Find a therapist to treat psychosis

Lindsay Clancy's story has driven a reckoning within the mental health field.

Mental health professionals are facing increased scrutiny and fear.

We need more providers who treat psychosis and awareness of psychosis.

Hopefully, this will spark lasting change rather than fear-based reactions among clinicians.

I used to think that the worst thing that could happen to a person was to lose a child. After interning in a forensic psychiatric unit, I changed my mind. The worst thing that can happen to someone is to lose their child (or children) by their own hands during a psychotic episode.

Like many, Lindsay Clancy’s story has raised a storm of emotions inside me. As a human, I mourn for her and her family; as a person who has experienced psychosis, I am thankful to have been spared such suffering, and as a therapist, I watch the questioning with anxiety.

Lindsay avidly sought mental health treatment, yet the mental health system did not prevent these deaths. The trials are exposing critical gaps and realities in our systems of care, such as the confusion that can arise when someone sees multiple providers, particularly given strict laws governing information releases and barriers to care coordination. Similarly, the arbitrary "plan" threshold that is often held for psychiatric hospitalization when a person presents to crisis services. Would another consultation or hospitalization have prevented these deaths? There's no way to know.

As I watch the defense hammer Lindsey's providers with cutting inquiries, I wonder how many other mental health professionals are watching, and how this will change mental health care moving........

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