From Trauma-Blind to Trauma-Informed: Rethinking Criminalization and the Role of Trauma in Persons with Serious Mental Illness

Chapter 25 - From Trauma-Blind to Trauma-Informed: Rethinking Criminalization and the Role of Trauma in Persons with Serious Mental Illness

from Part IV - Nonpsychopharmacological Treatment Considerations

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 October 2021

Helga Thordarson and

Tiffany Rector

Edited by

Katherine Warburton and

Stephen M. Stahl

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Katherine Warburton: Affiliation:
University of California, Davis
Stephen M. Stahl: Affiliation:
University of California, San Diego

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Summary

This article explores how wide-ranging effects of exposure to psychological trauma in mentally ill individuals continue to be largely overlooked, contributing to poor outcomes and a flood of mentally ill individuals into the court system and correctional care. Even in state hospitals and community mental health settings, the consequences of trauma often go unrecognized and untreated in highly vulnerable individuals. The authors posit that a trauma-informed lens is needed to move “trauma-blind” systems forward to more enlightened, evidence-based care and treatment. The traditional criminalization hypothesis refers to the funneling of SMI individuals into the criminal justice system as a result of deinstitutionalization and inadequate community mental health resources. This article explores how expanding notions about criminalization that identify factors beyond SMI still miss the mark by underestimating or omitting the role of trauma.

Type: Chapter
Information: Decriminalizing Mental Illness , pp. 258 - 265

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108920698 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2021

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