HOPEFUL RESEARCH IGNORED BY MENTAL HEALTH COMMUNITY

Ozarks Voices

The Jan. 20 front page story about the young rapist who had promised his
sister never to rape anyone again was most disheartening. What was more
disheartening to me was the attitude the community had. I prefer to leave
fire and brimstone out of this story - God has nothing to do with this. It
is a sin to me, however, people who could help do little about this
particular disorder. I am referring to what is defined in youths as conduct
disorder (birth to 17) or antisocial personality disorder (18 and older).

In Missouri no funds are provided for these youth from Department of Mental
Health. If a child has another disorder such as depression, they may be
helped in some way by the mental health field. Otherwise adolescents are
sent to a Division of Youth Services facility unless services can be
provided by Department of Social Services.

I know about these things because I am a survivor of the mental health
field. I worked with troubled youth for the past 10-plus years. Jeffrey
Stumph's story was nothing new to me and the question raised about why
adequate treatment was not provided is no mystery either. Psychologists, or
most, anyway, see this particular disorder as untreatable, and an
adolescent with conduct disorder will likely end up in the penitentiary.

There has been research done on this particular disorder with some very
positive results. Back in the late '50s and early '60s, Dr. Timothy Leary,
a noted psychologist of the time, conducted an experiment with a group of
inmates in a California prison. The good doctor was shut down, however,
because he used mind-altering drugs in the experiment. He was eventually
ostracized from the field of psychology, and all, or most of his research
burned by the federal government.

I just read a manuscript of a 35-year follow up on the experiment. It had
almost a 30 percent overall success rate. This is higher than any other
type of treatment could hope to claim. But, of course, the man was doing
such radical things, such as helping the individual find his heart, his
soul, understand remorse and the importance of doing the right thing.

I have been accused of having some skewed thinking by some, but I am a
believer in doing what I can to help my fellow man, not profit off of human
beings' defects or mental illness. To any mean-spirited, judgmental
Christians, I would say: What would Jesus do? Probably ask you who died and
left you to be God.

Ray Radtke, Springfield, is a certified substance abuse counselor.