Maia Campbell: The Pretty Face of Mental Illness
I wasn’t going to address the video of In the House star Maia Campbell spiraling out of control until I saw this comment at Global Grind. It reveals how pervasive and problematic mental illness is in the Black community.
Why do everyone keep labeling people bi-polar because some white doctor said so? This is an excuse for people like Brittney Spears and every other crack head. Have you thought maybe she is reacting to the death of her mother 3 years ago. Stop using excuses for the real issue at hand. Just because a doctor lables you does not make it the case. She needs Deepak Chopra to help her, not MEDS. She is out of spirit, not crazy.
The nasty comments left on gossip sites coupled with Maia Campbell’s number one trending topic spot on Twitter yesterday (updates were mostly in the form of cruel jokes) are all too telling about Black folk and mental illness.
Stigmatization, poor health care, the Church (I agree with G.D., the “churchiness” in Maia’s case is not helping) and a plethora of other socioeconomic factors contribute to the well documented battle between Blacks and mental dis-ease.
Culture has a large affect on mental illness – it influences our symptoms and how we describe them to doctors, it impacts our treatment and whether or not we seek help at all. It also leads people to dismiss someone like Maia as “crazy” or a “crack head” without acknowledging the mitigating factors that cause someone with a mental illness to exhibit dangerous behavior.
My family has struggled with mental illness for years. No one wants to talk about my temperamental uncle who was last seen about a month ago walking the streets of Compton, naked, pushing a shopping cart. The naked shopping cart saga is the latest of a string of incidents my family has had with my paranoid schizophrenic uncle.
My uncle was first diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia when he was serving a 20 year sentence in a Michigan prison for armed robbery. Living in a notoriously violent neighborhood in Compton as a child and numerous “vacations” in juvenile facilities exacerbated my uncle’s mental illness.
When he was 30-something and released from jail in 2001 he was medicated and lived a fairly normal life until the non-routine day-to-day dealings of life outside of prison caught up with him and he started to think his wife, his mother, his brother, his friends, and just about everybody but my mother was out to kill him.
He accused his wife of trying to poison him (when she in fact was trying to give him his medication) and at the height of his paranoia he tried to commit suicide, twice. The first time he laid on a metro train track in Long Beach. He survived but woke in a hospital with only one leg. He was transferred to an assisted living facility, only to be released when it appeared he could take care of himself.
A few years later he attempted to commit suicide for the second time, but this time he wanted the police to shoot him to death. He went back to the metro train tracks but decided to throw rocks at the train instead of lying down. The police responded, he pretended to hold a gun and they shot him – multiple times. He survived, with a bullet lodged in his chest, his prosthetic and his real leg still intact. But instead of being sent to a mental health facility he was put under my grandmother’s care. My poor (no really, she’s broke) granny.
Fast forward a few years, more than a dozen terrifying incidents, a stint on skid row and we come to the latest drama when my mother spotted her brother running across Long Beach Blvd, naked, pushing that shopping cart. She called the Psychiatric Emergency Response Team (known in LA as the PET team) who told her to call the police, who took him to a hospital who then put him on a 72-hour hold.
The same hold, Maia’s famous mother, Bebe Moore Campbell, wrote about in her novel “72-hour Hold”. It’s about a mother dealing with her 18-year-old bi-polar daughter. It’s widely speculated that Bebe Moore was writing about her relationship with Maia.
The last time I heard from my uncle was when he showed up to my mother’s house, a few days after that naked shopping cart incident, at 2 o’clock in the morning. Deep down I think my mother knows her brother won’t hurt her but when he’s not on his medication she is justifiably terrified of him – so she did what any normal person would do when a man bangs on their door at 2 o’clock in the morning – - she called the police.
When they arrived my uncle didn’t run or put up a fight. He laid on the front lawn while my mother pleaded for the police to put him on a 72 hour hold or drive him to a nearby mental health facility. They did neither, explaining that they could not take my uncle because at that moment he was not causing himself or anyone else any harm. His past actions did not matter, he had to be deemed 51/50 in that moment for them to help him.
When I saw that video of Maia I wondered how many people begged for state assistance but were turned down because of technicalities, tests, and paperwork.
Maia needs professional help, but whether or not she will receive it points to a much larger problem in this country. The problem is not just Black or disadvantaged.
For years mental illness has been criminalized, funding for mental health has been cut dramatically in several states, and thousands upon thousands of patients and families have been left to fend for themselves without proper care.
In normal circumstances, observers don’t shove cameras in these peoples’ face, but now that the video of Maia is circulating it’s necessary for the conversation to leap beyond taunts, prayer without action, and twitter hash tags.
September 4th, 2009 at 18:33
This is by FAR the best piece I’ve seen so far. Tops really. I wish I had a blog of my own to ping back or whatever they call it.
Instead, I’ll just repost on facebook. That’ll have to do.
September 4th, 2009 at 18:47
Good post.
Thank you.
Sometimes people get caught up playing follow the leader & lose sight of severity.
My family is rife with mental illness, which is somewhat a running joke between us. My poor cousin has the hardest life, but he refuses to take his meds. I don’t have to tell you how that affects us all. But, I’m not going to get into all that…
Again, great job.
September 4th, 2009 at 19:18
Great post. I’ve been looking up this incident all day and was troubled to find out that she’s actually schizophrenic and lost her mother a couple of years ago. It’s really sad to see her go out like this. Hopefully she’ll get the help she needs.
September 4th, 2009 at 21:31
OOH, you hit it on the head. People are quick to joke and criticize instead of considering that “crazy” is a real -life problem for some people. She needs help and I didn’t see one person on that video trying to give it to her.
September 4th, 2009 at 21:52
This post was so money. Thanks for this.
September 4th, 2009 at 22:10
Thank you so much.
I’m brought to tears as I read your observations and comments. My sister is type 2 bi-polar and in normal social setting is “normal”. However, if she snaps she has to be placed under 72 hour watch, and that’s only if she has loving caring family around that understands the condition. Otherwise people say she’s crazy or resorts to name calling. I love her and it really hurt me to see this video of Maia as her behavior wasn’t uncommon to what I’ve seen numerous times. Please, our community needs to recognize the severity of this disorder and embrace one another, help each other and love one another. Put the jokes aside, what if it was your sister.
September 5th, 2009 at 00:18
Excellent post, Keeks. I saw the video (late) and it broke my heart. Mental illness is indeed something too many people take lightly. Thanks for sharing your story
.
September 5th, 2009 at 09:36
Thanks for all of the positive feedback everyone!
September 7th, 2009 at 03:22
Thank you. My family is dealing (yet not dealing) with mental illness. My sisterwas diagnosed 3 years ago with bi-polar disorder and I suffer from bouts of depression myself. The two of us are not real good about seeing medical professionals and the rest of the family treats it as if our conditions are non-existent or as if they are issues to belittle/joke. Hopefully our people will begin to see the seriousness of these conditions and start to embrace therapeutic solutions instead of just sweeping the conditions under the rug. Wonderful piece. Thank you.
September 10th, 2009 at 08:00
[...] Maia Campbell: The Pretty Face of Mental Illness – Proper Talks "Culture has a large affect on mental illness – it influences our symptoms and how we describe them to doctors, it impacts our treatment and whether or not we seek help at all. It also leads people to dismiss someone like Maia as “crazy” or a “crack head” without acknowledging the mitigating factors that cause someone with a mental illness to exhibit dangerous behavior." (tags: via:postbourgie mentalhealth illness culture) Share and Enjoy: [...]
September 11th, 2009 at 13:39
Nice post, and very sad…
September 11th, 2009 at 19:24
I’ve had mental problems for ten years. We are in the dark ages when it comes to treatment for the mentally ill. You lose your job, your home and sometimes your family. When you do seek professional help they string you along with treatments that rarely help, and eventually all your money is gone. Then you can’t get even the most basic health insurance because you have a “history“. (this all happened to me).
If you aren’t lucky enough to have a supportive social network, as I do, you will die, regardless of your intelligence and education level. I would absolutely be dead if random people hadn’t helped me. And by the way, it’s so hard to get government help that only people who are not really ill have the energy to attain it.
If you think we live in an enlightened society, try getting a mental illness. You’ll find that the truth is that most mental illness is not curable (right now), and that society and the health industry are in such denial about it that they wind up making the patient feel like a victim.
September 12th, 2009 at 00:23
My thoughts and prayers go out to Maia Cambell and her family. I understand mental illness firsthand because I am a African American woman with Bipolar disorder. Life definitley hasn’t been easy with this illness, however it could be alot worse! I am blessed to have access to healthcare professionals, meds, therapy, and a strong support team of family and friends. I am also from the Compton/LBC area, and I agree that it is not uncommon to see a homeless person pushing a cart that obviously needs help. Sadly tho..with the Mental health system you cannot force a person into treatment, and alot of severely mentally ill people are reluctant to recieving treatment because of their own paranoia. I have attended seminars about mental illness in the Black Community, and I have friends that work for the Los Angeles County Dept of Mental Health. There is still a long way to go as far as the lack of knowledge and access to healthcare and treatment. However…there is a higher power which provides a healing that no medication can compare to. I rely mostly on my faith and with knowing that only through my faith have I come out of some serious highs and lows..so will Maia.
September 12th, 2009 at 15:52
This article is on point. As a Black woman in a family that his dealt with it’s fair share of mental illness I have seen the stigmas and was shamed by the response to Maia. Shamelessly people have used the video (which I refuse to watch) to taunt and show their cruelty and ignorance about mental illness. Thanks for writing this.
September 13th, 2009 at 17:34
Thank you for sharing this. Your analysis is spot-on.
September 18th, 2009 at 13:54
Excellent post. My uncle has been schizophrenic my entire lifetime and we’ve dealt with similar situations–right now hes stabilized on his meds, and im praying that he stays on em (off and on stints usually)…mental illness is particularly stigmatized in the Black community (a lot of people shun therapy, meds, in favor of church and etc.) so I’m really glad you wrote this. Maia’s father has placed her in care somewhere since this video was first circulated, lets hope that she can benefit from that, and that this situation can spark honest conversations about mental illness and mental health.
September 19th, 2009 at 17:33
Excellent post. You really bring to light the dangerous issues our culture has with mental illness. Great job!
N-
September 22nd, 2009 at 20:21
Maia campbell’s video was hard for me to watch cause it hit close to home my younger brother who I help raise and was once close to was diagnosed schizophrenic in 1997 and he refuses to take meds or seek help instead he turned to drugs which made him violent and angry cursing out people who were trying to help him which pushed them all away (including me I haven’t had a relationship with my brother in many years) its horrible to have a close family member mentally sick it puts stress on everybody my brothers illness has effected our whole family my relationship with my mother was severely damaged because I was angry with her for dumping my brother on me to deal with because she was afraid my brothers problems would ruin her marriage the black community has always been in denial about mental illness for many reasons but that denial makes people who need help not seek it! Some even discourage people saying “there’s nothin wrong with uncle bobby he just playing” most of the people who refuse to acknowlegde mental illness are the uneducated poor partly because they look at it as weakness which is awful because many people who suffer from mental illness if they were put on the right meds they could lead very normal lives. We as a community need to get educated stop being in denial and seek help
September 30th, 2009 at 17:02
THANK YOU FOR THIS !!! I HAVE A SON GOING THROUGH..YOUR BLOG IS EVERYTHING I WANTED TO SAY AND DIDNT KNOW HOW…ITS SO MUCH STRESS ON THE FAMILY..SEEMS LIKE THERE IS REALLY NO HELP, THEY KEEP YOU FOR 72..AND THEN ITS ON THE FAMILY AGAIN…GOD BLESS YOU AND YOUR FAMILY..IF YOU HERE OF ANY MORE SOLUTIONS IN THE AREA LET ME KNOW…
TAYA
November 10th, 2009 at 09:31
[...] Maia Campbell – The Pretty Face of Mental Illness [...]
November 15th, 2009 at 09:49
If your doctor diagnoses you with a mental illnees, DO take your medication, DO NOT contact Deepak Chopra.
December 22nd, 2009 at 20:28
What a lot of people, especially in the black community, fail to realize is that there are many Mia’s and Malcolm’s silently suffering from bipolar, schizophrenia, schizoaffective, major depression and many other DIBILATING MENTAL ILLNESSES. These monsters [mental illnesses] that allow bright young minds to begin developing with high hopes and slowly deteriorate often don’t show up until late teenaged to young adulthood. Mental illness is a thief; it allows you to dream, start developing oftentimes into what appears to greatness and then tears you apart. And, we, their love ones and friends see them suffering and blow off what our eyes and hearts are witnessing and simply say they’re tripping. Well mental illness is more than just tripping. As a result of undiagnosed mental illness, I watched my love one, a bright college student’s mind change over a period of a year and couldn’t believe my eyes. I guess the disbelief comes from the fact that we only see how they were before the illness and wonder why they are changing but don’t understand the change. Mental illness is also very difficult for families and even more difficult for someone who thought they were headed towards a wonderful life and perhaps were on their way when mental illness stepped in and instead engulfed them in confusion, madness, and sadness. Most people can’t even imagine what human beings with mental illness go through. We see the healthy physical body and overlook their unhealthy minds. Oftentimes they themselves can’t even believe it. This is when they refuse treatment because who wants to be associated the stigmas that exist in relation to mental illness. Yet they can NOT handle the chemical imbalance in their brains tha is causing their disfunction, so they self medicate on drugs and alcohol. Mental illness is an ugly disease and is often unaccepted by many. NAMI, the National Association for Mental Illness is a place to start educating yourself, and maybe with knowledge there may be more help, more love, more empathy rather than this ugly and CRUEL exploitation of an obviously very sick young lady. May God bless her, her family, and make her whole again. Believe me, mental illness equates to brokenness of mind, body and soul.