LoveHateUni, you wrote:
Then if you have been that close to someone bipolar - yes, I was. I love my mum more than anyone else in the world.
you should be familiar with the symptoms and the constant rambling subject changes and paranoia - I have some familiarity, yes. I lived with my mum for the first 18 years of my life. She refused to take lithium three times, and subsequently went 'high' and was hospitalised, on three occasions. At no time was she violent, said 'violent things', or gave any other indication towards violence. The worst thing she ever did was cheat on my dad one time with another inpatient.
wouldn't be asking those types of questions - f**k off! I will not be lectured over the internet by arrogant pr1cks. I can ask any damn question I like. Geddit?!
What concerns me is that it's only one step from blaming crimes on mental illness to blaming 'the authorities' or 'the white power structure', or similar, and regarding the perpetrator as the victim.
Here's my qualifications: although I have no formal qualifications on mental illness, I have lived with someone afflicted with bipolar disorder (my mum) for the first 18 years of my life.
From 2009 to 2011 - I received a National Diploma in Animal Management at [redacted] College, grade: distinction; merit; merit.
From 2012 to 2015 - I received a BSc (Hons) in Animal Biology at [redacted] University, grade: First Class.
Now who the f**k are you?!
You seem to be looking at things strictly through an either/or lens and missing all of the nuance that some of us are referring to, and thus arguing against something that no one is really saying.
You're reading what people are saying as conflating bipolar people as a default with violence. Thus your defense of "my mom was bipolar, but she was never violent." That's not what's being said.
What is being said that if someone leans violent for whatever reason, having mental issues like bipolar mood swings or bipolar or schizophrenic paranoia or delusions can magnify it greatly. Combine that with an easy access to guns, and you have a recipe for disaster.
It's no different than the guns + curable severe depression combination. Not everyone that is severely depressed will commit suicide, but if they have easy gun access, then it's dangerous because they're more likely to be able to go through with the act.
So the point I was alluding to with the statements about the symptoms was that if you understand the paranoia and hallucinations that go along with those issues, and combine it with someone who has a lot of inner anger and access to a weapon, and you have potential problems. Dylan Root is another example; he had documented mental issues, was constantly fed a ton of anti-black rhetoric including race-hating sites he participated in, which gave him a target for an outlet for his issue, and then he had access to guns and was unfortunately able to act on this combination. This guy had the crazy JW background, lived through some actual hate due to his race/sexuality mix, probably had a mental problem, from everyone that knew him's statements, had a lot of inner anger, and had access to weapons. Horrible combination of things.
As for my background, since you asked:
- I lived with a paranoid schizophrenic JW mother until my 20's. I spent a lot of time visiting her in mental hospitals and saw other brands of mental illness there, and I also saw the gradual collapse of mental institutions and all of those people released out on the street or to their families to basically fend for themselves through the 80s/90s. My mother was rarely violent, although there were times where she would go on JW inspired rants about being possessed by demons or God talking to her or Satan talking to her where she had to be restrained when off-medication. Fortunately, we had nothing more than kitchen knives in the house at those times.
- I've had 2 years of collegiate psych and social science classes.
- I dated (and am now close friends with) a professor of social work at one of the colleges in this state. I have also done a lot of side by side work with social workers dealing directly with the mentally ill and have seen the entire spectrum, from the incarcerated violent, to the non-violent - and a range of "out on the street" to "being cared for and doing well." As such, I've seen the utter lack of infrastructure and support for these people, as well as many cases of the downhill turn many make when losing familial support.
So that's the background we asked for. It seems like we relate in a few areas, especially growing up with the close parent with mental illness. The difference here is that you seem focused on assigning "blame" to the individual that commits horrible acts, where I attempt to focus on improving the social conditions that contribute to creating these situations, to help minimize these situations as a whole in the future.
