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Mental Health - Isn't This The Real Issue?

Mental Health As a Country-wide Topic

  • yes - we should openly discuss and confront this as a country

    Votes: 42 84.0%
  • no - it should remain closeted and silent, like it's always been

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Other - please explain

    Votes: 8 16.0%

  • Total voters
    50
The shooter was mentally ill and therefore these actions should be prevented through better psychology programs.
 
The shooter was mentally ill and therefore these actions should be prevented through better psychology programs.
That statement makes multiple assumptions, two of which are:

That better psychology programs would help.
That all mentally ill persons who might do "these actions" could be singled out.
 
The shooter was mentally ill and therefore these actions could be prevented through better psychology programs.

I think I fixed that statement a bit.

Better mental health programs would not guarantee stuff like the Newtown shooting would never happen again.

But if it stopped one.....and that's surely a distinct possibility.
 
That statement makes multiple assumptions, two of which are:

That better psychology programs would help.
That all mentally ill persons who might do "these actions" could be singled out.

It shouldn't be the case, the people who need help should receive it. They shouldn't be singled out, that would turn into society's fault (which is maybe why the shooting happened).
 
It shouldn't be the case, the people who need help should receive it. They shouldn't be singled out, that would turn into society's fault (which is maybe why the shooting happened).
Singled out for treatment.

How the hell would you treat someone if no one knew they NEEDED treatment?
 
Singled out for treatment.

How the hell would you treat someone if no one knew they NEEDED treatment?

To figure out who needs treatment, we would need a better funded mental health program. I'm against excessive government spending, but this is for the good.
 
Singled out for treatment.

How the hell would you treat someone if no one knew they NEEDED treatment?

I'd bet it's very rare that nobody knows. Close family. Close friends. Somebody knows.

And if there was less of a social stigma for those who seek mental health kinds of help, perhaps things would never get so far that somebody goes completely off the deep end.

A more comprehensive mental health care system would be the ounce of prevention long before the pound of cure was needed.
 
I'd bet it's very rare that nobody knows. Close family. Close friends. Somebody knows.

And if there was less of a social stigma for those who seek mental health kinds of help, perhaps things would never get so far that somebody goes completely off the deep end.

A more comprehensive mental health care system would be the ounce of prevention long before the pound of cure was needed.
Possibly.

However the poster I was responding to seemed under the impression that it would prevent all such things. Did not seem so to me.
 
In many cases a person may have been behaving strangely before going and killing someone(s), but so do a lot of people that never harm anyone. What are you guys proposing to do, lock up everyone that acts funny? Perhaps get ordinary untrained citizens to turn in those evil crazy people? This all reminds me of how the mentally ill were treated 100 years a go.

Whats next are we to resurrect insane asylums where we lock up anyone out of the so called norm and through away the key and perform hideous brain surgery and electric therapy? Seriously thats where you guys are headed.

So what about the killers that were not insane what about them? Face it you cannot stop people from do stupid **** at least not in a free society.
 
Face it you cannot stop people from do stupid **** at least not in a free society.

You're completely correct.

However, maybe it's possible to cut down on the number of people who make a choice to take out as many people as possible just before they end their own life?

Maybe it's possible to cut down on the number of suicides overall?

Maybe it's possible to cut down on violence against others?

Maybe it's possible to cut down on alcohol and illegal drug dependence?

If every single man walking the planet gets a regular prostate exam and colonoscopy that won't stop some people from dying of prostate cancer, but it surely might cut down on the number that do.

Do you agree that there is a stigma in the USofA associated with mental health issues?
 
When will America recognize the 800 pound gorilla in the room? When will the focus of concern and attention be directed at the true issue here?

Why is mental health still such a hush-hush topic? Something to be kept secret? Something to be be ashamed of or buried?

How can something that effects so many still be thought of as unspeakable and embarrassing?

Depression, anxiety, fear, anger, loneliness, hatred, and an overwhelming sense of hopelessness.

These things need far more attention than our country currently give them.

What will it take for people to open up about such things?

How can we improve our understanding and knowledge about these conditions and not treat them as weaknesses or things to be ashamed of, but as things that can be overcome and helped through?

If mental health had the same social stigma as cancer, would society be better off as a whole?


I don't think the issue is as much about untreated mental people as it's about mental people with access to firearms.

Keep the two apart and neither on it's own is as dangerous. Loughner, Holmes and Lanza were all mental and got a hold of high capacity, semi auto's.
You can't realistically restrict all guns or identify all mentally unstable people. Even without a free society you're not going to stop all acts of violence, look at the bombers in the ME. But it also doesn't mean we can't try and do something.

Seems like we all get intensely upset about these kind of events, until we're all shouted out, then it's back to being apathetic. There appears to be no solution that doesn't end up increasing the proliferation of weapons or restricting the freedoms and rights of law abiding citizens. Why play with guns at all? Why not let the cops and robbers shoot each other? What are the chances you'll be that one out of 100,000 that actually needed to use a gun for defense?

It's not about the "2nd amend and right to bare arms" protecting us from the gov. Come on, do you really think the American public with it's pistols, hunting rifles and shotguns are a match for the US Military? They'd mow us down like ignorant peasants. Guns don't literally protect us from oppression but the freedom to have them does.

If we're forced to restrict access further or give up firearms, then it's not freedom and unfortunately freedom comes at a high price, always has. The more you restrict choice the more you limit expression and the ability to excel. It's a social problem with us glorifying violence in this country and we can do better.
 
Your personal freedom to own a gun which is self-evidently useless in resisting the oppression it was supposed to prevent, is worth the lives of 30,000 Americans every year? That's a high price for something that couldn't work.

Improved mental health provision is undoubtedly a good thing, but in this case it's a smokescreen and diversion from the real problem. Easy access to firearms. Internationally, only 10% of homicides involve the mentally ill, which leaves ninety per cent down to sane people. They are the ones we need to stop.
 
When will America recognize the 800 pound gorilla in the room? When will the focus of concern and attention be directed at the true issue here?

Why is mental health still such a hush-hush topic? Something to be kept secret? Something to be be ashamed of or buried?

How can something that effects so many still be thought of as unspeakable and embarrassing?

Depression, anxiety, fear, anger, loneliness, hatred, and an overwhelming sense of hopelessness.

These things need far more attention than our country currently give them.

What will it take for people to open up about such things?

How can we improve our understanding and knowledge about these conditions and not treat them as weaknesses or things to be ashamed of, but as things that can be overcome and helped through?

If mental health had the same social stigma as cancer, would society be better off as a whole?

I hear people from the West Coast are far more opened about it. Not sure why, but it seems to be a lot easier to discuss it there.
 
What about your Obama's Medicare. The one that provides health services to everyone for free I hear. The one that offers health services payed from other people (i.e., much spoken socialism)? Does it covers mental health?

I don't know about Medicare, but here (France) it depends on what sort of therapy you are seeking. If you consult a psychiatrist, it will be partially covered, especially since the cure will most likely involve prescription drugs. A psychoanalyst will have to be paid fully from your own pocket, but some of them do practice for free in a few dedicated centers - just don't expect to receive the same quality of care you would get if you pay.
 
I hear people from the West Coast are far more opened about it. Not sure why, but it seems to be a lot easier to discuss it there.
It depends the type of mental patient you are talking about..when Maggie Thatcher emptied the contents of the booby hatch into our laps in 1989...she forgot to omit the violent paranoid schizophrenics..
 
When will America recognize the 800 pound gorilla in the room? When will the focus of concern and attention be directed at the true issue here?

Why is mental health still such a hush-hush topic? Something to be kept secret? Something to be be ashamed of or buried?

How can something that effects so many still be thought of as unspeakable and embarrassing?

Depression, anxiety, fear, anger, loneliness, hatred, and an overwhelming sense of hopelessness.

These things need far more attention than our country currently give them.

What will it take for people to open up about such things?

How can we improve our understanding and knowledge about these conditions and not treat them as weaknesses or things to be ashamed of, but as things that can be overcome and helped through?

If mental health had the same social stigma as cancer, would society be better off as a whole?

Do you think mental health has no stigma? Seriouly? The mentally ill have the same rights as everyone else. The only freedom they lose is being unable to leave the hospital if they are dangerous to self or others.
 
It depends the type of mental patient you are talking about..when Maggie Thatcher emptied the contents of the booby hatch into our laps in 1989...she forgot to omit the violent paranoid schizophrenics..

I don't know what you're talking about once again, but I was speaking of the West Coast (USA).
 
I don't know what you're talking about once again, but I was speaking of the West Coast (USA).

Oh right..sorry..obviously the rest of the world doesn't exist..I must just crawl away..
 
Most Definitely. Regular, casual, and emergency services and facilities are generally terrible for most 'victims'. It will become a public issue more-so as mental illness happens to be statistically spreading. Many prominent journalists/anchors/mediapersons have come forward denoting their history and experience with illness and living normally and successfully.
 
Oh right..sorry..obviously the rest of the world doesn't exist..I must just crawl away..
The post you quoted was referencing the OP which is about the USA....and since I also noted that dragonfly was from the East Coast, I commented on the different atittudes I have seen with regards to discussing mental illness in the USA...so what does Thatcher has to do with that??? Please explain.
 
The post you quoted was referencing the OP which is about the USA....and since I also noted that dragonfly was from the East Coast, I commented on the different atittudes I have seen with regards to discussing mental illness in the USA...so what does Thatcher has to do with that??? Please explain.

I actually can't be assed..with your silly avatar of Juliet Greco...
 
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