Should People With Mental Health Problems Be Given More Leeway?

by Englishman 28 Replies latest jw friends

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  Englishman

  My knowledge of mental health difficulties is confined to my own experiences with depression.

  Thankfully, I feel that I was able to eventually identify it's source and deal with the problem. I read lot's of books and camne to the conclusion that I was suffering from a neurosis.

  Apparently, neurotic people recognise that they have a problem and often seek to remedy that problem.

  I read also that there are people who suffer from a psychosis. Psychotic people think that the problems they encounter are everyone elses fault and don't take responsibilty for their situation. Quite where people with schitzophrenia or bi-polar disorder fit into this I really don't know.

  However, if someone is suffering from a psychotic illness, be it hereditary or a chemical imbalance, can they actually help themselves? Are they capable of helping themselves?

  Should we make special allowances for the sometimes bad behaviour of psychotic people because they can't - as opposed to won't - take steps to improve their sometimes abberant behaviour?

  Englishman.
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  AlanF

  No. They should all be lobotomized.

  AlanF
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  frankiespeakin

  I think we need to be kind but firm,,with such ones. I don't think coddling them does much good.
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  truthseeker1

  There a lot of anti-psychotics (Drugs) out there that help with the chemical imbalances causing much of this behavior. I believe someone who is not in their right mind should be given some leeway, but must be held accountable for their actions.
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  blondie

  It is not possible to put all people with mental health problems into the same category and treat them alike, any more than it would be reasonable to do that with people who have cancer. The differences far outweigh any similarities.

  Blondie
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  frankiespeakin

  Blondi,

  No hard fast one size fits all.

  I'm no expert but I'm sure there are a few here that are and they can give us pointers.
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  Stefanie

  Are you speaking of people like Andrea Yates? Or that other mom who killed her two sons and wounding a third one?

  I dont think they should be givin any leeway.
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  Yerusalyim

  As with all things it depends on the circumstances.
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  Ariell

  The problem is...................how do you really know if someone is mentally ill or not? It's pretty obvious when someone talks to themselves or see things that aren't there. But how do you tell when it's not that black and white. Some people think that serial killers are sick (paranoid schizophrenics). Others think they're just evil. The truth of the matter is, we choose who we "want" to be mentally ill. A pedophile is sexually attracted to children. Normal people aren't attracted to kids. It would be safe to say that these people are mentally ill. But we don't "want" to give leeway to these type of people. We have no sympathy for them. We don't "want" to think of them as sick. We'd like to think of them as just evil so that we can lock them up and throw away the key. It's all relative.
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  truthseeker1

  Pedophelia is considered a mental illness, according to the American Psychiatric Association. There are different treatments to different illnesses. Its a crime to commit murder, whether you are sane or not. Criminals are still punished according to their crimes, whether they were sane or not.

  Example - Jeff Dalhmer (sp?) He ate people, cut up their bodies and stored them in his fridge, whole heads even. He is clearly insane. Yet, he was imprisoned.

  Yet some consideration on the penalty must be given to mental illness, which it currently is.