SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - Psychologists at the state mental hospital deal with all sorts of bizarre behavior when they treat court-ordered patients. But usually, they can help restore a level of competency adequate for the patients to return to the courtroom.

"Sometimes we need more time, or need to use more creative means to get them involved," said Don Rosenbaum, an administrator at the Utah State Hospital in Provo.

The man charged in the 2002 abduction of Elizabeth Smart - Brian David Mitchell - is being sent to the hospital after being found mentally incompetent for trial last week.

Mitchell has been kicked out of court hearings repeatedly for bursting into song or religious rants and hasn't been cooperating with mental health evaluators or his own defense team.

The hospital staff has seen it all.

"Someone who simply does his best not to be evaluated, or not to interact, is going to be a huge challenge," said psychologist Gerald Berge, who evaluates patients referred by the courts and has been at the hospital for 21 years. "If a person simply doesn't talk and won't talk during evaluations or interactions with staff, it's difficult if not impossible to do a clinical evaluation."

Mitchell's wife, Wanda Barzee, has been at the hospital since March 2004. She is also charged in the kidnapping and was ruled not to be competent for trial. She has taken a vow of silence and has refused even routine medical procedures.

And if doctors want to force Barzee into taking anti-psychotic drugs, they must get permission from a judge during a special court hearing. The forced medication issue could be discussed at Barzee's Aug. 10 competency review hearing before 3rd District Judge Judith Atherton, who found Mitchell incompetent last week.

If Atherton finds Barzee is still incompetent but has a chance of becoming competent, the state will ask for a hearing on the forced medication issue, said Assistant Utah Attorney General Susan Eisenman.

If Mitchell and Barzee cannot be made well enough for trial after two years and nine months of treatment, they may be civilly committed to the hospital. Then forced medication would become a medical decision for a hospital administrative board, not a judge.

Charges can remain in effect even though a defendant may be civilly committed.

"What the law allows us to do is never allow these charges to lapse," Deputy Salt Lake County District Attorney Kent Morgan said during a recent news conference concerning Mitchell's assignment to the hospital.