Mental Health Notes

Boston Legal Takes On Mental Illness Once Again

by Alicia Sparks, NAMI Affiliation Leader on April 8th, 2008

Tonight’s episode of Boston Legal was an emotional one for me. Sure, Alan Shore’s closing arguments get me fired up and ready to start changing the world every Tuesday night, but tonight’s episode was particularly engaging.

And, it was Shirley’s closing argument - not Alan’s - that did it for me. The frank, bottom line closing argument she gave in defense of a Vietnam war veteran living with bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder who was being charged with killing seals on multiple occasions. Because the veteran had killed the seals numerous times, even though he’d been warned, Shirley wanted to “plead insanity.” (Of course, the bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder were to be key pieces of artillery.) The veteran, however, refused such a plea, claiming “crazy” would have been not killing the seals and allowing himself to starve to death.

Touché.

After finally deciding how to approach the case, Shirley ended with a powerful closing argument focused on how it made much more sense to provide food to our country’s veterans than to spend X number of dollars a day keeping them in jail for trying to provide food for themselves.

Instead of relying on the crazy train to carry them on past those a possible prison sentence, Shirley relied on the judge’s (and our country’s) conscience to simply see the bigger picture and do the right thing.

Naturally, Shirley won. Rather than telling the veteran he should have applied for welfare and throwing him in prison, the judge reminded the prosecuting side of the moral obligations we as a country have when it comes to the men and women who defend us, and I walked away singing the National Anthem and wanting to donate money or food to…well, lots of people.

Tonight’s Boston Legal episode was an interesting theme combination for me. Animal rights and mental health and soldiers - all in one episode? It was all almost too much for my little advocate heart. However, in the end, I was pleased and not at all surprised - as the Boston Legal writers have always, in my opinion, handled mental illness in an entertaining way and without promoting stigma.

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POSTED IN: Bipolar Disorder, Criminal Psych, Famous Folk, Government & Politics, Inspiring News, Mood Disorders, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Rants & Raves, Sites of Interest, stigma