Not-so-lucky 13

One of the things psychiatrists try to assess during the mental exam is judgment. Mostly we guess, be we're not bad guessers, and we usually can tell how someone's judgment is by listening to the stories they tell about their lives.

What makes for bad judgment? Children often don't have the best judgment, an issue of maturity and experience to help form it. Teenagers, particularly boys, aren't noted for their great judgment, either. Substance abuse lead to bad decision in realms beyond those that can simply be attributed to the pursuit of a substance. Mental illnesses, particularly mania, are marked by poor judgment, and certainly brain tumors, delirium, intoxication.....

Okay, so I'm pasting an article from the Associated Press about a mom who was denied custody of her children when she came to court after 13 beers. If she was hoping to get the children back, I think it's safe to say she might have impaired judgment ("might"....oy I've never seen her, who knows if AP is reporting this accurately, and so I'm hedging...)...found it in my local paper under "Weird news"...

By Associated Press

3:22 PM EDT, June 24, 2009

FORT SMITH, Ark. (AP) — A mother who drank 13 beers before a psychological evaluation failed to recover custody of her three young children despite claiming she wasn't drunk because she "can drink like a fish." The woman wanted to get the children back from her husband's stepmother. The Arkansas Court of Appeals rejected her Wednesday, citing addictions, frequent absences and criminal activity to support her habits. It said the woman made no meaningful efforts to restructure her life. The children are ages 6, 4 and 4. The state took custody in 2007 when the woman's mother said she could no longer care for the children. Human Services workers later won an order declaring the children's mother unfit and want to see the children adopted.