Laura Craciun
Appearances
Tony Mantor: Why Not Me the World
Laura Craciun: A Son's Mental Illness and a System That Failed Him
which is a reflection on the training the judges in Massachusetts have. And if we had an assisted outpatient treatment law, the judges would work side by side with the psychiatrists and the people with the medical training. Mental illness is the only area that depends on untrained medical professionals to make medical decisions for them. You know, it's just, it's not right.
Tony Mantor: Why Not Me the World
Laura Craciun: A Son's Mental Illness and a System That Failed Him
Yeah.
Tony Mantor: Why Not Me the World
Laura Craciun: A Son's Mental Illness and a System That Failed Him
I found National Shattering Silence Coalition after my son, who has schizoaffective disorder, attempted to kill his own father. The police had reached out to me afterwards and said, you really should get some support for your family going and join a NAMI chapter. The NAMI chapter put me in touch with National Shattering Silence.
Tony Mantor: Why Not Me the World
Laura Craciun: A Son's Mental Illness and a System That Failed Him
When I called the jail to tell them to watch out for Nick's specific signs that he's in psychosis, I was transferred to the director of all the security guards, and he was so good. We talked for an hour, and he said at one point, you know, I'm a parent myself. I've been working at this jail for 35 years, and I've never seen this many people with antipsychotic medications prescribed in our jail.
Tony Mantor: Why Not Me the World
Laura Craciun: A Son's Mental Illness and a System That Failed Him
And he started gearing up. He's like, I don't know how you're handling this as a parent to watch your loved one be so lost, but yet be incarcerated.
Tony Mantor: Why Not Me the World
Laura Craciun: A Son's Mental Illness and a System That Failed Him
Well, that's where Anne came in. She had the idea to write to the judge. His father, who was the victim, write a letter and say, we're really concerned as parents that there's no mental health or medical treatment for our son available. So the judge made it possible for some probation. And so for that offense, he is not sitting in jail right now.
Tony Mantor: Why Not Me the World
Laura Craciun: A Son's Mental Illness and a System That Failed Him
He is out, but he still has an ongoing case that has a trial coming up.
Tony Mantor: Why Not Me the World
Laura Craciun: A Son's Mental Illness and a System That Failed Him
Unfortunately, he is not medicated still to this day. He is forced to see a therapist, which is better than nothing. We are all, as a family, still very hesitant to visit with him physically. His unpredictability, and I am a little afraid of him right now because he's still unaware he's mentally ill and he is not aware the danger he poses.
Tony Mantor: Why Not Me the World
Laura Craciun: A Son's Mental Illness and a System That Failed Him
Unfortunately, it's a waiting game and hoping, you know, I begged our Department of Mental Health to get him services. And they sent over a representative to the jail twice asking, Nick, will you please come and get services from us? And Nick politely refused because he says he has no mental illness. And our state policies are so backwards.
Tony Mantor: Why Not Me the World
Laura Craciun: A Son's Mental Illness and a System That Failed Him
They say the only way you can get our Department of Mental Health Services is if you volunteer for them. But if you have anosognosia or lack of insight, which like seven different medical facilities diagnosed him with, he can't know he has an illness. So it's like they're discriminating against him.
Tony Mantor: Why Not Me the World
Laura Craciun: A Son's Mental Illness and a System That Failed Him
Oh, six months even or a year. They have all kinds of long-acting injectable antipsychotic medications and street psychiatrists who administer them. And they can be ordered. But in the state of Massachusetts, I think there are more strict guides. And it's just been difficult because of how well and convincing he is when he's, you know, able to speak to professionals.
Tony Mantor: Why Not Me the World
Laura Craciun: A Son's Mental Illness and a System That Failed Him
And ever since then, I felt like the most support I've ever had with my son's illness, which he's been battling since 17 years old, and now he's 23. So it was as if I had a partnership. So National Shattering Silence Coalition is made up of peers, family members, medical, legal, law professionals, concerned citizens that are all to do with serious mental illness.
Tony Mantor: Why Not Me the World
Laura Craciun: A Son's Mental Illness and a System That Failed Him
You can lose memory of what happened. In fact, that's what happened when we asked him about certain instances. He doesn't recall saying or doing the things he said and did. That's what happens with psychosis.
Tony Mantor: Why Not Me the World
Laura Craciun: A Son's Mental Illness and a System That Failed Him
Yeah, because it's not taught enough. We have a person in our organization living with schizophrenia, Daryl Herman, who speaks very plainly and clearly about what psychosis is and the delusions, the hallucinations. These are things that come with psychosis that they're not educating the patients enough about. And if they did know more, maybe they'd have a better handle on it.
Tony Mantor: Why Not Me the World
Laura Craciun: A Son's Mental Illness and a System That Failed Him
Great.
Tony Mantor: Why Not Me the World
Laura Craciun: A Son's Mental Illness and a System That Failed Him
Yeah, he speaks very clearly and intelligently. He's done so much research. He's had so many years of talking and volunteering in mental hospitals. His knowledge is very valuable. I'm glad he's on your show.
Tony Mantor: Why Not Me the World
Laura Craciun: A Son's Mental Illness and a System That Failed Him
Well, you shouldn't punish someone for no fault brain illness that they were given, unfortunately, after their legal age.
Tony Mantor: Why Not Me the World
Laura Craciun: A Son's Mental Illness and a System That Failed Him
My son, when he was brought over to the 72 court hearings in the span of a very short amount of time after his psychotic break, he was shuffled in and out of the van with no windows for a two-hour commute to the courthouse from where he was incarcerated in shackles from his hands to his feet.
Tony Mantor: Why Not Me the World
Laura Craciun: A Son's Mental Illness and a System That Failed Him
shuffling into the courtroom, standing in front of a judge, not being able to even speak because the judge didn't call upon him and be just told it's going to be delayed again. So five different courthouses, 72 court appearances, and all this money could have gone towards his treatment instead of our taxpayer dollars going to the courts. This has to stop.
Tony Mantor: Why Not Me the World
Laura Craciun: A Son's Mental Illness and a System That Failed Him
23.
Tony Mantor: Why Not Me the World
Laura Craciun: A Son's Mental Illness and a System That Failed Him
And it started three years ago? April of 2022, yeah.
Tony Mantor: Why Not Me the World
Laura Craciun: A Son's Mental Illness and a System That Failed Him
Exactly, and they think they're even trying to fight for their lives, you know, save someone, depending on the delusion.
Tony Mantor: Why Not Me the World
Laura Craciun: A Son's Mental Illness and a System That Failed Him
The medical students as well as the medical professionals, some of them aren't as experienced with people with anosognosia because frankly, they're not getting in front of them often enough.
Tony Mantor: Why Not Me the World
Laura Craciun: A Son's Mental Illness and a System That Failed Him
You saw how hard it was for me to get my son in front of a professional.
Tony Mantor: Why Not Me the World
Laura Craciun: A Son's Mental Illness and a System That Failed Him
Of course. Thank you for having me. Thank you for giving a chance to the voices of the people who are incarcerated, their families watched with helplessness and tiredness because their hearts are broken every day. So you giving a voice to them is a real gift.
Tony Mantor: Why Not Me the World
Laura Craciun: A Son's Mental Illness and a System That Failed Him
Specifically, the ones that are the most challenging cases with psychosis, like schizophrenia, schizoaffective, bipolar, with psychotic features, and drug-induced psychosis.
Tony Mantor: Why Not Me the World
Laura Craciun: A Son's Mental Illness and a System That Failed Him
I had some experience in this because I myself suffer with bipolar since the age of 17. So I've been medicated from age 30 when I was diagnosed after my two sons were born and have stayed on medications gratefully because I know how much they work. When my sons were born, I was... watching out to see if they may show symptoms and signs.
Tony Mantor: Why Not Me the World
Laura Craciun: A Son's Mental Illness and a System That Failed Him
Despite my fear that my younger son had bipolar, every neurologist and psychiatrist and therapist and school professional kept saying no, it was just ADHD. He suffered, unfortunately, even in the school systems with ADHD, being misdiagnosed as that disorder instead of bipolar.
Tony Mantor: Why Not Me the World
Laura Craciun: A Son's Mental Illness and a System That Failed Him
And so by the time he reached senior year, he was already acting so bizarrely that we had the suspicions confirmed and he had to be forced into a hospitalization during the middle of his senior year in high school.
Tony Mantor: Why Not Me the World
Laura Craciun: A Son's Mental Illness and a System That Failed Him
So I was dealing with how to handle his illness when it came about in a stronger way at age 20 with less experience because his bipolar also included psychotic features and I never had those. My family wasn't familiar with it either.
Tony Mantor: Why Not Me the World
Laura Craciun: A Son's Mental Illness and a System That Failed Him
He had been smoking marijuana and they say that marijuana induces mania and psychosis to such a degree that it could actually instigate a stronger form of the illness.
Tony Mantor: Why Not Me the World
Laura Craciun: A Son's Mental Illness and a System That Failed Him
Well, I got a phone call from a friend's parent, a father, and he was concerned for my son. He said, I think he's not well, just like my own family member. And I can't find him. He's missing. He used to be staying with us. And that's when I made a call out to my friends and community to help me find him. He had disappeared with no word to his friends or anyone where he was.
Tony Mantor: Why Not Me the World
Laura Craciun: A Son's Mental Illness and a System That Failed Him
And a search and rescue went on and dogs and all kinds of police investigation and interviews happened. And for three months, we were certain we'd lost him forever. When he came back, I would normally think that you'd be relieved, but I actually began the bigger nightmare when he came back because he was so different looking and acting than anything I'd been familiar with him before.
Tony Mantor: Why Not Me the World
Laura Craciun: A Son's Mental Illness and a System That Failed Him
So I think the summer of July 2022, he was in and out of psychosis, which is a strange behavior that can drift in and out without any warning. So it's very disconcerting. And it was shocking. So we had a difficult time getting a grasp on how to handle it. And we tried our emergency services and behavioral health lines and crisis lines.
Tony Mantor: Why Not Me the World
Laura Craciun: A Son's Mental Illness and a System That Failed Him
Nobody seemed to help us really get him the treatment he needed. In fact, a hospital turned us away when we brought him to the ER because they said, well... You know, he can be crazy, but if he's not a harm to himself or others, then we can't keep him here.
Tony Mantor: Why Not Me the World
Laura Craciun: A Son's Mental Illness and a System That Failed Him
Well, we attempted 16 times with police and ERs. Then at one point, the police had to come to the house. There were eight EMT professionals that were called in because he kept pointing at everyone saying, you know, look at me, look at me. Because he believed he could control you with his eyes. And he was saying things like, I'm faster than a speeding bullet. And he was acting psychotic.
Tony Mantor: Why Not Me the World
Laura Craciun: A Son's Mental Illness and a System That Failed Him
So they put him in a four-point restraint and took him to the hospital immediately.
Tony Mantor: Why Not Me the World
Laura Craciun: A Son's Mental Illness and a System That Failed Him
The physician took us in a room and said, if Nick smokes marijuana one more time, he could have treatment-resistant bipolar with psychotic features. This was the first we'd ever heard that, and that's when we were finally going to get the help we needed.
Tony Mantor: Why Not Me the World
Laura Craciun: A Son's Mental Illness and a System That Failed Him
And they put him in a forced hospitalization for a month in Worcester and let him go with just a bottle of pills saying, you know, take this medicine. When he came out, he was still psychotic. He did not believe he was mentally ill. And he wasn't better. In fact, he was quite angry.
Tony Mantor: Why Not Me the World
Laura Craciun: A Son's Mental Illness and a System That Failed Him
And that's when it escalated a little bit further from just acting crazy to holding a knife when it was being used to chop some chicken on the blade end in order to get his father's attention. And his father was very scared. And then he went up to his face, said three times, do you want to die? So that was another hospitalization.
Tony Mantor: Why Not Me the World
Laura Craciun: A Son's Mental Illness and a System That Failed Him
And this time at a very reputable, probably the best in the country, McLean Hospital. When they saw that he was unwilling and unable to know that he has a mental illness and that he needs medical treatment, despite his protest, they took him to court and had us testify for two hours at a trial. And they actually...
Tony Mantor: Why Not Me the World
Laura Craciun: A Son's Mental Illness and a System That Failed Him
did determine that he needs six months of forced hospitalization and forced medicine. But they only kept him for two months and, again, let him go without any follow-up care. We need assisted outpatient treatment in Massachusetts.
Tony Mantor: Why Not Me the World
Laura Craciun: A Son's Mental Illness and a System That Failed Him
And if McLean had that option, we would have prevented what happened 10 months later, which was the biggest disaster in his young life and in our family's history, where he tried to kill his own father. So that all could have been prevented.
Tony Mantor: Why Not Me the World
Laura Craciun: A Son's Mental Illness and a System That Failed Him
I think there was a gang in Boston that he happened to be associated with externally, you know, through high school friends. And they sort of took him in and housed him and gave him a place to stay. And they got him into some serious trouble, I think, because Nick got more and more charges against him. He died. Kept getting in trouble with the law, but he had a place to stay.
Tony Mantor: Why Not Me the World
Laura Craciun: A Son's Mental Illness and a System That Failed Him
He wasn't homeless anymore. Nick had to be homeless after he came home from being missing three months because we were now afraid of him for our own physical safety. So the homeless shelters did house him for periods of time until they would kick him out. He was kicked out twice from a homeless shelter.
Tony Mantor: Why Not Me the World
Laura Craciun: A Son's Mental Illness and a System That Failed Him
First once because he was speaking crazy, like he was saying he was the creator, he was the universe. The second time was because he had a knife. So he was literally at the will of whoever would take him in.
Tony Mantor: Why Not Me the World
Laura Craciun: A Son's Mental Illness and a System That Failed Him
Well, you can have psychosis and the symptom of anosognosia when you have these illnesses brought on possibly from marijuana or from a genetic illness in your family history. I'll do it through a story. Nick and I went for a walk on the beach when he came back from being missing three months. And I'll never forget the moment he turned to me. He's like, you know, I can hear and see aliens.
Tony Mantor: Why Not Me the World
Laura Craciun: A Son's Mental Illness and a System That Failed Him
And I said, oh. I tried to sound normal and he said, yeah, all I have to do is turn my head without my brain telling me to. And I could see and hear the alien in the passenger seat in the car I was living in Cape Cod in the winter. It didn't have a window. I was trying to act normal. And then, you know, he was saying things that I'd never heard him say before with total conviction.
Tony Mantor: Why Not Me the World
Laura Craciun: A Son's Mental Illness and a System That Failed Him
When I tried to say to him, you know, maybe you need some help, he was looking at me like I was crazy, that there was something wrong with me. So when you see it and you hear it for the first time, you'll never forget it. And most people go a lifetime never face-to-face with something like this, especially with someone you know. So it was very scary.
Tony Mantor: Why Not Me the World
Laura Craciun: A Son's Mental Illness and a System That Failed Him
I resorted to everything from looping in the rest of my family, and they were all very supportive, and trying so hard to write emails and urge people to give him the help he needed. It was only when he became so obvious that it was dangerous that that was how he was getting medical treatment It took extreme measures.
Tony Mantor: Why Not Me the World
Laura Craciun: A Son's Mental Illness and a System That Failed Him
Even the crisis lines, the 988, nothing was working because it's hard to believe unless you're in front of it. And he can pull himself together very coherently in front of professionals. And so it was very difficult and we struggled with that.
Tony Mantor: Why Not Me the World
Laura Craciun: A Son's Mental Illness and a System That Failed Him
Well, he definitely did not like being in a hospital setting. He definitely didn't think he needed medical treatment. So I think he would do everything he can with his intelligence to sound very, you know, well-spoken.
Tony Mantor: Why Not Me the World
Laura Craciun: A Son's Mental Illness and a System That Failed Him
You would hope that professionals would pick up on it and would know enough to ask the family members. It wasn't until he tried to kill his father that the witnesses that watched Nick at the time of the attack described how he was acting, that it was more believable because it's not just family trying to say, hey, you need to pay attention. It was the actual neighbors.
Tony Mantor: Why Not Me the World
Laura Craciun: A Son's Mental Illness and a System That Failed Him
The police used pepper spray to stop him from attacking his father outside on the lawn and then used a four-point restraint and probably injection of some sort of calming agent to get him into a hospital setting. The hospital...
Tony Mantor: Why Not Me the World
Laura Craciun: A Son's Mental Illness and a System That Failed Him
spoke very strongly to the courts because the police followed him and, you know, he was technically under arrest at the time he was in the hospital, but the police called the courts and asked the judge to just make sure that he is not punished but given treatment instead. So they sent him to jail.
Tony Mantor: Why Not Me the World
Laura Craciun: A Son's Mental Illness and a System That Failed Him
They didn't believe that he was mentally ill when he first arrived after the attack from the hospital. He stayed one night there. They believed him when he said he's never been hospitalized before, he doesn't have a mental illness. He's fine. So the lawyer and the judge decided to send him to jail.
Tony Mantor: Why Not Me the World
Laura Craciun: A Son's Mental Illness and a System That Failed Him
Unfortunately, the ride over, the deputy in the van said he was acting strangely, took off his clothes. He was definitely not well. And they brought him back for competency restoration. And he spent three months in the state hospital where they wanted to keep him for six more months and give him the medically necessary treatment.
Tony Mantor: Why Not Me the World
Laura Craciun: A Son's Mental Illness and a System That Failed Him
But in our state, the psychiatric state hospital is run by the Department of Corrections. And unfortunately, they did not take the advice of the clinical director of the state hospital delaying the trial where they would be given permission to medicate him.
Tony Mantor: Why Not Me the World
Laura Craciun: A Son's Mental Illness and a System That Failed Him
So he spent three months with no medication, suffering in psychosis, untreated in that state hospital with all the medical staff wanting desperately to medicate him. But the legal system failed. The Department of Corrections had the final say and they said, nope, we're going to keep the court case going and delaying.
Tony Mantor: Why Not Me the World
Laura Craciun: A Son's Mental Illness and a System That Failed Him
I'm very honored.
Tony Mantor: Why Not Me the World
Laura Craciun: A Son's Mental Illness and a System That Failed Him
And they even hired an independent consultant using extra money to come in and re-examine and re-evaluate the forensic evaluation report. to say he has the right to refuse medical treatment. And when it came down to it, the judge deciding whether to keep him at that state hospital denied the hospital's petition because he said, and I quote, though Nick is delusional, he is competent.