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A good point
From a psychiatrist--"Colorado shooting a reminder that psychiatry, not gun laws, needs fixing"
Clayton Cramer has long been making this point. Historically, there wasn't really much that could be done for serious mental illness, so a person who was in that state was committed and simply "warehoused," often for a lifetime. Then in the late 1960s and into the 1970s, there was a movement to de-institutionalize the mentally ill. The downside was that a large part of the people thus freed wound up either on the streets or in jail. The requirements for commitment became so strict that people rarely heard of it happening, and most people forgot that it existed. With the Tucson shooter, his behavior was so strange and dangerous that his college banned him from campus -- but no one thought to ask the police to take him in for a mental evaluation and commitment. The biggest anomaly is that today many forms of mental illness can be medicated and fixed
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Posted on my Facebook page:
"In the wake of the horrific Aurora massacre, I'm seeing a lot of talk on Facebook and the blogosphere about guns. People on the gun control side counter the claims of the loony fringe of the gun culture, and think they've proven something. People on the RKBA side counter the claims of the loony fringe of the progressive culture, and think they've proven something. Whoop de do to both.
"Meanwhile, thoughtful people of all stripes are rarely heard, because you don't come to valuable conclusions about complex issues overnight. All of which only makes these tragedies even sadder.
"I have a sense that the issue is mental illness, not arms, pretty much every time these killings occur. Stable people don't act like this, armed or not. And while it's true that guns make it easier wreak a lot of carnage quickly, a gallon of gasoline and some broom handles jamming the doors would do the job just as thoroughly.
"Finally, as well acquainted with both the gun and progressive cultures as I am, let me say it is not fear that is the main motivation of the former, nor tyranny that is the main motivation of the latter. So y'all just quit stereotyping each other, okay? It doesn't help."
I am a doctoral-level psychotherapist in real life.
Have they reported yet that this was another case of a spree murderer on anti-depressant drugs?
This is, of course, the elephant in the room in most, if not all, of these incidents. But the case of Maj. Dr. Nidal Hasan prompts the question, "Who will fix the fixers?"
Another psychiatrist pushing a plan for improved mental health without getting his hands dirty at the pointy end of the notion?
A psychiatrist who does not bother to mention the reasonable fear that such a plan could be morphed into the system(s) in place in countries with less protections of personal rights than here? (I am cringing as I write that - what protections we have in this arena are significant only in comparison to the abuses in other places.)
It's a delicate balancing act. Do I trust government to be the one driving the notion? Not on my life! Do I think that people need to stop being cowed and start telling the crazies out there they are crazy and need help? You bet I do! Do I have a decent, let alone better, answer? Unfortunately, no.
stay safe
With the first law suit that's been filed, it's not the gun or the shooter, it's those violent Batman movies... I only hope the judge who lands that case has common sense.
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Came across this article last night which has a very similar analysis. http://www.fed-soc.org/publications/detail/madness-deinstitutionalization-murder