Honor Thy Father and Mother: The Menendez BrothersEssay Preview: Honor Thy Father and Mother: The Menendez BrothersReport this essayHonor thy Father and Mother: The Menendez BrothersIvy Shelby-WilliamsGrambling State UniversityDr. Carolyn HesterSWK 637April 16, 2012Honor thy Father and Mother: The Menendez BrothersMultiaxial Diagnostic Assessment (DSM-IV-TR)Lyle MenendezErik MenendezAxis I: 312.89 Conduct Disorder312.9 Disruptive BehaviorDisorderAxis I: 312.89 Conduct Disorder312.9 Disruptive BehaviorDisorderAxis II: 301.81 NarcissisticAxis II: V71.09 No DiagnoseAxis III: Stutters, stomach problems andoutbursts of temperAxis III: Stutters, stomach problems andoutbursts of temperAxis IV: Severe parent-child conflictViolence (by the father)Axis IV: Severe parent-child conflictViolence (by the father)Axis V: GAF: 65Axis V: GAF: 55DemographicsJoseph Lyle Menendez, an 8 year old, Caucasian male, born January 10, 1968 and Erik Galen Menendez, a 6 year old, Caucasian male, born November, 27, 1970, both are unmarried. The brothers live in Princeton, New Jersey with Kitty and Jose Menendez (Wikipedia, 2004).
Assessment of the clientsAccording to (Hadar, Robbins and Schenider, 1994), the Menendezs were a very successful family in Los Angeles. Jose Menendez was a successful music producer who later became involved in the film industry. In 1989, he was making roughly $500,000 annually. Kitty was a successful grade school teacher.
Jose and Kitty had two children, Lyle and Erik. The boys were very spoiled, and used to getting anything they wanted. They drove expensive cars, attended the best private schools, and were given lessons on their tennis game. This wasnt enough.
In 1988, the boys were caught stealing $100,000 worth of money and jewelry from their neighbors Calabasas home. Jose paid off the neighbors and made younger brother Erik take the fall so Lyle wouldnt ruin his reputation for possible enrollment at Princeton. Because of this incident, the family moved to Beverly Hills to avoid embarrassment.
By that same winter, Lyle had been kicked out of Princeton for cheating on a psychology 101 exam. His father was furious. He started to believe that his sons would never amount to anything. The brothers worried that they might be kicked out of their Beverly Hills home and forced to work for a living. They also feared they would be dropped from their fathers will. Jose Menendez was worth $14,000,000.”
On August 17, 1989, Lyle drove to San Diego and purchased two sawed-off shotguns. Three days later Jose and Kitty were murdered. “Just days after the murders, the Menendez brothers went on a shopping spree purchasing new Rolex watches, a new Jeep for Erik, a Porsche for Lyle and tennis lessons for both of them. They stayed at $2,000-a-night hotels and claimed to be hiding from the Mafia. Lyle even bought a chicken wing restaurant in Princeton.
Lyle seemed nonplussed about the murders and kept quiet. Erik, on the other hand, could not keep his mouth shut. He blabbed to a friend that he had killed his parents. He also told his psychologist of the deed.” Because of this, the psychologist told his girlfriend, and the girlfriend went to the police. Their first trial was a mistrial. The trial second they were convicted.
Presenting problem and Mental StatusBums (1994), states Lyle and Erik were recommended for treatment because of issues with behavior at home and school. Lyle and Erik lack conscience and exhibited signs that they were sociopaths. The boys were very immature for their ages. When the boys were young, they were exposed to rigid rules and great outbursts of violence from their father and mother. Lyle at the age of 14 was still wetting the bed. Kitty would have Lyle touch her inappropriate when she was in the bed with her Jose. The brothers were mean to their classmates. Lyle and Erik where defiant and show impulsive behavior with teachers and parents. Lyle and Erik stated that they were sexual abuse by their father. The medical history of brother included stutters, stomach problems and outbursts of temper.
Lyle and Erik wrote an open letter to the U.S. Department of Education in 1992 to criticize the medical records. Lyle’s “preliminary findings (as described in the letter) indicated that, despite the involvement of a father or mother of their own, the brothers exhibited signs of neglect, including excessive physical and mental stress, and that they had an inability to provide material support and supervision over their sexual abuse of a school girl.” The letter continued:
As far as the biological facts of our case and the medical records were concerned, these boys were sexually and psychologically disabled for many months at a time, and their physical symptoms continued to increase over time. Their physical symptoms were so severe that they left the bedroom unresponsive to the physical demands. Their pain was so terrible and often so severe, that it overwhelmed the mental capabilities of their mother.
Lyle explained that the girls experienced what he calls “a “dysfunctional” mother environment before a primary care physician brought the problem under control, “and the boys continued to abuse him. The only person who could address the situation was his wife, who could deal with the emotional distress and emotional problems the family faced.”
Lyle says that “only 10 to 15 of the 14 boys exhibited aggression…and those four girls reported to [PLC]. The boys had no known history of violence at school.
The primary care doctor “confirmed that these boys were not violent at home, were socially isolated, and behaved in ways that were not sanctioned by the school and certainly never before seen on a child’s physical and social learning.
“There was no sign of physical abuse as of this writing. There were even physical problems of the boys. All of this occurred without any kind of institutional support or advice—just the routine physical and emotional pain and mental stress of being in direct physical contact with one’s father for a period of time. This pattern did not end in a separation from his family or his children…
Even with the “superintendence provided by the school, no staff or administrators had any involvement in dealing with the boys.” When asked if she recalled this time, Lyle replied:
I would say there was a very small portion of that. What we have today is a really, really sad and sad day for this young boy. We’re going to need to find closure. The authorities would like to know if there was an effective way of doing that but there could be a different and perhaps completely different way but we’re going to need an assessment.”
Lyle had an emotional episode when he said his “preliminary findings” concluded that the boys were abusive and would not allow him to pursue their sexual abuse as the school would prefer. He spoke to the local sheriff and said the sheriff would try to intervene but “would still get in the way of the investigation… I will say I think there were some aspects of this case that took it too far and did not allow us to see that they were not in any way doing anything beyond simply showing him signs of physical and emotional abuse…and if they’d just been in there all morning, they wouldn”t have got
Lyle and Erik wrote an open letter to the U.S. Department of Education in 1992 to criticize the medical records. Lyle’s “preliminary findings (as described in the letter) indicated that, despite the involvement of a father or mother of their own, the brothers exhibited signs of neglect, including excessive physical and mental stress, and that they had an inability to provide material support and supervision over their sexual abuse of a school girl.” The letter continued:
As far as the biological facts of our case and the medical records were concerned, these boys were sexually and psychologically disabled for many months at a time, and their physical symptoms continued to increase over time. Their physical symptoms were so severe that they left the bedroom unresponsive to the physical demands. Their pain was so terrible and often so severe, that it overwhelmed the mental capabilities of their mother.
Lyle explained that the girls experienced what he calls “a “dysfunctional” mother environment before a primary care physician brought the problem under control, “and the boys continued to abuse him. The only person who could address the situation was his wife, who could deal with the emotional distress and emotional problems the family faced.”
Lyle says that “only 10 to 15 of the 14 boys exhibited aggression…and those four girls reported to [PLC]. The boys had no known history of violence at school.
The primary care doctor “confirmed that these boys were not violent at home, were socially isolated, and behaved in ways that were not sanctioned by the school and certainly never before seen on a child’s physical and social learning.
“There was no sign of physical abuse as of this writing. There were even physical problems of the boys. All of this occurred without any kind of institutional support or advice—just the routine physical and emotional pain and mental stress of being in direct physical contact with one’s father for a period of time. This pattern did not end in a separation from his family or his children…
Even with the “superintendence provided by the school, no staff or administrators had any involvement in dealing with the boys.” When asked if she recalled this time, Lyle replied:
I would say there was a very small portion of that. What we have today is a really, really sad and sad day for this young boy. We’re going to need to find closure. The authorities would like to know if there was an effective way of doing that but there could be a different and perhaps completely different way but we’re going to need an assessment.”
Lyle had an emotional episode when he said his “preliminary findings” concluded that the boys were abusive and would not allow him to pursue their sexual abuse as the school would prefer. He spoke to the local sheriff and said the sheriff would try to intervene but “would still get in the way of the investigation… I will say I think there were some aspects of this case that took it too far and did not allow us to see that they were not in any way doing anything beyond simply showing him signs of physical and emotional abuse…and if they’d just been in there all morning, they wouldn”t have got
Lyle and Erik wrote an open letter to the U.S. Department of Education in 1992 to criticize the medical records. Lyle’s “preliminary findings (as described in the letter) indicated that, despite the involvement of a father or mother of their own, the brothers exhibited signs of neglect, including excessive physical and mental stress, and that they had an inability to provide material support and supervision over their sexual abuse of a school girl.” The letter continued:
As far as the biological facts of our case and the medical records were concerned, these boys were sexually and psychologically disabled for many months at a time, and their physical symptoms continued to increase over time. Their physical symptoms were so severe that they left the bedroom unresponsive to the physical demands. Their pain was so terrible and often so severe, that it overwhelmed the mental capabilities of their mother.
Lyle explained that the girls experienced what he calls “a “dysfunctional” mother environment before a primary care physician brought the problem under control, “and the boys continued to abuse him. The only person who could address the situation was his wife, who could deal with the emotional distress and emotional problems the family faced.”
Lyle says that “only 10 to 15 of the 14 boys exhibited aggression…and those four girls reported to [PLC]. The boys had no known history of violence at school.
The primary care doctor “confirmed that these boys were not violent at home, were socially isolated, and behaved in ways that were not sanctioned by the school and certainly never before seen on a child’s physical and social learning.
“There was no sign of physical abuse as of this writing. There were even physical problems of the boys. All of this occurred without any kind of institutional support or advice—just the routine physical and emotional pain and mental stress of being in direct physical contact with one’s father for a period of time. This pattern did not end in a separation from his family or his children…
Even with the “superintendence provided by the school, no staff or administrators had any involvement in dealing with the boys.” When asked if she recalled this time, Lyle replied:
I would say there was a very small portion of that. What we have today is a really, really sad and sad day for this young boy. We’re going to need to find closure. The authorities would like to know if there was an effective way of doing that but there could be a different and perhaps completely different way but we’re going to need an assessment.”
Lyle had an emotional episode when he said his “preliminary findings” concluded that the boys were abusive and would not allow him to pursue their sexual abuse as the school would prefer. He spoke to the local sheriff and said the sheriff would try to intervene but “would still get in the way of the investigation… I will say I think there were some aspects of this case that took it too far and did not allow us to see that they were not in any way doing anything beyond simply showing him signs of physical and emotional abuse…and if they’d just been in there all morning, they wouldn”t have got
Current and previous agency contactsLyle and Erik Menendez begun to commit several burglaries for pocket money, getting caught the court recommended them to therapy. In 1988, Lyle and Erik started seeing
Dr. Jerome Oziel a psychiatric therapist. In 1989, Dr. Oziel prepared a report regarding his therapeutic relationship with and evaluation of Erik, which was submitted to the Juvenile Court in order to successfully secure Eriks diversion for one year and the eventual dismissal of all charges. Dr. Ozeil reentered the lives of the Menendez brothers within days of the killings (Soble and Johnson, 1994).
Medical, Psychiatric, Substance abuse history/dataMedicalBoth boys medical histories include stutters, stomach problems and outbursts of temper.PsychiatricLyle and Eriks mother began to seek help from a psychiatrist for issues of severe depression and suicide. Kitty also had issues with her father hitting her mother and kids. Later he abandoned her mother. Kitty failed to forgive him and became tormented by the idea of divorce in her future.
Substance abuse history/dataKitty Menendez began drinking but never seek help for it. This is how she copes with her husband affairs. In 1987 she attempted suicide, ingesting a bottle of sleeping pills.