Summary of Damien's Mental Health History

[Pensfan]

Damien Echols was not malingering.

There have been many studies to determine how people malinger (fake being mentally ill), but here is one. In 1991 there was a study involving two groups of individuals. One group was college students who were studying psychology and the other group was criminal defendants locked up in a psychiatric hospital. These individuals were asked to present their best malingering symptoms to a group of researchers.

The participants were considered knowledgeable (one group was psych students in a university and the others were criminals in a locked in a treatment facility/psych unit). Both groups were given time to prepare for their mental illness "demonstration". They were even given case materials to read about various mental disorders and the associated symptoms. Participants were then told to demonstrate their “best” malingering (faking) mental health disorder symptoms while being administered a psychological screening exam.

Despite the presumed psychological sophistication of the participants, they rarely came close to giving a convincing demonstration. The majority (90%) of the university students and criminals believed that they had done a good job at fooling the examiner, but they had not.
When asked about how they tried to fool the interviewer, both college students and inmates commonly pretended to be psychotic in some way.

The demonstrations that they gave (even though they studied real patient histories and were given time to prepare) resulted in presentations very different from those of truly mentally ill individuals. In fact, many of the behaviors they chose to demonstrate their fake mental illnesses were symptoms only seen infrequently in bona fide mentally ill individuals.

Using this study (and there are others if you choose to look), one can see that Damien Echols didn’t “fake out” all those doctors, nurses, and psych techs with stories that he just made up to get attention. He was admitted to the psych hospital three times in the year before these little boys were murdered because he was very mentally ill.

http://web.jjay.cuny.edu/~pzapf/classes/PY761/Week 6 Notes.htm

Rogers, R., Kropp, P.R., Bagby, R.M., & Dickens, S. E. (1992). Faking specific disorders: A study of the Structured Interview of Reported Symptoms (SIRS). Journal of Clinical Psychology. 48, 643-647.

 

[Cappuccino]

If you read those Exhibit 500 pages intelligently, you will not find evidence that Damien Echols is a murderer. For a start, they are terminally taintd by Jerry Driver's input. This silly little man was driving all around the place with his sidekick in tow looking for evidence of Satanic ritual whatever happening in West Memphis. For a year. This person is a superstitious, hidebound, bigoted idiot who was infected with Satanic Panic. Nothing based on that prat's assertions is reliable.

Filter out Jerry Driver's input into Exhibit 500 and you see a very different picture. The mental health professionals who assessed Damien only ever diagnosed him as a Psychotic NOS - and that is a very ambiguous diagnosis. Look it up, and you will see what I mean. Less than 3%, according to a study I read from Holland, commit murder. I have searched for similar studies from America, but if there is one it isn't posted online.

Bottom line - there is no reason to believe that being a psychotic NOS is evidence that you are capable of murder.

 

[Pensfan]

If you read those Exhibit 500 pages intelligently, you will not find evidence that Damien Echols is a murderer. For a start, they are terminally taintd by Jerry Driver's input. This silly little man was driving all around the place with his sidekick in tow looking for evidence of Satanic ritual whatever happening in West Memphis. For a year. This person is a superstitious, hidebound, bigoted idiot who was infected with Satanic Panic. Nothing based on that prat's assertions is reliable.

Filter out Jerry Driver's input into Exhibit 500 and you see a very different picture. The mental health professionals who assessed Damien only ever diagnosed him as a Psychotic NOS - and that is a very ambiguous diagnosis. Look it up, and you will see what I mean. Less than 3%, according to a study I read from Holland, commit murder. I have searched for similar studies from America, but if there is one it isn't posted online.

Bottom line - there is no reason to believe that being a psychotic NOS is evidence that you are capable of murder.

Perhaps you missed Dr. George Woods affidavit about Damien Echol's mental health. Dr. Woods states that Damien is bipolar, schizophrenic, and has a history of substance abuse.

From Dr. Wood's affidavit:
Mr. Echols has been evaluated on three separate occasions by three different psychologists, each of whom administered a battery of tests. A prominent feature of each evaluation was the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), which was administered on June 8, 1992; September 2, 1992; and February 20, 1994. The independent test results were quite consistent; all revealed valid profiles and strong indications of depression, mania, severe anxiety, delusions and psychosis.

Test results for the June 8, 1992, MMPI reflected elevations on scores of psychotic thinking, including hallucinations, paranoid ideation, and delusions, as well as severe anxiety and other related emotional disturbances. The suggested diagnoses were schizophrenia, disorganized type; and bipolar disorder, manic. Individual responses on this test revealed that Mr. Echols was afraid of losing his mind, had bizarre thoughts, and had very peculiar experiences. Three months later, on September 2, 1992, a second MMPI was administered. The test results very closely paralleled the findings of the earlier MMPI. Shortly before Mr. Echols’ trial began in 1994, he was administered the MMPI a third time for the purpose of identifying mitigating evidence. Like the other two, this MMPI revealed psychotic thought processes consistent with schizophrenia. Specific indicators of a thought disorder included mental confusion, persecutory ideas, acute anxiety, and depressed suicidal ideation.

I have also consulted with Karen B. Froming, Ph.D., a board certified neuropsychologist who administered a battery of neuropsychological tests to Mr. Echols to determine whether Mr. Echols suffers from brain damage or deficits that would affect his medical or psychological status. The results of this battery - which are consistent with all three MMPI’s - suggest that Mr. Echols suffers from a severe long term mood disorder (Manic Depression) that affects his perception, judgment and behavior.
http://callahan.8k.com/wm3/gwoods.html



Here are the violence statistics for which you were looking:

The MacArthur Violence Risk Assessment Study found that 18% of people with a psychiatric disorder committed at least one act of violence in a year. It found that 31% of people who had both a substance abuse disorder and a psychiatric disorder committed at least one act of violence in a year.

(An additional study found this)Rates of violence in schizophrenics compared:
5.1% in control group without a mental health disorder
8.5% in schizophrenics without a substance abuse disorder
27.6% in schizophrenics with a substance abuse disorder
Percentage of people convicted of at least one violent crime, 1973–2006
Source: Fazel S, et al. Journal of the American Medical Association. May 20, 2009.

Rates of violence in people with bipolar disorder compared:
3.4% in control group without a mental health disorder
4.9% in bipolar individuals without a substance abuse disorder
21.3% in bipolar individuals with a substance abuse disorder
Percentage of people convicted of at least one violent crime, 1973–2004
Source: Fazel S, et al. Archives of General Psychiatry. September 2010.
http://www.health.harvard.edu/newsle...s-and-violence

Damien admitted that he abused numerous substances.

 

[Compassionate Reader]

I don't know if this has been pointed out, but Dr. Woods was testifying at the behest of the defense not the prosecution. His affidavit was taken after the trial was completed in an effort to either reduce the punishment or overturn the verdict. He was painting as bleak a picture as possible, as is normal procedure in a situation like this. What was Dr. Woods' conclusion?

89a Prior to and during his murder trial, Damien Echols suffered from a severe psychiatric disorder characterized by enduring delusions, auditory and visual hallucinations and severe mood swings ranging from suicidal depression to extreme mania. Ample evidence documents the catastrophic impact of these distressing symptoms on Mr. Echols’s grasp of reality and his perception of events around him. His pervasive delusions and psychosis undermined his understanding the implications of the charges against him, grossly distorted his perception of events in and out of the courtroom, and compromised his relationship with his lawyers. At the time of his trial, the nature and severity of Mr. Echols’ multiple psychiatric illnesses left him unable to rationally understand rationally the nature of the legal proceedings against him and to aid and assist counsel in a rational and factual manner.

http://callahan.8k.com/wm3/gwoods.html

And still Burnett kept the Death Penalty in place. If one chooses to support Dr. Woods' findings, then one must also support his conclusions, and one should have been demanding Damien's release from Death Row when one read Dr. Woods' affidavit.

 

[PeteJ]

"Strong indications of depression, mania, severe anxiety, delusions and psychosis" does not say that he is psychotic. It just says that indications of these things are present. I don't know if I wouldn't have indications of these things at certain times in my life. I still believe what I said previously: I don't think Damien is psychotic but possibly neurotic.

I do agree with you in that I think he had serious problems as a teenager, but I think most of those issues have been dealt with and he is much better now. I admit that this is just my opinion. Also, as I stated earlier, I would like to see an independent psychological examination of him currently.

Someone said that his psychological state now is not relevant to his state back in '93. I disagree. Since his psychological state in '93 didn't make him commit murder, if he is free of psychoses currently, he was not psychotic back in '93. The way I understand psychoses, it's not something you can outgrow, like teenage angst. So, proving him free of psychosis now would make the argument that he was psychotic back then invalid.

Sorry but you're out on a limb with the above post. His symptoms in 92-93 describe psychosis to a T. People may have psychosis for many reasons so the reasoning that you post is waaaay off base. Besides, how could you know if he is currently psychotic? Or if he isn't how do you know the symptoms have not been contolled by medication? Being psychotic for one period of time does not make one always psychotic. Depends on the reason for the psychosis.

 

[Compassionate Reader]

Sorry but you're out on a limb with the above post. His symptoms in 92-93 describe psychosis to a T. People may have psychosis for many reasons so the reasoning that you post is waaaay off base. Besides, how could you know if he is currently psychotic? Or if he isn't how do you know the symptoms have not been contolled by medication? Being psychotic for one period of time does not make one always psychotic. Depends on the reason for the psychosis.

Please read my most recent post.

Here it is:

I don't know if this has been pointed out, but Dr. Woods was testifying at the behest of the defense not the prosecution. His affidavit was taken after the trial was completed in an effort to either reduce the punishment or overturn the verdict. He was painting as bleak a picture as possible, as is normal procedure in a situation like this. What was Dr. Woods' conclusion?

89a Prior to and during his murder trial, Damien Echols suffered from a severe psychiatric disorder characterized by enduring delusions, auditory and visual hallucinations and severe mood swings ranging from suicidal depression to extreme mania. Ample evidence documents the catastrophic impact of these distressing symptoms on Mr. Echols’s grasp of reality and his perception of events around him. His pervasive delusions and psychosis undermined his understanding the implications of the charges against him, grossly distorted his perception of events in and out of the courtroom, and compromised his relationship with his lawyers. At the time of his trial, the nature and severity of Mr. Echols’ multiple psychiatric illnesses left him unable to rationally understand rationally the nature of the legal proceedings against him and to aid and assist counsel in a rational and factual manner.

http://callahan.8k.com/wm3/gwoods.html

And still Burnett kept the Death Penalty in place. If one chooses to support Dr. Woods' findings, then one must also support his conclusions, and one should have been demanding Damien's release from Death Row when one read Dr. Woods' affidavit.

 

[PeteJ]

In my experience as a high school teacher, I heard quite a few teens make statements along those lines. One boy, in a parent-teacher conference (with both parents present) said, "I wish both of you were dead. I think tonight I'll just take care of that problem while you're asleep." He was diagnosed as ED (emotionally disturbed). Another student, this one a diagnosed manic depressive, said in the hearing of both parents, "You are both idiots! I want to chop off your heads and drink the blood from them." I could go on. I'm not saying that these types of statements are made by all teens; I'm only saying that many teens, in anger and/or frustration, make such statements. They are not said seriously, and most people don't take them that way.

Personally, I think that the mental health professionals that agreed to Damien's hospitalization did so because they thought the hospital would provide him with "three hots and a cot" which he was not getting at home. I'm not saying that I agree with such action; I'm just saying that it's possible that the professionals who recommended his hospitalization (at the request of Jerry Driver) might have done it for reasons other than a serious mental condition. After all, he was only in the hospital for a few weeks. If he had been seriously mentally ill, it would have taken longer than that to stabilize him, wouldn't you think?

Mental Health Professionals, and I am one, DO NOT hospitalize anyone for three hots and a cot! The laws, federal and state, are very explicit! To restrain someone without valid cause is grounds for losing one's license to practice, losing all federal and state funding and being sued for all you're worth. However long it may take to stabilize anyone nowadays does not matter, insurance, medicaid or medicare..no one stays locked in any institution longer than 72 hours (varies by state) unless a judge, yes a judge allows such....no matter what a psychiatrist wants to do.

 

[PeteJ]

I don't know if he is guilty of the crime for which he was accused but I believe he is a very sick individual and he will offend.

 

[Compassionate Reader]

Mental Health Professionals, and I am one, DO NOT hospitalize anyone for three hots and a cot! The laws, federal and state, are very explicit! To restrain someone without valid cause is grounds for losing one's license to practice, losing all federal and state funding and being sued for all you're worth. However long it may take to stabilize anyone nowadays does not matter, insurance, medicaid or medicare..no one stays locked in any institution longer than 72 hours (varies by state) unless a judge, yes a judge allows such....no matter what a psychiatrist wants to do.

You may not do such a thing. As a teacher, I never had sex with one of my students. Obviously, teachers risk losing their license for doing such a thing, and for a lot more, too. However, as the news in recent years has shown, that happens with sickening frequency now. It is simply not impossible for a mental health professional to do just what I described. I know it's unethical, but it's possible.

 

[Pensfan]

You may not do such a thing. As a teacher, I never had sex with one of my students. Obviously, teachers risk losing their license for doing such a thing, and for a lot more, too. However, as the news in recent years has shown, that happens with sickening frequency now. It is simply not impossible for a mental health professional to do just what I described. I know it's unethical, but it's possible.

People are only illegally restrained in mental hospitals in B rated horror movies. Psych techs, nurses, and physicians would lose their medical licenses forever wasting years of college and post grad education, never be able to practice their profession again, be sued for millions of dollars, and be incarcerated if they illegal restrained anyone in a mental hospital.

For decades, psych hospitals have experienced nearly 100% occupancy rates with waiting lists for new admissions. There are not empty secret rooms behind hidden panels accessed by secret levers where illegally restrained patients are hidden or children, who are in need of 3 hots and a cot, are secretly housed.

 

[Compassionate Reader]

I seriously doubt that there has never been a case where someone was either illegally or unnecessarily kept (maybe not in restraints, but kept nonetheless) in a mental hospital. I am not saying that every psych nurse, tech or doctor does this, but to imply that it never happens because it is unethical is, IMO, simply not true. Also, to assume that a social worker, truly concerned about a child's welfare, wouldn't try to convince someone, if even a psychiatrist or psychologist or some other mental health professional, to exaggerate symptoms so said child could be housed and nourished is unrealistic. And to believe that every mental health professional always acts ethically is likewise unrealistic - unless the members of the mental health profession aren't human, that is.

 

[Pensfan]

Psychiatric hospitals are facilities for individuals with severe mental health problems. They are never confused with foster care services.

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[ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foster_care"]Foster care - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia@@AMEPARAM@@/wiki/File:Scale_of_justice_2.svg" class="image" title="Scales of justice"><img alt="Scales of justice" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0e/Scale_of_justice_2.svg/100px-Scale_of_justice_2.svg.png"@@AMEPARAM@@commons/thumb/0/0e/Scale_of_justice_2.svg/100px-Scale_of_justice_2.svg.png[/ame]

 

[Compassionate Reader]

Really? Never?

 

[claudicici]

http://www.antipsychiatry.org/unjustif.htm

"Our investigation has found that thousands of adolescents, children, and adults have been hospitalized for psychiatric treatment they didn't need; that hospitals hire bounty hunters to kidnap patients with mental health insurance; that patients are kept against their will until their insurance benefits run out; that psychiatrists are being pressured by the hospitals to increase profit; that hospitals 'infiltrate' schools by paying kickbacks to school counselors who deliver students; that bonuses are paid to hospital employees, including psychiatrists, for keeping the hospital beds filled; and that military dependents are being targeted for their generous mental health benefits. I could go on, but you get the picture"


"...mental patients advocates say many adolescents in private hospitals are not seriously mentally ill, but merely rebellious. By holding the adolescents, who often dislike hospitalization, advocates say private hospitals reap profits and please parents. ... Some county mental health officials and psychiatrists at private hospitals acknowledge there are hospitalized adolescents who, ideally, shouldn't be there. ... 'It distresses me to see kids in these facilities; it distressesme to see the profits going on,'


"The confusing aspect about this is that many adolescents are irritable, aggressive, and impulsive because they are upset about their life circumstances. In recent years some of these teenagers have found their way into psychiatric hospitals, labeled with the diagnosis of bipolar disorder and placed on medications. Some psychiatric hospitals made a practice of admitting adolescents in distress, using the diagnosis of bipolar disorder inappropriately in order to increase their billing to insurance companies. This practice was so widespread that the federal government finally intervened, charging the hospitals with fraud and assessing fines of millions of dollars. Many of these children did not have bipolar disorder at all, but were acting inappropriately because of stresses in their families, with their friends, and at school." Edward Drummond, M.D., Associate Medical Director at Seacoast Mental Health Center in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in his book The Complete Guide to Psychiatric Drugs (John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, 2000), pages 13-14. Dr. Drummond graduated from Tufts University School of Medicine and was trained in psychiatry at Harvard University.

 

[Pensfan]

^lol

Psychiatric hospitals LOSE money on acute care psychiatric patients because the vast majority of Americans do NOT have adequate mental health insurance or zero mental health insurance and therefore, CANNOT pay their psychiatric hospital bill. Acute care psych hospitals (like the one Damien Echols was admitted to three times in the year before the children were murdered) do not hire headhunters to find patients who CAN'T pay in order to admit them. This would cause the hospital to SPEND their very limited government funds and would NOT increase their revenue. Occupancy rates have been at or near 100% in acute care psych hospitals for decades and many have waiting lists.

The only way that acute care psychiatric hospitals remain open and pay their bills is that they are non-for-profit entities and they receive government funds for their university teaching programs (to teach medical students, nursing students, psychology students, and etc...) and other state and federal funding.

There is one way that an acute care psychiatric hospital could use a headhunter to increase revenue. This headhunter would need to be a professional lobbyist who lobbies state/national senators and representatives for more government funds or lobbies to stop the government funding cuts to psychiatric hospitals.

 

[SheBoss]

Hmmm I have never heard my kids or any of their friends tell any of us they were going to cut our throats or anyone elses .
Lots of teens DON'T say that !!!
I have a hard time believing that every single person involved with these boys is lying .

But I have heard (and used myself) the phrase, "I'm so mad I could KILL him" many, many times. Maybe Damien was just a bit more graphic. Just sayin'...

 

[HRCODEPINK]

I just want to say that it is worth mentioning, since Damien's mental issues and crazy statements are somehow evidence of his guilt that Melissa B said in the Paradise Lost 2 documentary that if she could put her hands on Damien, she would "eat the skin off of his face." I don't see this as evidence here, but why isn't she a suspect based on the same measure we are basing suspicions on Damien? Add to that the fact that in most cases where children are murdered the parents are the guilty party. I don't think Damien or Melissa had anything to do with it, I am just tossing it out there for anyone that believes that Damien is guilty and that anything in his mental history or any crazy things he has said is actual evidence of these crimes.

 

[SheBoss]

So, now that Damien is out and a lot of you are convinced he's psychotic and possibly schizophrenic, can anyone tell us if he's had treatment in any way for this since he's been in prison? Also, are prison records sealed? Are we soon going to hear of all his craziness while he was in prison? I do know that he told the judge in the Alford hearing that he was on no medication of any type.

I see what the nons are saying and I appreciate it, but if he's as crazy as y'all are saying, why hasn't anyone seen and symptoms of it while he was in prison? Lorrie visited all the time (I would assume), his lawyers saw him a lot, Lord knows reporters were in there all the time interviewing him. I'm just wondering - still researching this case. Thanks in advance!

From what I've seen here lately, he SEEMS like a normal man. And if he can be believed, he's on no medication.

 

[Compassionate Reader]

So, now that Damien is out and a lot of you are convinced he's psychotic and possibly schizophrenic, can anyone tell us if he's had treatment in any way for this since he's been in prison? Also, are prison records sealed? Are we soon going to hear of all his craziness while he was in prison? I do know that he told the judge in the Alford hearing that he was on no medication of any type.

I see what the nons are saying and I appreciate it, but if he's as crazy as y'all are saying, why hasn't anyone seen and symptoms of it while he was in prison? Lorrie visited all the time (I would assume), his lawyers saw him a lot, Lord knows reporters were in there all the time interviewing him. I'm just wondering - still researching this case. Thanks in advance!

From what I've seen here lately, he SEEMS like a normal man. And if he can be believed, he's on no medication.

In his book, Almost Home, Damien describes the process of going off of anti depressants "cold turkey" when he first arrived on Death Row. To the best of my recollection, he had been taking the anti depressants for a couple of years. He reported that, even though it was extremely hard to do it "cold turkey," he was glad he was no longer on the medication. IMO, I seriously doubt that he would have been given anti depressants at a later time on Death Row. So, logic tells me that he was not on any type of psychiatric medication while on Death Row. As you said, any violent outburst would have been reported. I have heard no such reports. So, I assume that he had no violent outburst on Death Row, even though he was supposedly suffering for multiple psychoses. IMO, as I have said before, he was misdiagnosed, possibly intentionally, in an effort to get the death sentence reduced.

 

[Pensfan]

In his book, Almost Home, Damien describes the process of going off of anti depressants "cold turkey" when he first arrived on Death Row. To the best of my recollection, he had been taking the anti depressants for a couple of years. He reported that, even though it was extremely hard to do it "cold turkey," he was glad he was no longer on the medication. IMO, I seriously doubt that he would have been given anti depressants at a later time on Death Row. So, logic tells me that he was not on any type of psychiatric medication while on Death Row. As you said, any violent outburst would have been reported. I have heard no such reports. So, I assume that he had no violent outburst on Death Row, even though he was supposedly suffering for multiple psychoses. IMO, as I have said before, he was misdiagnosed, possibly intentionally, in an effort to get the death sentence reduced.

Fascinating! How was Damien Echols misdiagnosed to reduce his death penalty sentence before the murders even occurred?

Reread all of the psych notes from his psychiatric admissions.
Reread: http://callahan.8k.com/wm3/gwoods.html

Please cite a LEGITIMATE reference that states that psychotic patients always have "outbursts".