When Mary Palafox attempted to drive her delusional son to the hospital, he would jump out of her car, even on the freeway.
After he dropped out of college, he looked homeless, despite living in her house in unincorporated North Tustin. She would beg him to bathe.
Mary Palafox holds bags of anti-psychotic drugs that were unsuccessfully prescribed for her schizophrenic son before eventually finding the right ones to treat his condition. Palafox, of unincorporated north Tustin, struggled to get involuntary treatment for her son before his 2009 arrest for brandishing a gun at police officers.
EUGENE GARCIA, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
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Mental health resources in Orange County
Adult Mental Health Services: Go to ochealthinfo.com/amhs or call 714-480-6767; for Evaluation & Treatment Services call 714-834-6900.
Orange County Crisis Prevention Hotline: 877-727-4747
Mental Health Services Act: Services and resources provided under Prop. 63 passed in 2004. Go to ochealthinfo.com/mhsa or call 714-667-5620.
National Alliance on Mental Illness Orange County: Nonprofit group offers education, support and advocacy. Go to namioc.org or call 714-544-8488. Warm line operates 9 a.m.-11 p.m. weekdays and 10 a.m.-11 p.m. weekends at 714-991-6412 or toll free 877-910-9276.
Palafox, 58, felt powerless as she watched her son disintegrate into the distorted reality of schizophrenia. When he became completely incapacitated, she called 911.
Under state law, he could only be held in a psychiatric ward against his will for 72 hours and then he would come home again.
"They don't have institutions anymore, so we're the institution," Palafox said. "The family's home has become the institution. If it's not there, it's usually the jail."
Palafox gained legal authority to force him into treatment only after he was arrested during a suicide attempt in 2009 for allegedly brandishing a gun at an officer.
"If my son had autism I could advocate for him and get services," said Palafox, a nurse. "If my mother had Alzheimer's I could advocate and get services for her. I had to wait for him to deteriorate to the point that I could legally take his rights away in conservatorship and that occurred only after the charges."
Palafox's son, 28, declined to be interviewed. He is stable and takes medication daily. The Register is not identifying him to protect his privacy and because his criminal case is still pending.
As the nation mourns the school massacre in Connecticut that killed 20 children, some parents and psychiatrists say treatment should be mandatory for severely mentally ill patients.
It's unknown if shooter Adam Lanza suffered from a psychiatric disorder, but other young killers have, including James Holmes, who killed 12 at the Batman movie opening in Colorado in July, and Jared Loughner, who killed six in Arizona and wounded a congresswoman in January of 2011.
Lanza was 20, a peak age for the onset of schizophrenia, said Dr. Gerald Maguire, a UC Irvine psychiatrist.
"People can talk about gun control, and I think that's an important issue as well. But with many of these mass shootings, what they have in common is a psychotic young man who was not in treatment and needed better help," Maguire said. "At some point, when does the right of society take over the right of that individual who may have impaired judgment?"
Palafox has pushed unsuccessfully for Orange County to adopt Laura's Law, a state statute that allows counties to require outpatient treatment for those with serious mental illness. So far, only one Northern California county has done so, and a pilot program is under way in Los Angeles.
"There's a lot of 'Adams' sitting at home playing violent video games," Palafox said. "There's a lot of people becoming Jokers."
Orange County spends about $300 million a year for behavioral health, which is mostly mental health services, but includes substance abuse programs. In the last fiscal year, the county received about $95 million in Mental Health Services Act funds, a voter approved tax on millionaires.
Mary Hale, director of behavioral health services for the county, said money from Prop. 63 has helped pay for additional programs in the midst of the state's fiscal crisis.
The extra dollars allowed the county to expand its mobile psychiatric assessment teams to operate around the clock in every part of the county. It has funded prevention and early intervention programs and a "first onset" program for young people ages 14-25 for when they have their first symptoms of psychosis.
"With prevention programs, you have to wait for the return on investment," Hale said. "I do have hope. I do believe these programs will make a difference."
Hale said the need for mental health services in the county exceeds available funding. Money has been an issue in implementing Laura's Law, which would apply to an estimated 120 people each year locally.
Under current law, an adult can't be hospitalized unless the person is a danger to himself, a danger to others or gravely disabled, meaning unable to care for himself. Hale said the overwhelming majority of mentally ill people are not violent.
"There will be people on both sides," Hale said. "From a civil liberties side, to take someone in involuntarily, it shouldn't be easy."
Maguire, the UC Irvine psychiatrist, said laws protecting the mentally ill from forced treatment grew out of the widespread institutionalization that began in the 1950s. He said even when a person is forcibly hospitalized, the patient can't be medicated without a court order.
"I think we've gone a little too far the other way in my book," Maguire said. "We need some sort of middle ground."
Palafox said her son was extroverted, warm and musically gifted when suddenly he began to change during college. He became withdrawn, paranoid and stopped showing up for his musical performances. Palafox had him tested for drugs, but he came up clean.
After a number of visits to the emergency room, he was eventually diagnosed with schizophrenia, a brain disorder affecting roughly 1 percent of the population.
"It traumatized him to hear the diagnosis," Palafox recalled. "He didn't believe it. He was also too ill to understand it."
Palafox said her son never had delusions of hurting others, but he would feel so tormented she feared for his safety. He would smash mirrors and punch holes in the wall. When she called the police or social workers, she was told she could have him arrested but not hospitalized because he would not give consent.
"If a person believes they're Jesus, it's well documented that you cannot change that delusional thought pattern that they're Jesus until medication is initiated," she said. "They would look at him with his liberties, his patient freedom. I believe community safety outweighs a person's freedom."
After he was arrested, Palafox's son spent four months in a psychiatric hospital. Palafox obtained a conservatorship, and she said her son willingly takes his medication.
But she's shocked that it took felony charges before he could receive the medical help he needed.
"What happened to my son was predictable and preventable," she said. "I've always said a mother's love is going to change this. I have prayed all the time that goodness would come out of my son's story."
Contact the writer: To sign an online petition in support of Laura's Law in Orange County, visit lauraslawoc.org/
Contact the writer: cperkes@ocregister.com 714-796-3686
Source: http://www.ocregister.com/articles/palafox-381501-son-county.html
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