Paying Attention to Postpartum Mental Illness |
|
During the postpartum period, approximately 85% of women experience some type of mood disturbance. Even those women who have never suffered from a mental illness can experience the after-effects of the postpartum period. Many women suffer from what is known as "baby blues," which is a feeling of sadness and anxiety that occurs in the first couple of weeks after delivery. However, some women go on to experience more serious conditions.
Women are often afraid to seek help for their postpartum mental illness. Some women fear that they will be seen as weak and unable to care for their child. Other women fear that efforts to seek help could even lead to their children being taken away from them. However, it is important that we recognize the various types of postpartum mental illness and that greater awareness of these conditions can help women.
Postpartum Depression
Postpartum depression usually appears during the first few months but can appear at any time after delivery. Some women even experience depressive symptoms during pregnancy. It is clinically indistinguishable from other types of depression and includes symptoms such as:
|
|
LawTech Connect with Adriana Linares and Elizabeth Kelley |
|
|
|
Elizabeth Kelley
Criminal Defense Attorney
|
Elizabeth Kelley is a criminal defense lawyer with a nationwide practice specializing in representing people with mental disabilities. She is the co-chair of The Arc's National Center for Criminal Justice and Disability, serves on the American Bar Association’s Commission on Disability Rights, Criminal Justice Section Council, and Editorial Board of the Criminal Justice Magazine. Learn more.
|
|
A Non-Police Response To The Mental Health Crisis |
|
For months people have been gathering in communities across the country, calling for racial justice and an end to police brutality. At the same time, the city of Denver, Colorado, has been experimenting with removing police from some emergency situations and sending in unarmed mental health professionals instead.
Cities like Portland, San Francisco, and New York have recently launched similar programs. Leigh Paterson from member station KUNC has more on this non-police response and a four-wheeled van called Star.
|
|
Second Us Federal Prisoner Executed in Two Days Despite Intellectual Disability |
Alfred Bourgeois, who had been on death row for 15 years, was executed by the US government Friday after the US Supreme Court rejected a last-minute application for a stay. He was the second federal prisoner to be executed by federal authorities in just two days.
Both cases were surrounded by uncertainty. Bourgeois’s appeal claimed he had an IQ of 75 and was intellectually disabled. Lower courts allegedly relied on their own non-expert judgment and stereotypes of people with intellectual disabilities.
|
|
Law Enforcement Officials Face Many Challenges When Interacting With Developmentally Disabled People |
As coronavirus continues to infect our states, homes, and lives, COVID-19 has also forged a piercing call to action to help the vulnerable from what some people view as outdated systems and practices.
|
|
How the Criminal Justice System Fails People With Mental Illness |
At first, Michelle Durden thought her eldest son, Cameron Davis, was just going through some early 20s growing pains. He dropped out of college and quit his job. He began to lose weight and grow his hair long. He spent a lot of time in his room, teaching himself to play guitar. He withdrew from friends and family.
“He was just a good kid. He had a genius IQ, just smart, nice to everybody; loves old people, dogs, the whole thing,” she said. “And then he just got weird.”
Perhaps, Durden and her husband thought, Davis was just trying to find himself. They never considered there might be something else going on. So, in the fall of 2018, they packed Davis into his Ford Fiesta with his clothes, guitars and amplifier, some groceries and cash, and waved goodbye as the 23-year-old set off from their home in North Carolina to Stockton, California, where he would stay with his younger brother, Kevin.
|
|
Incarcerated Women Are Punished for Their Trauma With Solitary Confinement |
At Minnesota’s Shakopee Correctional Facility for women, where I am incarcerated, solitude is something we seldom have a chance to experience. Loud, muffled over-head announcements begin every morning at 5:30 and continue until 9:30 p.m. when we are counted for the last time of the day. There is little privacy; everyone can hear each other’s business when we talk on the phone. Every aspect of our life is micromanaged, from when our blinds have to be raised and lowered, and how many books we can put on a shelf in our room, to the date we have to wear our winter coats regardless of the outside temperature. Prison is manila-walled, grey-clothed and full of blue plastic chairs. Any prisoner could tell you what’s for breakfast on a Wednesday or what’s on TV on a Monday night because our lives are a study in monotony. All of us are called “Offender” all day long. |
|
 |
Representing People with Mental Disabilities: A Criminal Defense Lawyer's Best Practices Manual
Representing People with Mental Disabilities: A Criminal Defense Lawyer's Best Practices Manual, was edited by Elizabeth Kelley. It contains chapters devoted to a variety of issues confronted by people with mental disabilities in the criminal-justice system, such as:
- Competency
- Sanity
- Malingering
- Neuroscience
- Jail and Prison Conditions
|
|
|
|
Representing People with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Practical Guide for Criminal Defense Lawyers
Elizabeth's new book titled Representing People with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Practical Guide for Criminal Defense Lawyers was just released by the American Bar Association. Topics include:
- Co-Occurring Disorders
- Testing
- Competency
- Risk of Violence
- Mitigation.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
