‘Kony 2012’ director is treated for psychosis, wife says
Jason Russell, a co-founder of the Kony 2012 campaign, was detained March 15, 2012, by San Diego police on accusations he masturbated in public and vandalized cars.
The director of the popular video "Kony 2012" about brutal African warlord Joseph Kony has been diagnosed with a mental condition commonly triggered by trauma or stress.
His wife says he is likely to stay in the hospital for weeks, according to the Associated Press.
Jason Russell was hospitalized last week in San Diego after witnesses saw him running through the streets in his underwear, incoherently banging his fists on the pavement.
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His family now says the outburst was not due to alcohol or drugs, but instead, doctors say Russell has "reactive psychosis," in which a person displays sudden psychotic behavior, according to the BBC.
"Doctors say this is a common experience given the great mental, emotional and physical shock his body has gone through in these last two weeks," Danica Russell said. "Even for us, it's hard to understand the sudden transition from relative anonymity to worldwide attention – both raves and ridicules," the AP reported.
It is believed that the episode was brought on by the stress and scrunity he has received since his video went viral on the internet. "Kony 2012" has been viewed by an estimated 83 million people on YouTube.
His success has also brought attention, some negative, to his group Invisible Children, which he co-founded in 2005 to fight African war atrocities.
Critics say the 30-minute campaign video is simplistic and does not explain what lead to the rise of Kony's Lord's Resistance Army or the current situation in Uganda.