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Gangs, reality and mental illness

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It’s Monday morning at a Los Angeles facility referred to as Youth Guidance Center (YGC), a state-funded residential facility for at-risk youth. The males living there are wards of the juvenile court and entrusted to the care of the Los Angeles County Probation Department and the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS).

These wards have been up since 6 a.m. preparing for their daily regimen of school.

As I stand in the doorway of a counselor’s office looking down the hall into a dorm that has what can only be described as the appearance of a paramilitary boarding school, counselors shout out “med call.”

The wards begin to line up in a single-file line, laughing and shouting, “ med call,” “Skittles;” and the dorm becomes a jovial environment filled with jokes and laughter about consuming medication.

Some wards appear energetic and happy about the announcement, while a few others appear lethargic and in true need of their morning medication. The term “Skittles,” is used interchangeably by wards in the facility who refer to the medication as “happy meds, ” or candies like Skittles.

The wards arrive at the nurse’s office under escort by staff and wait patiently to receive their medicine. A counselor informs me that 75 percent of the dorm’s population is here and are on psychotropic drugs. According to him, the majority of these guys are gang members from South Los Angeles (Crips and Bloods as well as various Hispanic gangs) and the Bay Area (various gangs known collectively as the “415s”).

I am not allowed in the nurse’s office, and I am instructed to have a seat in the Officer of the Day’s office. As I sit, I’m able to hear the wards negotiate with the nurse about increasing their medication. She informs them she will not increase their dosage without approval from their psychiatrist. I hear her tell them, “you are here to get better and not get high off your medication.”

According to the O.D., psychotropic medication is a prescribed drug capable of affecting the mind, emotions, and behavior of an individual, and is often used to treat mental illness. In this case, it appears at this facility they mostly treat teenage gang members.

Psychotherapist Leonard Johnson, who is responsible for weekly psychotherapy sessions at YGC, believes that gangbanging is a result of environment, gang association and assimilation.

He said individuals first become associated with gangs simply because of their environment—it’s all around them. Then, if they choose, they become a gang member. On that level, they sometimes get involved in dealing drugs, and other illegal activities.

There are multiple levels of gang involvement. There are individuals who are gang affiliated. They know all the members, but really don’t get involved in the illegal activities.

Gang members are the ones who put in major work; they do drive-by shootings, murders and conduct extortion activities to uphold the image of their gang and protect their interest, said Johnson.

As a psychotherapist who has worked with numerous social service agencies for 40 years, Johnson said he believes the majority of inner city youth involved in gangs as actual members have mental health issues. This is potentially due to their parents’ past substance abuse. Education officials have long understood that some children of drug addicts could have mental health issues and learning disabilities.

Those who are not helped at a young age, tend to avoid responsibility in the classroom by acting out, said Johnson. This then leads them to engage with other peers who are at that same level. They form groups and act out as well. Grouping together gives the youth a feeling of camaraderie. Now we have a gang, said Johnson.

As the youngsters grow older, their anti-social behavior becomes more sophisticated—fighting in fourth grade may give way to stealing from a store in middle school and shooting in high school.

If and when the educational system recognizes that mental health issue is a potential problem and tries to  address it with special intervention programs such as those associated with major universities, parents sometime find they are faced with a child not wanting to be labeled as “special ed.”

The child rejects assistance and placement in so-called special education programs and becomes one of the statistical “at-risk youth.”

If this happens, their mental health issues may go undiagnosed.

Johnson said he does not know the percentage of gang members who are mentally ill, because there has not been any published study on mental illness and its relation to gang banging done in the United States.

Cheryl White, a sexual abuse counselor with the California Department of Corrections, treats individuals, many of whom are gang members convicted of sexual-related crimes. Many of the gang members have serious mental health issues and quite possibility are abuse victims themselves. She agrees with Johnson that there has not been a study on mental illness and its relation to gang activity conducted within the U.S.

She also believes such a study to determine the percentages of mentally ill individuals involved in gang activity would be difficult, because within the gang culture a large percentage of gang members benefit from being labeled so-called “crazy, loc’d out, looney, or mad.”

“Perpetrating crazy,” or “pseudo crazy,” is different from those who are certified as mentally ill and have been  diagnosed by a specialist trained in evaluating and determining the mental capacity of an individual.

Pseudo crazy is a gang member who is an opportunist, who will take advantage of all the benefits garnered from being labeled mentally ill, said White. For example an individual will receive monetary benefits and medical coverage, including prescription drugs from the government. The drugs are resold on the black market. The monetary benefits (social security check) assist with daily living expenses.

James Diego Vigil, a professor emeritus of social ecology at the University of California, Irvine, believes some gang members use what he calls the “quasi-controlled insanity.” He said this is similar to pseudo crazy.

Due to socioeconomic issues, Vigil believes African American kids may be more often physically punished or abused by society. They may be neglected at home because they may be living in a single parent household or they may be left alone at home as a latch-key kid. That kind of trauma at a young age infuses their body with an overwhelming dose of adrenaline, and creates an unsteady mindset geared towards surviving.”

According to Vigil, in Asian American street gangs, Vietnamese youth in particular, you will encounter teenagers that emulate a Jekyll and Hyde type of characters—Jekyll maintains a high GPA and Hyde does drive-bys. He believes Asian gangs have to learn how to act “crazy.” That’s where the concept of it quasi-controlled insanity comes from—they know how to play the “crazy” gang member and turn it on and turn it off. Vigil said that becomes a kind of a function for the gang. Members learn how to be gangster.

White does believe that there are “unprecedented levels” of mental illness among gang members, and that young men in gangs are disproportionately prone to anxiety disorders, and various forms of psychosis. But she has seen in court a forensic expert witness on gangs testify and prove that a gang member on trial for murder, was only perpetrating being mentally ill. White said she believes this is a talent an individual uses on the streets to build his reputation.

Ex-gang member and gang counselor Ralph Brooks remembers being advised by a peer to display characteristics of a mentally deranged person while being incarcerated. He was told to ask for medication to create a paper trail indicating mental illness. That would make it easy to receive social security benefits upon release, he remembers. This is known as a “crazy check.” Individuals receiving such checks would skew the numbers in studies attempting to quantify mentally ill gang members, said Brooks.

Perpetrating mental illness or being “labeled” crazy in prison is a self-defense mechanism and is also an advantage in ensuring that a rival will not mess with you. Such behavior is documented by correctional institutions and can also skew the numbers of the mentally ill.

Brooks has associates—younger gang members suffering from mental illness—but who go untreated, because they will not take medication being prescribed to treat their mental illness nor will they go see their  psychiatrist for evaluation and assessments. Consequently, it’s difficult to determine if treatment is successful as its relates to de-escalating their propensity to participated in gang activity.

Substance abuse is a major factor that drives mental illness and violent behavior within gangs, believes Brooks. He thinks that two-thirds of the gang members he has encountered over the years were dependent on alcohol, and more than half were addicted to drugs. Brooks said down through the years at least back to the 1970s, he can remember gang members he associated with (Crips), getting high and committing acts of anti-social behavior like drive-bys or beating someone up.

In the 1960s, Brooks remembers gang members would sniff toy model cement glue and consume alcohol.

In the 1970s, he said some gang members were huffing “criptonite” and they became mentally ill from the vapors inhaled. Criptonite was a leather cleaning fluid that some members of the Crip gang would inhale prior to “putting in work” or committing a act of violence.

In the 1980s, Brooks said alcohol was being manufactured by breweries specifically designed and marketed for inner city consumption.

In the 1990s, media sources focused specifically on malt liquor, and described how the beverage caused gang members to commit violent acts.

Today, youngsters are drinking a substance known as “Lean,” which consists of cough syrup (promethazine) and Sprite soda. When ingested, Lean creates a absence of sensitivity and enables an individual to create acts of violence, according to gang specialist Brooks.

Peter Smith, a licensed clinical social worker, said that Sexual Abuse Counselor White may be correct in speculating that there does not exist any published research on “mental illness and gang activity” in the United States. But there is a 2013 study published that researched gang membership, violence, and psychiatric morbidity in Great Britain. “Gang Membership, Violence and Psychiatric Morbidity” was published by the American Psychiatric Association.

Smith believes the British government sanctioned this study to attempt to steer youth away from gang membership. He thinks the United Kingdom’s public health system is being overloaded by African British gang members seeking treatment for mental illness.

According to Smith, “psychiatric morbidity” is a mental illness that impacts the human body causing physical and psychological deterioration as a result of a mental or psychological condition. The term usually applies to those who are acutely aware of their condition, despite the mental deterioration.

According to Smith, the study, led by Jeremy Coid, director of forensic psychiatry research at Queen Mary, University of London, focused on males ages 18 to 34, older than the age at which most of the young men would have probably joined the gang. So these particular men all show a long-term gang affiliation—and a long-term dedication—to the lifestyle attached to it.

What’s interesting about the research, said Smith, is that these British gang bangers who dress and speak like South Los Angeles gang members with a British accent, suffer the same mental illnesses as their African American brethren in the United States.

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