Jakarta, IO – “Mentally disturbed persons” (MDP) or “psychologically challenged persons” (PCP) are vulnerable to discrimination; the law frequently fails to recognize their rights. They may also have limited access to necessary mental health services. This is because society in general and law enforcement are not fully-cognizant of the various manifestations of mental health problems.
That is a summary of the “Satisfaction of MDP/PCP Rights in the Legal System through Quality Mental Capability Check” Ruang Tamu media discussion organized by Eugenia Communications, Thursday (08/12/2022).
Globally, 1 out of the 5 people involved in legal entanglements actually suffer from mental health problems, which might prevent them from exercising their rights of full participation and enjoy equality in justice. There are various types of mental health problems suffered by people everywhere – the hallucination disorder, when a person has trouble in differentiating reality from imagination; permanent mood disorders like depression; behavior regulation disorders mania, attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD); and even differences in the person’s way of receiving and responding to information, such as those suffered by people in the autism and intellectual disability spectrum.
Psychological problems do not automatically negate a person’s rights and responsibilities in the eye of the Law. However, they require a correct approach, both clinically and legally. Forensic psychiatry is a sub-specialty of psychiatry, one that responds to the needs of the legal system in terms of analyzing a person’s psychological condition and explaining their conclusions to the authorities, in order to allow them to consider all pertinent situations fairly when making legal judgments. Forensic psychiatrists perform their jobs in criminal, civil, and administrative law cases.
“The problem is that not all psychological problems are detectable! Very few of these psychological problems match a layman’s stereotypes of talking to oneself, hallucinating, or acting in a dramatically messed-up manner. On the contrary, the majority will look ‘normal’ – in other words, they will show no distinct abnormality at a glance. For example, in depression and anxiety disorders, the two most common psychological problems found in society, a person may seem to be just ‘tired’ or ‘nervous’. Mental conditions can be very complex, multi-factored, dynamic and situational. It’s no wonder so many law enforcement personnel are unaware that they may be facing a MDP/PCP,” declared Dr. dr. Natalia Widiasih, Sp.KJ(K), MPd.Ked, Head of the Forensic Psychiatry Division of the University of Indonesia Faculty of Medicine and Cipto Mangunkusumo Jakarta Hospital.