Monday, June 27, 2016

Guns and Violence


Oh there is so much to say and so little time.
I'm sending you to two different sites today:

My post on Guns & Mental Illness over on Clinical Psychiatry News.  It never fails to amaze me that suspected terrorists get due process before losing their  constitutional rights to own a gun, but law-abiding people with psychiatric disorders have no such rights.   Please do read my article and share you own thoughts here.

And the famous Spotlight group of the Boston Globe is taking on the failures of the mental health system in Massachusetts. They start with an article about mentally ill people who murder their families.  Oy.  The article was good,  and access to care is an enormous problem.  And unfortunately, the sensationalism is stigmatizing at a time when we are trying to get rid stigma so that people will not hesitate to seek the help they need.  But if you show up for help, you may be forced into treatments you don't want, lose your gun or your career, and be looked at as a potential mass murderer and family killer.  And at least some of the people with mental illnesses kill family members for reasons unrelated to their mental illness -- like others who kill, they are angry &/or intoxicated but not necessarily psychotic.  Most end up in prison, found to be responsible for their acts.  And some are actively in treatment at the time they commit violent acts, so psychiatry may not be everyone's answer.  There is a facebook group for those who want to comment, so I'll send you there for a rich conversation with input from everyone with an opinion.




1 comment:

moviedoc said...

Not to mention people with PTSD from having been victimized and for whom possession or carrying a firearm represents the only practical hope of defending themselves. Have we ever seen news of suicide or murder "caused by" diabetes or prostate cancer?

Thanks for the courage to take a position that's not PC, Dinah.