Not getting proper health care: more dangerous than the illness?

In January 2004, Niels hijacked a train while police and a TV crew was on the spot. Though they quickly found out that this was not just a story about a hijacking. It was, instead, the story of a psychotic man not getting proper care and the ways that his madness had taken over.

Insanely Dangerous offers a unique opportunity to understand the mind of one such person. Niels, the hijacker, has made his own video diaries while seriously psychotic, and this material allows the audience into the very strange and scary universe of a disturbed mind. Niels describes himself as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: when medicated he is a sympathetic, bright and creative young man; when not, he becomes insanely dangerous.

You can watch the second part of the documentary here and the third part here.

The pattern you see in Niels (which becomes clearer in the second part) is very common in schizophrenic patients. They usually are not aware of their sickness or how sick they actually are (or they are aware, and hate the fact that the medication takes away their joy in life – the hallucinations/delusions). When they are released from the psychiatric hospital, they stop taking their medication. This, in turn, causes them to relapse and you’re back at the beginning. It’s a very rough cycle to go through, not only for the patient, but also for the patient’s family and friends.

However, I was surprised to see that in Denmark, mentally ill people cannot be committed to hospitals (forcibly), even if they pose a threat for their surroundings, and even when they have committed violent crimes over and over.

Related posts:

  1. Simulated Reality in Schizophrenia
Posted by on Mar 7, 2011 in Featured Content, Mental Disorder, Psychology | 4 comments
  • http://www.meandersfit.com M.E. Anders

    This is insanity at its worst. The documentary is fascinating…I have always been interested in the minds of the psychologically disturbed…worked with hundred of psych patients as a volunteer.

    • Manon Eileen

      Oh that’s very admirable! I too have always been very interested in those minds (obviously since I’m blogging about it all the time, lol).

      Thanks for stopping by, M.E. :)

  • http://piperbayard.wordpress.com Piper Bayard

    I can attest that proper mental health care is spotty at its best, and that’s a charitable statement. When my first husband had his psychotic break, the psychiatrist assigned to him was crazier than he was. Seriously. And actionably unprofessional. I won’t torture either you or myself with the details, but my hubby didn’t get anything even approximating appropriate treatment. As a result, my husband continued to decline, making the marriage impossible for him. I used to wonder “what if,” and then I met a mentally ill genius similar to him who had been in appropriate treatment for over thirty years. She is a highly functional, world renowned scientist, but she is still delusional and somewhat clearly nuts. Thanks for your post.

    • Manon Eileen

      :( I’m so sorry to hear that, Piper.

      Proper health care is absolutely essential, and it’s so sad how many people are still affected by improper health care. It can have such huge consequences.

      Thanks for stopping by.