What happens after a defendant is found not guilty by reason of insanity?

Re:What happens after a defendant is found not guilty by rea... by dsego on Thursday September 28, 2017 @01:42AM (#15354924)

My brother also had a psychotic episode last year, was on injections of risperidone for some months, now only zyprexa, back to univsersity, almost normal, except for bipolar/borderline behaviors and a tendency towards creating drama. People don't understand that when someone is in a psychotic state, they don't live in the same reality. It's not a question of free will or choice, or control. People see distorted faces, visions, hear things and the worst part are not these hallucinations, but delusions, strong beliefs (he thought the family conspired against him, that he was raped as a child and even that he was transgender) and anosognosia, which means they aren't aware of it. At the same time my father also started "traveling in time", not sleeping, convinced that there was some cosmic truth behind these events. He also ended up in a psych ward, but now it seems he might be having some kind of atrophy. But seeing your father restrained to a bed in front of you is not pleasant, hardest thing I had to do in my life. And now I don't even know if we made the right choice, those drugs, haldol and leponex, I mean, even after months of not taking them, he still walks like a zombie, shuffling gate, jaw dropped, open mouth, no affect whatsoever. He's not the same man and I don't know if he will ever recover.

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Re:What happens after a defendant is found not guilty by rea... by wolco on Thursday September 28, 2017 @03:27AM (#15355398)

There is a lot to parse.

Thoses drugs are dangerous and do not cure a patient usually leaving them in a worse state mentally. When you are the one forced to make these decisions its tough because there are no easy answers.

I find the traveling through time reference interesting. I remember the line from slaughter house 5. What cosmic truth was he approaching?

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Re:What happens after a defendant is found not guilty by rea... by dsego on Thursday September 28, 2017 @04:07AM (#15355565)

I forget the details, but my brother filled his head with ideas about non-linear time, spiritual plane, lacrimosa (?), and some other nonsense he had discovered in his crazy state of mind, very philosophical new-age stuff. My father is also that type who believes in esotericism, things like pendulums, bioenergy and radiesthesia. So this really affected him. And I guess he had had some internal conflicts about his marriage and life for some time (also treating depression for twenty years) and then started decompensating. Poor man would spin around, trying to turn back time, or convince us of some powers, or how my brother was almost son of god. Nothing he and my brother were saying made sense, but to them it was like they really uncovered some deeper meaning.

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Re:What happens after a defendant is found not guilty by rea... by pdkl95 on Thursday September 28, 2017 @08:04AM (#15356463)

(Somewhat OT)

> People see distorted faces, visions, hear things and the worst part are not these hallucinations, but delusions, strong beliefs

> but to them it was like they really uncovered some deeper meaning.

> ome internal conflicts ... and then started decompensating

If anyone is interested in a taste of what that might be like, the recent game "Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice" is very impressive. It's basically a psychosis simulator, developed under heavy consultation from a group of patients that suffer from psychosis/delusions.

Similar to how you mentioned it's not just the hallucinations, the game does things like using "find the perspective that makes those logs look like a rune/glyph" to prime/encourage the plater to see potential "deeper meanings". Headphones are required, because binaural recording techniques are used very heavily to e.g. place voices in specific locations "in" and around your head.

Warning: this recommendation includes a very strong trigger warning re: grief, mental and physical abuse, and (obviously) the very graphic realities of severe psychosis and other mental health issues.

http://www.hellblade.com/

Commentary by the devs and some of the consulted patients about making the psychosis simulator: (some mostly-minor spoilers) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jF3rr6t2Hg

Development diaries: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbpkF8TRYizaT6GfMcKBG...

If you prefer watching as LP, I recommend (Yogscast) Hannah's: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLK9CD9s2JfIeoub7dINHI...

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