Bipolar News
April 23, 2006
Have You Read My HUGE
Announcement About Bipolar Disorder?
Click here
Note: One or more of the following articles
may require a subscription to view the entire article. We
cannot post articles that require a subscription. We are
sorry for the inconvenience.
Toddlers diagnosed with bipolar
ABC Online - Australia
Children as young as two years old are being inappropriately diagnosed
and medicated for bipolar disorder, says a UK psychiatrist. ...
Classen murder trial deliberations on hold until Monday
The Columbian - Vancouver,WA,USA
... A Florida forensic psychologist testified Classen suffered from
bipolar disorder and was in an acute manic phase when he stabbed his
wife. ...
Moussaoui painted as mentally ill
Fort Wayne Journal Gazette
ALEXANDRIA, Va. - A defense psychologist testified Monday that Zacarias
Moussaoui is a paranoid schizophrenic with delusions, as defense lawyers
presented additional evidence the confessed Sept. 11 conspirator
believes he will be freed from prison by President Bush.
Wife has no reason to continue marriage
The Biloxi Sun Herald
Dear Annie: I married "Alex" a year ago, and now he wants a divorce. I
don't know why.
Seroquel big, and could get bigger
The News Journal
If you're a drug company, having a $2.8 billion blockbuster in your
portfolio puts you in a pretty nice position.
Employment Programs Help Patients With Mental Illnesses Succeed
Psychiatric Times
"What mental health practitioners need to hear," Zlatka Russinova,
Ph.D., told Psychiatric Times , "is that people with serious mental
illness do have the capacity to go back to work."
Deadly taboo: Youth suicide an epidemic that many in Utah prefer to
ignore
Deseret Morning News
Buried in the details of carefully worded obituaries, the tragic clues
emerge. "Sierra chose to leave this life and return to what she believed
would be a better place."
I have lost everything and I don't know what pieces of my life are
left to pick up. All I've now is the support of my family; EXCLUSIVE
SHAMED LAWYER 'ALLY McDEAL' TELLS OF ANGUISH AND SHAME.
Daily Record (Glasgow, Scotland); 4/21/2006
Byline: By Cara Page &Gordon Mcllwraith
THE lawyer who smuggled heroin into Barlinnie prison has spoken for
the first time about how she has destroyed her own life.
Young mother Angela Baillie was starting a 32-month jail term last
night for passing a cigarette packet stuffed with drugs to a client.
But hours before she was sentenced at the High Court in Edinburgh
yesterday, she spoke exclusively to the Daily Record in a bid to explain
the astonishing act of folly that put her in the dock.
Baillie, dubbed "Ally McDeal" after her arrest, revealed a history of
mental illness which has driven her to attempt suicide twice.
The former lawyer told how she binged on cocaine and booze as she
tried to "medicate" her tortured mind.
And she revealed that her crime has cost her everything she ever had
- apart from her family's love.
Baillie, 32, said: "I'm just so very sorry to have disgraced my
family, my friends, my profession.
"I'm just so sorry for everything.
"I've lost my job, my dignity, my reputation, and I don't know what
pieces there are to pick up. All I have now is the support of my
family."
Baillie was a pounds 30,000-a-year solicitor with a Glasgow law firm
when her life fell apart on October 23 last year.
She went to visit a client at Barlinnie, carrying a cigarette packet
containing almost 15 grams of heroin and 158 diazepam tablets.
Baillie's counsel, Paul McBride QC, said yesterday that the client
and his family "coerced" her into carrying the drugs.
A female relative of the prisoner, who cannot be named for legal
reasons, even turned up with a gun to the house Baillie shared with her
15-year-old daughter.
Baillie gave the drugs to her client in an interview room at the
Glasgow jail.
But prison officers had been tipped off about the handover. The
inmate was strip-searched, the cigarette packet was found and Baillie
was arrested.
It was a shocking fall from grace for a former private schoolgirl who
lived a comfortable life in a pounds 165,000 home in plush Newton Mearns,
near Glasgow.
But Baillie believes the seeds of her downfall were sown years
earlier, when her mind began to fail her.
Baillie first started taking antidepressants 10 years ago and was
diagnosed with an eating disorder two years later.
But after her arrest, psychiatrists examined her and made a new
diagnosis. They told her she had a condition known as bipolar II
disorder, which was formerly called manic depression.
The illness affects the judgment and stops victims thinking
rationally. And Baillie claims it was behind her decision to agree to
smuggle the drugs, rather than calling the authorities or seeking help
from family or friends.
She said: "My life is really devastated by one error of judgment when
I wasn't well. If I'd been diagnosed some years ago I don't think the
situation would have ever arisen."
Baillie also blames her bipolar disorder for her attempts to kill
herself. She said: "I've tried to commit suicide on more than one
occasion. I didn't realise at the time what was wrong.
"I'd been seeing psychiatrists and the illness had not been
diagnosed. But I understand now that it can go on undiagnosed for a
fairly long period."
Baillie said she first tried to take her own life four years ago,
while struggling with her drink and drug habits.
By then, she already had a history of harming herself. She would cut
her wrists, treating the wounds herself, or giving a false name at
accident and emergency.
Then, in June 2002, Baillie took an overdose of paracetamol. She was
found by a friend, who had spoken to her on the phone earlier and was
worried.
Baillie was rushed to Glasgow Royal Infirmary, then referred to the
Priory Hospital to be treated for alcohol and cocaine addiction.
She said: "At the time, drink and drugs were perhaps masking my
illness.
"I think it was self-medication. The doctors have told me this is an
understandable method of coping with it."
Baillie, a divorcee, spent a month in the Priory, then was readmitted
in 2003 after her drug problems recurred.
Then, in September 2004, she made a second suicide attempt. Again,
she was put on antidepressants.
Baillie's bosses at law firm Richard Lobjoie knew she was struggling.
They reduced her workload a year before her arrest and gave her flexible
hours which meant she did not have to visit the office.
Case papers were delivered to her home and collected every day, and
any court work was done under supervision.
Baillie said: "I just couldn't cope. I couldn't juggle everything. I
couldn't cope with my life, my illness - the only thing I had was my
job.
"The world was just overwhelming. The job was getting on top of me.
"I wasn't given any office administration duties because I just
couldn't cope."
Baillie did not realise at the time that her life was out of control.
But her client in Barlinnie was quick to spot her weakness.
One of the man's female relatives turned up at Baillie's home, where
she was alone with her daughter, and pressed her to carry drugs into the
jail.
Baillie immediately refused.
But the woman made a second visit, this time carrying a handgun.
Supposedly, the idea was to persuade Baillie to store the weapon at her
home.
But Baillie sensed a terrifying threat. As he pleaded for mercy for
her yesterday, Mr McBride told the court: "A gun was not put to her
head. But the demand was made in such a way she felt it couldn't be
refused."
He added that the client and his associates were "properly regarded
as dangerous individuals".
Baillie looked desperately for a way out of doing what the client
wanted. She had once studied in America and logged on to the internet in
the early hours to try to renew her US residency visa.
She also tried to arrange a meeting with a friend she hoped to
confide in. But the pal could not make it.
Baillie felt trapped. She spent the night driving around aimlessly,
then went to Barlinnie with the pounds 1600 haul of drugs.
At the High Court in Paisley in February, Baillie admitted smuggling
heroin and diazepam into the prison. She then checked into a rehab
clinic, in a bid to finally conquer her mental problems.
She told the Record: "I've been under a very strict regime.
"I feel as if I've stabilised but there's a long way to go. The
doctors reckon another six months of treatment, minimum."
Baillie said she has been unable to return home for fear of reprisals
from her former client's family. The man has been charged in connection
with the Barlinnie drugs incident and she is due to give evidence
against him.
She said: "I'll never go back to my home. I don't feel safe enough.
The house has been cleared and I've not been in it since."
Baillie paid an emotional tribute to her family for helping her
through the ordeal of the case. She said: "At the time, they were
absolutely appalled, but they have been extremely supportive.
"Without their help it would have been impossible to get through
this.
"I'm very close to my father, my mother, my sisters and daughter, and
we've all helped each other in different ways.
"I've lost my career. I've gained an insight into my illness. I know
the evil of drugs and I accept the punishment of the court."
Judge Lord Kinclaven decided Baillie's punishment yesterday after Mr
McBride made a two-hour appeal for leniency.
The QC said of his client: "Her life has been shattered into 1000
pieces."
Mr McBride said Baillie was "at her wits' end" when she smuggled the
drugs.
But he also conceded: "What she ought to have done is contact the
authorities, or her family, or those she loved. She didn't follow any of
those routes. Had she done so, she wouldn't be here today.
"She accepts that she betrayed her profession and her position as an
officer of the court."
Baillie dabbed her eyes with a hankie as her counsel spoke.
The judge told Baillie, a first offender, that he took her bipolar
disorder and drug and alcohol problems into account.
He also took into account the claims of coercion, Baillie's "apparent
lack of financial gain" from the offence, her co-operation with
prosecutors, and the fact that the offence had ended her career.
But he told Baillie: "I am satisfied that the court does require to
impose a custodial sentence.
"Your case, like many others in this court, clearly illustrates the
tragedies and devastation that can be caused by involvement with drugs
and the drugs trade."
Baillie now faces another court battle as prosecutors attempt to
recover pounds 52,000 from her as the alleged proceeds of drug-dealing.
And last night, Martin McAllister, of solcitors' body the Law
Society, condemned her as a disgrace to her profession.
He said: "Whatever the circumstances of Ms Baillie's case, she has
committed a serious crime which goes against the core values of being a
solicitor - trust and honesty."
The Daily Record has not paid Baillie for this interview.
'I've tried to commit suicide more than once. I didn't realise at the
time what was wrong.'
COPYRIGHT 2006 Scottish Daily Record & Sunday
This material is published under license from the publisher through
the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding
rights should be directed to the Gale Group.
Back to Index |
