 1, Link 2, Link 3, Link 4

In their press conference, they skirted any statements about Zach, or legality. They had a series of testimonials. To me, this is something of an unimaginable situation, reminiscent of the mid-19th Century when people were committed to Hospitals by families for all sorts of things. Certainly, in my 30+ years as a Psychiatrist in public mental health facilities, academic medicine, and private practice, I never saw any such thing. It seems to me that rather than marching around the Love in Action facility, marching to the office of the Mental Health Commissioner ofthe State of Tennessee or the American Civil Liberties Union would be abetter strategy. Although it’s possible that there are some otherfactors involved, Zach appears to be a person who has been deprived of his Constitutional rights without due process of law – because he’s gay.

I’m not directly involved in any of this. I was just incredulous when my daughter called it to my attention and got interested. I’m sorry I don’t have any direct information to give you. But I agree that this story needs to be told.

Abby’s Dad, M.D.

 

As a mental health professional (to be, as I’m not yet licensed, just like Love in Action!), I know this unfortunate statement to be true: "Emotional abuse is difficult to prove in the state of Tennessee," said Pamela Dickey, director of the advocacy center for Childhelp USA in Knoxville. "You have to document that the child is undergoing depression or suicidal ideation, that he can’t sleep, or can’t eat." 

Still, there is happy news via today’s New York Blade. And if you’re keeping up, here are the latest "Zach Love in Action" posts tracked on Blogpulse. For the record, EJ and Dad are impressing the shit out of me. We might just get Zach busted out of that hellhole, or even better still, we might shut the evil place down!

Filed under: Dad's Wisdom,Memphis,Politics/Social Justice,Uncategorized,Zach/Love in Action/Refuge2 Comments »

Dad Strikes Again!

By Abby at 12:13 pm on Thursday, June 16, 2005

You may have noticed (f you’ve read for a while) that my Dad is a regular writer of letters to the editor when it comes to issues of social justice. This morning, he sent me an e-mail he wrote to Love in Action, the group that is saving poor Zach from his homosexuality:

TN Mental Illness Law

"Press Conference: LIA will be hosting a press conference on Thursday, June 16, 2005 at 11 a.m. at our facility at 4780 Yale Road. "

At your press conference, please bring the evidence to show that  Zach has been involuntarily committed to treatment at your facility for a mental illness as defined above under the laws of the State of Tennessee, and that your facility is licensed to manage such cases. We’re not interested in what you "think."  We’re interested in the legality of what you "do."

Abby’s Dad, M.D.

Go Dad! Stick it to the homophobic man!

Update: Zach article

Filed under: Dad's Wisdom,Politics/Social Justice,Zach/Love in Action/Refuge2 Comments »
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