Mental Health Awareness.
 

Psychiatric News

I see a lot of ignorance and deliberate refusal to even educate oneself about mental illness. Especially with respect to the mass shootings, so far, of 2022.

Hope we can get some worthwhile information on this thread involving critical thinking and access to the best scientific thinking in the various fields that involve mental health.

There is definitely ignorance and a deliberate refusal to provide mental health institutions and care for the mentally impaired. The only thing they can manage to focus on are guns. A man in his fifties stabbed 5 people tubing on the Apple river in Minnesota today and one of them, a 19 year man has died. Think we need to ban knives for this mass attack and a killing?

That's the problem. I believe 1/4 of all Americans have had problems with some kind of mental illness.

And mental ill people are usually the victims of violence not the perpetrators.

And few of the mass murderers using guns who were caught were found mentally ill as far as I am aware. They were charged with the crimes and not found not guilty by reason of insanity.

Gun violence: Prediction, prevention, and policy

If you want to eliminate the crimes, you need to eliminate the freedoms that allow someone to prepare for and commit the crimes. The cops can stop you whenever they want to. They can search your home whenever they want to. They can imprison you for thinking wrong.
I know most of this will fall upon deaf ears because a lot of you probably want to arrest the people who disagree with you on these forums... tough. We have freedom and we will protect it.

Seriously, wtf is with the double posts?

Your "experts" are the same ones who emptied the asylums of the lunatics in the 70's. And they're the same ones who've put a quarter of the population on anti-depressants instead of helping people face their problems.

There is a big difference between "mental illness" and criminal insanity. "Psychiatric Experts" should do like they did for the 100 years before we starting having mass-murder events -- help normal people face life's problems like adults, and properly diagnose and institutionalize the nuts.

Mental health
 

And we are only now starting to pay serious attention to dementia. Spousal abuse among older people, people going ballistic in fast food restaurants and similar cases we read about in The Villages quite likely are the result of early stage dementia. Often undiagnosed, it can cause drastic personality changes. In the United States, around 37 percent of people with Alzheimer’s are 75 to 84 years old. Additionally, around 27 percent of those with Alzheimer’s are aged 65 to 74 years. That's us in The Villages.

Thanks for the useful information.

Home | NAMI: National Alliance on Mental Illness

It looks like it is 1/5 Americans who deal with their own mental illness.

may i respectfully say that article leaned heavy on politics, which turned me off. i expected to see a medical article, & maybe that's why no one understands the issues of mental illness being recognized, because very little content pertains to statistics & medical criteria. this was a 'hit-piece' on guns disguised as a public safety campaign. look @ the other categories from the page: very hard left leaning, & if we really want to have a decent discussion on mental illness, it needs to be focused on fact as opposed to rhetoric. i'm glad to brought this story to our attention.

This is merely political hype from a lobbyist.

Interesting post. It seems that often protecting one freedom that is supremely important to us means restricting one of more freedoms for others. Nearly all of us do this, me included. Then we argue over which freedom is more important, often confidently neglecting to mention that some freedoms are less important. To us. At this moment. About this issue. Often it comes down to freedom FROM one or more groups of people (whether or not they are in that group by birth, by choice, by necessity, or by circumstance). Again, I’m guilty. Probably you are, too, wherever you are on the political spectrum. Some are opposed to people groups they almost never see where they live and don’t need to worry about. Many are most opposed to the people who suffer from temptations from which they themselves are immune or who have problems they themselves don’t have.

I admit that I’m happy to live in a place where I’m safe, where beauty surrounds me, where there is easy access to the things I like to do, and where I have essentially no contact with the people who scare me. This leaves me free to pontificate with impunity about those unable to live here. Of course, I live alone, so I have to do it here.

One problem with linking mental illness to guns is that someone who owns a gun is not going to seek help for a mental illness, if it means that they are going to take away his right to own a gun.

Legal drugs. For the last few generations we started drugging our kids from a very early age. Then we drug them because they are depressed. And so on it goes.

Not a good argument
 

You know you are actually making an argument for gun restriction. If the man had a gun instead of a knife, he might have killed all five.

Putting firearms aside, there are all forms of mental illness, some are obvious, and some are not. Even professional will give incorrect diagnosis.

The knowledge of the workings of the mind is still filled with holes.

And, unfortunately, there has been a lot of junk science in psychology and psychiatry as well as a whole lot of politics.

Exactly, thank you. When was the last mass shooting perpetrator deemed mentally ill by a court and not held responsible for his actions??
So easy to say it’s a mental health problem and not a gun problem. These people committing these mass shootings are not mentally ill they are morally bankrupt.

How many mass knife attacks have there been. Did even one knife attach kill nearly 60 people from 900 feet away? Come on, let's be real.

It all started in the 80’s by closing down psychiatric hospitals and relying on creating community bases psychiatric clinics BUT NO FUNDING.
Shortage of Social workers and Psychiatrists funded thru health insurance limitations.

Assault drugs. Ritalin side effects:
Fast heartbeat
High Blood Pressure
Drowsiness
Sensation Of Spinning Or Whirling
Dizziness
Heart Throbbing Or Pounding
Cough
Vomiting
Anxious Feelings
Chest Pain,
Difficulty Sleeping
Decreased Appetite
Headache
Nausea
Nervousness
Irritability
Abdominal Pain
Mood changes
Delusions, hallucinations, and other signs of a psychotic disorder
Seizure activity
Anorexia and marked weight loss
Alternating bouts of mania and depression
Thoughts of suicide

I wonder what percent of patients experiencing mental illness have a history of illegal drug use?

I’m sure that after floating down a river with a gun it would fire perfectly. Also, I didn’t see a guarantee that the others who were knifed will survive their stabbing.:ohdear:

Come on… on being real, do your research on the small percentage of mass gun killings in the US vs all deaths in other countries where guns are banned due to knifing, car rammings into crowds, intentional fires set trapping large numbers of people, bombings and let’s not forget fentanyl for a few. The mentally defunct people are sick, if they are so inclined, they will find a way. The head in the sand approach is to ignore mental illness and take away a gun, it won’t help.

It is my guess that it’s difficult to make that analysis when most mass murderers are either killed at the scene or commit suicide.

Your post speaks of ignorance and refusal to get educated then hopes for some critical thinking. I read the entire article from the link you provided and these are my thoughts on Ms. Brendel's announcements. I would be interested in your comments.

The title sets the tone. We won the legislation we wanted but we want more. Okay, so this is a political piece.

Her first point is announcing we have a mental health pandemic. She is stating there is mental health problem/disease/crisis but doesn't quantify if it's our country or our planet. I must have missed the announcement. When did the WHO declare a mental health pandemic?

She's obviously pleased with the passage of "Safer Communities Act" with the first point of the Federal funding of $750 million for states to implement red flag laws. She defines the red flag laws as preventing possession of firearms by those at high risk of violence. That can only be the business of the APA if it is deemed a mental illness. Right? If so, who makes that assessment? Is the assessment by a mental health professional? No. 17 states have red flags laws. How do they work exactly? Obviously we all get our day in court, right? Well, no we don't. Not for red flag laws.

A petitioner may contact Law Enforcement and say they believe you are a risk to yourself and/or others. The list of people who qualify as a petitioner varies from state to state. In Florida, anyone can be the petitioner. Your neighbor, the roommate you kicked out for not paying rent, anyone. There is supposed to be enough evidence to convince Law Enforcement to contact a Judge. That Judge has an emergency hearing and you are not there. Your attorney is not there. In this brand of "due process" you don't have your day in court. You are caught off guard and completely surprised when the Officers knock on your day and tell you to surrender your guns and ammo. In some states getting them back is a whole complicated process. California can issue that protective order to last from 1 to 5 years.

Of the 17 states that currently have red flag laws, none of them require a mental health assessment. Only 2 states even mention if the person has a mental health history. If mental health is not the criteria for issuing a red flag protective order, why is the APA lobbying for them?

Obviously, I don't like red flag laws and how they have been implemented. Innocent people who have committed no crime have been killed and innocent people who have committed no crime have had their firearms confiscated and getting them back is not easy. There is only one way I can support a red flag law and that is a requirement for a 5150. If someone truly believes that someone is a danger to themselves and others then they should believe it enough to request a 5150, the person is evaluated for mental stability by a mental health professional, not by an angry family member, neighbor, teacher, etc..

The behavioral health clinics, suicide hot lines, etc. all make perfect sense for Ms. Brendel to be excited.

Then, she announces the true agenda. "We cannot - and we will not stop now". APA is committed to the reduction of sale and use of "assault weapons and high capacity magazines". Again, not about mental health at all. Political activism. Next she jumps into Roe v. Wade and federal protections on race, gender identity, sexual orientation, to name a few. APA is going to "fight" against the government intruding on the doctor-patient relationship in ANY domain of care and treatment and to preserve and promote the rights of every American to be free from discrimination (unless you own an AR).

Ms. Brendel is rightfully excited by the help in funding for mental health across the nation. She wears two hats; mental health professional and political activist. She should keep her nose out of my Rights as acknowledged by the 2nd Amendment.

People don't see drugs being a problem. American gun removal is the plan. Unarmed Americans are easy to control. Just look at world history.

Almost every mass shooter has a history of mental health issues, illegal drug use or was wrongfully protected from the law as a student, by a policy meant to protect minorities from the school to prison pipeline. Those shooters not defined as mass shooters which is about 99% of shooting mostly share very similar characteristics. GOOGLE the news for "shooting wanted." Then look at the similarities.