Originally Posted by
Buglady
Of course, I've got absolutely no way to know what was really happening, but I always try to bring up the possibility of mental illness when a topic of unusual behaviour comes up - too often it seems that the first reaction people have is to go to a moral explanation (drugs, just a bad person, etc) rather than a biochemical one. Even when mental illness is acknowledged as a factor it seems that there's often a moral judgement (in news reports etc), that the person was off meds or whatever and should have "controlled" themselves better. I don't think that's fair or useful.
I may also be at the stage of "oh look, I have a shiny new hammer, and just look at all these nails!!"
I am not disagreeing with you that some people have ligetimate mental illness's. However i think that a large number of people on medications today for such "illness" are mis-diagnosed. I work as a corrections officer for my county jail. I see lots of "mentaly ill" people who once you get to know them its pretty obvious they dont need the meds they rely on. Some of their medications are simply not allowed in the jail and therefore they cant use them, at first they freak out a little bit but after a week or two they are completely normal without any medication. I think it has become all too common of a practice to treat behaviorel problems with chemical solutions.
Look at the backgrounds of these people who are manic-depressive, bi-polar, schizophrenic. They have never had anyone give a damn about them in thier life so the "self-create" these problems for attention and to feel "special". Once they enter the jail setting and 50% of the population has these "problems." It becomes less special for them and they eventually stop blaming their "condition" as the reason for their behavior.
I had one guy once flip out and bash the phone against the wall and kick a chair across the room. He was "bi-polar", so after i got him secured in a cell i asked him why he did that and he responded that he couldnt control his behavior becuase of his condition, to which i replied something to the effect of "Don't bull**** me. I dont believe that for a second, you make whatever choices you want and honestly I am pretty disappointed in you right now." He had no idea what to say to that, nobodys ever called him out on it, nor has he ever disappointed anyone in his life becuase nobody ever cared enough to be disappointed. He came up to me a few hours later crying and thanked me. He started refusing his meds shortly after that and in the six months sense then he hasnt had any problems.
So back to my point i think these meds are way over-prescribed i think that people like this need a little tough love sometimes, this kid that assaulted the cyclist sounds like the run of the mill average crazy guy we see every weekend at the jail. Its pretty funny when you think about it, there is about four different self-proclaimed saviors in my county alone, and for some reason anyone in a uniform is always the devil to these guy.
Not to mention that your mentals are generaly your toughist fighters/resisters.