As you probably know, former "In The House" television star Maia Campbell has once again been video ambushed and cruelly taped. She is shown acting erratically, ranting and raving to some unidentified people in a house and strangers on a Los Angeles street. If you remember, last September she was also videotaped sitting in a car, looking disheveled and speaking nonsensically.
Many people have speculated that she is simply a washed-up star and crack head who is out of control and waiting for her next fix, by any means necessary.
As a clinician, though, I believe this situation is much more complex.
As I have written before - though I have never examined her - I believe that she fits the profile of a MICA person: mentally ill with a chemical (narcotic) addiction.
My conclusion is based on the speculation of those people who claim to know her that she suffers from some sort of schizophrenia or bipolar disorder and has behaved bizarrely when she is off her psychiatric medications.
Add to this clinical picture that mental illness appears to run in her family. Her late mother, Bebe Campbell Moore, a New York Times best-selling author, suffered with schizophrenia and courageously chronicled her psychiatric struggles. Moore also became the founder and national spokesperson for the National Alliance on Mental Illness-Inglewood.
Regarding Maia's possible drug abuse, this assertion is well supported by the Santa Monica Daily Press, which reported last month that a vial of cocaine was found in Maia's car by police, after she was stopped for erratic driving.
In the background of both of the Campbell videos we hear people laughing at Maia. They appear to be taking a perverse pleasure in her embarrassment and degradation.
This is not a laughing matter.
This is about a woman who is in deep pain, who is lost, who...has lost her mind. Someone needs to step in and get her in to both psychiatric and drug abuse treatment. If Maia does not get this intervention right away, she will end up in jail, in a mental institution or dead.
28-July-10 - An Ohio woman who helped counsel countless couples experiencing marital discord was found stabbed to death on Monday. The suspect is her husband.
27-July-10 - Mocienne Petit Jackson, a Netherlands woman who claims to be the child of pop sensation Michael Jackson and Diana Ross' sister, Barbara Ross, has filed documents in a Los Angeles court, according to TMZ.
23-July-10 - Could it be that Rangel simply forgot the rules? Did it slip his mind that he wasn't supposed to use his letterhead to get corporate donations for a building named after him, as charged? That's not the Charlie Rangel I knew, but that Rangel will surely be exposed when his trial starts.
23-July-10 - R&B heartthrob Brian McKnight, who was accused of being a long-lost baby daddy to a 14-year-old Florida boy, is not be the child's biological father.
22-July-10 - Staying out of trouble is not an easy feat for rapper Foxy Brown, who was arrested in Brooklyn on Wednesday for violating an order of protection, according to TMZ.
23-July-10 - A child pyromaniac is suspected of murdering his mother and siblings, setting fire to his home, and then slitting his own throat with a razor.
22-July-10 - Ieshuh Griffin is a legislative candidate from Wisconsin who seems willing to do whatever it takes to get elected. In the five words that candidates are allowed to put on the ballot to describe themselves, Griffin put the phrase, "Not the white man's b*tch."
21-July-10 - DeFarra Gaymon, a father of four and the CEO of Credit Union of Atlanta, was shot to death in a Newark, N.J. park known for male prostitution.
20-July-10 - Snoop Dogg and his wife revealed to People Magazine that the discovery that their then-6-year-old daughter, Cori, had lupus helped bring their family closer.