TDCJ & STATE OF TEXAS ............. Depression Behind Prison Walls

  Mental Health

Mental Health in T.D.C.J. seems nonexistent. Sure they have some people with clipboards who publicly come by their "patients" to talk to them or check up on them, but this is public. A lot of the guys don't want to be embarrassed by their "Issues" so they don't really engage as they should. Sometimes the people with clipboards pass out some crossword puzzles - Great! Now all our mental problems will go away if we complete this puzzle.

Personally, I counsel some of these guys, my peers. Oftentimes a lot can be talked about when a person knows they have someone they can rely upon to listen to them. For felons, prisoners, convicts, we are only seen as a number to officers. When things become crucial we are then reclassified as Animals - if it escalates even more, Monsters. We are dehumanized so much the actual concept of rehabilitation to reenter society as law abiding positive productive citizens seems to be a mockery.

A problem I've viewed is lack of care. Most people in the realm of prison who are not prisoners wish only to collect their checks and "do their time": Oh, you're depressed are you, well take these "Dan Dans," you will sleep easier and I can move on to the next one. That stuff, whatever it is, numbs the emotions, but one can still access the emotions. That's not helping. There is no care to understand. This same lack of care is reciprocated back into the prisoners. Who have issues. None care so why care? This brings up one of the major. Mental Health Issues in prison. Depression.

Depression is defined by the Webster's Collegiate dictionary as "A psychiatric disorder characterized by an inability to concentrate, insomnia, loss of appetite, and extreme feelings of sadness, dejection, and helplessness." I think everybody I know in prison - officers and staff included - has experienced a little depression. It's so common to us that we don't recognize it when we are going through it. So here we are supposedly rehabilitating prisoners to return to society and be positive productive members??? Inmates come in broken, dwell where more broken people are and become even more broken, only to return better broken to society?!! That seems like a setup for recidivism.

Failure frequently leads to depression. Obviously all criminals have failed at being positive productive members of society. This needs to be addressed on so many levels. "How did you get to this place - What events led up to this - What thought process did you use - etc." A lot of individuals in prison do not take responsibility for their actions, they have never been taught or what they have been taught mimics what we see on our everyday media - I digress -

According to Albert Bandura there are three self regulatory subfunctions of dysfunctional depression. Self Observation, Judgemental Process and Self Reactions. First, during Self Observation, people misjudge their own performance or distort their memory of accomplishments. Depressed people tend to exaggerate their past mistakes and minimize their prior accomplishments. This perpetuates or adds fuel to their depression.

Second, with the Judgmental Process, depressed people are likely to make faulty judgments. They set their standards unrealistically high so that any personal accomplishments will be judged as a failure. Even when they achieve success in the eyes of others, they continue to berate their own performance. Depression is especially likely when goals and personal standards are much higher than their perception to achieve them.

Finally, the Self Reactions of depressed individuals are very much different from those of non depressed people. Depressed people not only judge themselves harshly but they are also inclined to treat themselves badly for their shortcomings. Hmm. In prison many can't see past the numbers or letters in their sentence so goals are never set. Many can't see that their choices were wrong so no morals can be set. Many lack the support - positive support of people who wish them to do and be better. Many do not know what to do upon release from this prison so they revel in what they knew, distorting reality with fanciful dreams. Many experience loss and have no outlets. All of this perpetuates depression.

I'm not licensed or anything, I've picked up a few books but I'm far from an expert... I do see a rehabilitation problem though. I do see recidivism ratios explained. I don't see actual care from a system that should be rehabilitating or at least identifying a problem. Medicine only works if used properly. Listening and communicating has rarely failed. Just saying though!

Andrew Lee Beard