What to do with the mentally ill?

[mrswdk]

Girl 'beheaded' in attack in Taiwan capital, Taipei

A four-year-old girl has been beheaded in the Taiwanese capital, Taipei, in what appears to have been a random attack, local media say.

The attack is said to have taken place as the child was cycling towards a metro station with her mother.

The girl was grabbed from behind and killed with a cleaver. The attacker was wrestled to the ground by passers-by.

Police told the Taiwanese Central News Agency (CNA) that he had a history of mental illness.

The mother told CNA that her daughter had been unable to ride her bike on to a pavement and she thought the man was coming to help her. Instead he began attacking her.

"I saw the suspect slashing my daughter with a cleaver. I immediately grabbed him but I could not pull him away."
Angry crowd

She said she screamed for help and people rushed to pin the man down until police arrived.

An angry crowd later gathered outside the police station where the man - named only as Wang, 33 - had been taken, CNA reported.

He had a record of drug abuse and had been treated for mental illness, the agency added.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-35912319

[mrswdk]

Doctor who found James Holmes sane says mental illness caused him to attack Colorado theater

Defense attorneys trying to spare the life of Colorado theater shooter James Holmes turned Monday to a court-appointed psychiatrist who previously testified for prosecutors that Holmes was legally sane during the 2012 attack but his mental illness led him to open fire.

Dr. Jeffrey Metzner's finding has not changed: He concluded that Holmes knew right from wrong when he killed 12 people and injured 70 others, therefore meeting the legal definition of sanity under Colorado law. But Metzner also says the attack would not have happened if not for Holmes' mental illness. The defense hopes that will persuade jurors to sentence Holmes to life in prison without parole instead of to death.

"Having psychosis doesn't take away your capacity to make choices. It may increase your capacity to make bad choices," Metzner testified Monday. "He acted on his delusions, and that's a reflection of the severity of his mental illness."

Metzner, who diagnosed Holmes with schizoaffective disorder, said he did not think Holmes went on his rampage to get notoriety or because of his longstanding hatred of mankind, which he described in a spiral notebook. Instead, Metzner said, Holmes' actions were "directly related" to delusions that killing people would increase his self-worth.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/07/27/do ... ttack.html

[waauw]

Put them in a psychiatry division. It's not their fault the disease turned them into an aberration.

[riskllama]

kill them and sell their organs to China.

[TA1LGUNN3R]

It's an unfortunate thing. I wish I knew a good solution, but many times there are only some that are better than others.

I've worked with dd individuals for a few years, and the majority of them have mental illnesses on top of their disabilities. My old company had residentials where individuals lived, and one of the houses was dedicated to housing those who had a history of sex crimes. Like 90% were pedos. And as much as I find pedos revolting, these guys were largely children in adult bodies, so I can understand why they might be that way.

They all required one on one supervision when working or otherwise out in the community. If there happened to be children in the area, you have to either place yourself between them or try to direct the individual to another area, away from the children.

-TG

[2dimes]

Crafts mostly.

Building things to sell if possible to off set the cost, but society must be prepared to pay to care for them or euthanize them.

My vote is to care for them. I am fine chipping in taxes.

[warmonger1981]

One of my friends actually talks to the sky like there are people there. If he takes his meds he is fairly functional. I think he is labeled as having multiple personality and schizophrenia. I fel bad for him as I'm one of his only real friends. Otherwise he goes from house to house collecting social security and Section 8 Housing as long as he takes meds and don't f*ck up.

[Dukasaur]

One of my friends actually talks to the sky like there are people there.

I thought that was encouraged in your country.

[warmonger1981]

I physically smiled.

[mrswdk]

Put them in a psychiatry division. It's not their fault the disease turned them into an aberration.

Well sure. Just enter 'rosebud' and you will activate the unlimited money cheat. Then you can have all the state-funded psychiatric hospitals you please.

[tkr4lf]

I feel like the youth in asia could settle this issue pretty well.

[DoomYoshi]

tl;dr: bring back the wheel of justice where everybody is randomly punished every so often

It's really two questions. One is about Medicine, the other about Crimes & Punishments.

To answer the question of Medicine, I first turn to Hippocrates who posits (rather correctly):

Now, whenever people arguing on the same theory do not reach the same conclusion, you may be sure they do not know what they are talking about.

Such it is with mental health. Obviously, it's the same as arguing about whether the body is made of Earth, Fire, Air or Water which is Hippocrates' original point.

Jerome K. Jerome shared a great prescription for all sorts of psychotic maladies:

1 lb. beefsteak
1 pt. bitter beer every 6 hours
1 ten-mile walk every morning
1 bed at eleven sharp every night
And don't stuff up your head with things you don't understand.

Suggested Further Reading: An Unquiet Mind by Kay Redfield Jamison, where she basically proves that mental maladies are made up.

On a crime level, I suggest bringing back Birching:


The intersection of crime and medicine is the greatest question. It could be argued that the rational, well-working mind is one that either does not commit crimes or does not caught. Except, in most cases it is irrational to keep the law, if one can otherwise get away with it (would you rationally rather pay lots of taxes or no taxes?). Which leads to a startling conclusion: if breaking the law is rational, then criminally insane can't exist and freedom becomes pointless. The only freedom you are granted is the freedom to break the law but the very freedom presupposes that you don't break the law.