Queen Bee
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Psychiatrist: Girl in Slender Man case needs mental intervention
Waukesha — Morgan Geyser's rare, early-onset schizophrenia will certainly worsen, and intervention is the best way to at least mitigate the symptoms, a psychiatrist testified Thursday, but so far, she hasn't received any treatment for the disease.
The testimony came during the second day of a hearing on whether the 13-year-old should be transferred to juvenile court in the Slender Man stabbing case. On Wednesday, testimony revealed that Geyser's father was also treated for schizophrenia as an adolescent.
Kenneth Robbins, who had evaluated Geyser soon after her May 31, 2014, arrest and again this month, said her delusions and hallucinations seem to be getting more severe. Though diagnosed last year with schizophrenia, she has told numerous professionals she does not want medication because it might make her "friends" — fictional characters from Harry Potter and Slender Man — disappear.
Robbins detailed how if Geyser were ordered to take medications, she might begin to later understand — through other psychiatric treatment like talk therapy and skills training — that she's better off without the symptoms she now suffers.
He said Geyser's high intelligence might help her in treatment. But for now, she doesn't want to believe she's ill, Robbins said. He repeatedly said he doesn't believe she is "malingering," or faking her conditions, because her behavior has been consistent over more than a year.
He said there is no chance her disease will ever disappear, and she will begin losing her interests and executive functioning skills. He said he thinks Geyser would qualify for an insanity defense because he believes she was acting under the delusion that Slender Man would harm her or her family if she didn't kill sixth-grade classmate Payton Leutner.
(snip)
Moving the case to juvenile court would mean the girls would spend no more than three more years in custody and would get more intense supervision and services when released back to the community. As adults, they could be sentenced to up to 45 years in prison.
Either way, the girls would go to Copper Lake, a girls juvenile prison, until age 18. But attorneys for Geyser note that even if she were then released on extended supervision within the adult corrections system, she would be subject to revocation — and incarceration at the state's women's prison — if she failed to follow rules of supervision.
Robbins testified that in prison, schizophrenics may get medications but rarely an adequate level of other needed treatment. The disease slowly destroys the brain and makes following rules more challenging. In prison, he said, rules violations are not seen as medical episodes but instead are often sanctioned with solitary confinement, which he said worsens mental illness, causing a downward spiral.
Because Geyser's disease is permanent, prosecutors seem to reason she can never be safely defused, so to speak. If she tried to kill at Slender Man's direction once, they suggest, she might follow what she believes is a future order.
Waukesha County Circuit Judge Michael Bohren held the same so-called reverse waiver hearing last month, for Anissa Weier. He said he would defer a decision in both cases until Aug. 10.
more at link http://www.jsonline.com/news/crime/...ental-intervention-b99521671z1-308201371.html
Waukesha — Morgan Geyser's rare, early-onset schizophrenia will certainly worsen, and intervention is the best way to at least mitigate the symptoms, a psychiatrist testified Thursday, but so far, she hasn't received any treatment for the disease.
The testimony came during the second day of a hearing on whether the 13-year-old should be transferred to juvenile court in the Slender Man stabbing case. On Wednesday, testimony revealed that Geyser's father was also treated for schizophrenia as an adolescent.
Kenneth Robbins, who had evaluated Geyser soon after her May 31, 2014, arrest and again this month, said her delusions and hallucinations seem to be getting more severe. Though diagnosed last year with schizophrenia, she has told numerous professionals she does not want medication because it might make her "friends" — fictional characters from Harry Potter and Slender Man — disappear.
Robbins detailed how if Geyser were ordered to take medications, she might begin to later understand — through other psychiatric treatment like talk therapy and skills training — that she's better off without the symptoms she now suffers.
He said Geyser's high intelligence might help her in treatment. But for now, she doesn't want to believe she's ill, Robbins said. He repeatedly said he doesn't believe she is "malingering," or faking her conditions, because her behavior has been consistent over more than a year.
He said there is no chance her disease will ever disappear, and she will begin losing her interests and executive functioning skills. He said he thinks Geyser would qualify for an insanity defense because he believes she was acting under the delusion that Slender Man would harm her or her family if she didn't kill sixth-grade classmate Payton Leutner.
(snip)
Moving the case to juvenile court would mean the girls would spend no more than three more years in custody and would get more intense supervision and services when released back to the community. As adults, they could be sentenced to up to 45 years in prison.
Either way, the girls would go to Copper Lake, a girls juvenile prison, until age 18. But attorneys for Geyser note that even if she were then released on extended supervision within the adult corrections system, she would be subject to revocation — and incarceration at the state's women's prison — if she failed to follow rules of supervision.
Robbins testified that in prison, schizophrenics may get medications but rarely an adequate level of other needed treatment. The disease slowly destroys the brain and makes following rules more challenging. In prison, he said, rules violations are not seen as medical episodes but instead are often sanctioned with solitary confinement, which he said worsens mental illness, causing a downward spiral.
Because Geyser's disease is permanent, prosecutors seem to reason she can never be safely defused, so to speak. If she tried to kill at Slender Man's direction once, they suggest, she might follow what she believes is a future order.
Waukesha County Circuit Judge Michael Bohren held the same so-called reverse waiver hearing last month, for Anissa Weier. He said he would defer a decision in both cases until Aug. 10.
more at link http://www.jsonline.com/news/crime/...ental-intervention-b99521671z1-308201371.html
