The Case of Lisa H. the Role of Mental Health Professionals Where the Social Contract Is Violated

Abstract

This case concerns a young woman accused by the State of California of Welfare of fraud. She was sent by the court to the writer for evaluation of her competence to make mature judgments and, later, she was asked by the Welfare Department to be counselled by the writer, a request she actively resisted. A case like this raises a major issue which has implications for our ideas about responsibility of the State to its members, for the role of mental health profes sionals in society, and for the lives of individuals who may, for whatever reason, violate what most of us understand to be the "social contract" we share.

The issue is a familiar one, but is important nevertheless and highlighted in a new way by the issues in the case of Lisa. The issue is this: When is it proper for a mental health profes sional to be allowed to intervene in the relationship and transactions that may be occurring between the state and individuals? This issue is recurrent and there are surely some well established instances where it is appropriate. Consider a case in which such intervention was requested by the court (and the Welfare Department) in a city wherein such intervention seems to be clearly inappropriate and possibly harmful both to citizens in general, professionals in the fields of welfare, and the individual.