I live with a son who is mentally ill. I love my son. But he terrifies me.

[eots]

His mother was apparently a gun freak and one of those weird survivalists.

Gun freak? How does one rifle, one shotgun, and two pistols add up to a gun freak? What makes a person that wants to live weird?

She's been reported in the media as being a very pro gun person, teaching Adam how to shoot a a gun, and stocking up on food because she was one of those who believed the world would end three days ago.

She's a nutcase.

you are the one that sounds like a nut case..having emergency food supplies is something everyone should do for a number of reasons.. there is zero evidence she thought the world would end three days ago, just nonsense on your part and so what she owned a few guns or taught her son to shoot..so does half the nation

 

[P@triot]

metal illness is an illness and should be treated.


you need to have it available to EVERYONE.

BTW the body is attached to the head and does effect mental health.

You have to have comprensive full medical care for everyone even non citizens.

No, you don't. If you feel that way, you should most definitely start paying the medical costs for anyone who needs it but can't afford it. No reason other people should be horribly burdened by your ideology.

 

[Katzndogz]

It's quite understandable to treat mental illness as an illness. Just don't start thinking that the treatment will work and they won't be mentally ill anymore.

 

[catzmeow]

I took a course in college once that had a chapter on mental health. Experts agree that 95% of Americans are treated for one kind of mental illness or another during their lifetimes.

Depression/anxiety or being suicidal =/= posing a risk to others.

There are actually violence risk assessment tools that can be used with a fairly good degree of accuracy to determine people who are a threat to others (or themselves), and many practioners and researchers have suggested enhancements that might increase accuracy.

Here's an example:
A Classification Tree Approach to the Development of Actuarial Violence Risk Assessment Tools - Law and Human Behavior - Volume 24, Number 1 / February 2000 - APA Journals

Maybe they missed that information in your college course.

 

[JustTheFacts]

'I Am Adam Lanza's Mother': A Mom's Perspective On The Mental Illness Conversation In America

Friday’s horrific national tragedy -- the murder of 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut -- has ignited a new discussion on violence in America. In kitchens and coffee shops across the country, we tearfully debate the many faces of violence in America: gun culture, media violence, lack of mental health services, overt and covert wars abroad, religion, politics and the way we raise our children. Liza Long, a writer based in Boise, says it’s easy to talk about guns. But it’s time to talk about mental illness.

I live with a son who is mentally ill. I love my son. But he terrifies me.

The way we treat our mentally ill, we may as well still be back in the Dark Ages.

I love the liberal naive argument of the mental health or lack thereof. First, it's not true, there are mental health clinics both private and public all over the country. Most health insurance covers mental health (shrink visits). Second, if a monster is going to do what this guy did, then mental help health isn't probably not going to prevent it. Remember the batman killer was seeking mental health help. Third, the only way it may be prevent is forced institutionalization prior to a crime being committed. You can be 'committed' anymore unless you commit a crime first. I guarantee the libs would be against forced institutionalization (as would the conservatives).

The ONLY way to stop this is to STOP making these places EASY targets. Mass shooters are ALWAYS cowards they pick the targets so they can kill numerous UNARMED and HELPLESS victims!

That is not the only solution. Arm everyone LOL.

Do you not understand that these people are mentally unstable? They don't choose easy targets, they choose targets which represent something to them, and hardening those targets would have very little impact on whether they attacked them or not.

Besides that, regardless of whether a mentally ill person actually committed one of these heinous acts or not, the larger overall picture is that we need to be providing more help for those who are suffering.

A shrug of the shoulders and a "hey can't help you, but if you come after me, I got a gun to" solves nothing.

This isn't a matter of liberal vs conservative; or rather it shouldn't be. This is a matter of what options should we have to make sure people are safe, even from themselves.

You speak of no one supporting forced institution, sir if a person is mentally unstable they are legally not afforded the "right" to consent to sex, but you want to give them the right to remain on the streets when those around them are begging for them to be sent somewhere ?

And let's stop the "liberals want this for free or liberals want that for free" before it even begins. I am not a liberal, nor did I suggest that anything should be free. I absolutely contend that if a parent gets their adult child committed that parent must also assume the financial responsibilities of paying for said treatment.

However, I would like to point out that those who are mentally instable are more than likely already being supported by the government in the form of every welfare program we have. So ultimately what is the difference if we sign a mentally unstable person up for all these welfare or we simply pay for their incarceration in a mental institution where they belong?