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Well rest assured if we can get the guv to pay,many more will suddenly have a "mental illness"
Well, we already have an estimated 57.7 million people who suffer from a diagnosable condition in a given year. It is a prediction problem because this type of violence is a low base rate behavior. It is also a people not seeking treatment problem.
"Mental disorders are common in the United States and internationally. An estimated 26.2 percent of Americans ages 18 and older — about one in four adults — suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder in a given year.1 When applied to the 2004 U.S. Census residential population estimate for ages 18 and older, this figure translates to 57.7 million people.2 Even though mental disorders are widespread in the population, the main burden of illness is concentrated in a much smaller proportion — about 6 percent, or 1 in 17 — who suffer from a serious mental illness." NIMH · The Numbers Count: Mental Disorders in America
IMO, mental issues cannot be fixed....medicated perhaps, but fixed...no.
That is baloney. There are plenty of evidence-based treatments (that are therapy, not medication) that show significant improvement in symptoms and functioning for a wide array of diagnoses. Many mental illnesses people learn how to cope with, just like people learn to cope with heart disease and diabetes, and lead productive, satisfying lives. There is a very small percentage who wreak havoc on others' lives.
We do need to have a serious discussion about mental illnesses and perhaps the mentally ill not being able to buy guns.
But.
Where do you draw the line? Who is forced to get treatment? Who is forced to go live on an island or live in an asylum? If you can't treat it, what then? Most importantly of all though, remains: where do you draw the line?
If I recall correctly, the statistics show that every family has at least one person suffering from mental illness within their family. Everyone will be all for serious measures until it effects their family member. Oh, your loved one is just suffering from a bout of depression? Well in extreme cases that can turn to something too. Do we keep them within society or toss them away? Who gets to decide what is a serious illness and what is a minor one?
If ever there was a real slippery slope argument it is on this topic. It is complicated. It is nasty and involved. Reactionary, toss them all in an asylum arguments utterly unhelpful and unrealistic. Force them on meds? It's all fun and games until someone forces you on meds whether you should be or not.
We do need to have the discussion but over the top calls for blood and vengeance aren't going to get us any closer to a solution.
We can all thank President Reagan for the sad state of affairs when it comes to the mentally ill. Reagan stopped funding mental institutions across the country setting free psychopaths and other severely mentally ill patients. Almost without notice these patients, many with life time commitments, were turned loose on society with a thirty day supply of medications. Unable to cope, many were arrested on various charges and became criminals instead of mental patients. The ones who remained free became the first homeless. Today those institutions are non existent thanks to Reagan and the republicans.
Unless we are willing to pay the cost we will have more and more bizarre killings. In the spirit of the republican cut backs we will have to get accustomed to needless deaths perpetrated by the mentally ill. The worst is the innocent children who pay the highest price.
Part of the solution is to stop creating it in the first place. The younger generation has been taught that everyone gets a trophy and there are no losers and everyone is equal. When they finally get out in the real world, they find out they've been lied to and can't handle the pressures of everyday life. They feel they have nothing left and act out in desperation. Society is creating these mentally disturbed people by not preparing them for reality. Why do you think almost all mass shooters are in their 20's or younger?
This is the kind of brilliance that keeps me coming back.
I'll bet the "welfare state" has something to do with it as well, yes?
Never have so many weighed in on a subject for which they have so little knowledge.
The gun fondlers will grasp at anything to distract away from the fact that it is ridiculously easy for unstable individuals, many of whom have nothing that would show up in background check, to obtain lethal weapons in our diseased society.
Never have so many weighed in on a subject for which they have so little knowledge.
The gun fondlers will grasp at anything to distract away from the fact that it is ridiculously easy for unstable individuals, many of whom have nothing that would show up in background check, to obtain lethal weapons in our diseased society.
So what's your explanation for the increase in this kind of violence? Obviously there were guns around in the past.
Are you saying prohibition works and there is no black market around that can supply what is prohibited such as meth or pot or guns?
Until we finally start having some serious discussion and problem solving, our society will continue to suffer. I understand that people feel uncomfortable about it and prefer not to deal with mentally ill people, but the reality is that it is a problem and will not get better until we start looking for solutions. The current system is broken and needs fixing, ASAP
Agreed. Until we quit marginalizing the mentally ill, these types of things will continue.
It is very expensive to treat mental illness. The person that has it typically is unable to afford to get help and the 'help' that is available is usually restricted on some level by insurance if/when it is needed.
In the US - the solution to mental illness is to wait until the person does something that harms others and then charge them with a crime and send them to prison.
Nothing will ever change that. Unless each citizen is evaluated annually by a government specialist and rated according to their issues, and then charged an additional tax to pay for mental health treatment. It is not practical to treat mental illness on a mass scale and/or paid for by government.
Note: Over twenty children were killed in the shooting today in Connecticut today.
Over 900,000 abortions were performed in the US in 2011, and they were all legal and performed by 'doctors'.
Until we finally start having some serious discussion and problem solving, our society will continue to suffer. I understand that people feel uncomfortable about it and prefer not to deal with mentally ill people, but the reality is that it is a problem and will not get better until we start looking for solutions. The current system is broken and needs fixing, ASAP
Bring back mental asylums and let judges commit people.
Groups fought to close them down and let the mental patients live in society because it was "their right".
The current system IS THE FIX.
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