Your Thoughts?

[Dennis1209]

Mental illness has always been with us as far as I know. Since I was a kid and young adult growing up in the 50's and 60's, it appears mental illness has increased ex-potentially.

I've watched allot of those "Lockup" programs on MSNBC, and they claim that about 25-30% of the two million inmates incarcerated in our prisons are mentally ill. And that's just what's locked up, not counting parolees, those on trial, in mental institutions, on medication, in the general population, etc.

I don't know of anyone who would dispute there is an increase of mental illness in the United States, but why?

Could it be because of a general population increase and the percentage of the mentally ill is just keeping pace?

Could it be a result of all the children born to drug addicted mothers?

Could it be a product of growing up in poverty, lack of nutrition, child abuse, incest, one momma families, all the above?

Could it be just plain old evil showing its ugly head?

Watching and reading the news, in the last year it seems all the sickos are coming out of the wood work.

How does a rational thinking person justify more / stricter laws are the solution to the problem? When the mentally ill / evil person doesn't consider the "law" before a heinous act. Only law abiding citizens obey the law, don't they get that concept?

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[1911247]

I would say all of the above. There are about 50,000 factors that lead into mental illness. and our country is dealing with NONE of them

[HotGuns]

Only law abiding citizens obey the law, don't they get that concept?

Most of them arent smart enough to figure it out. Thus the cry for more and more and more laws. A cry that never ceases because to propose one and get it passed is to ease ones concious, and fool one into thinking that they are really addressing the problem.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

[atctimmy]

I would say that the leading cause of problems in our country is absentee fathers. It starts there and then snowballs.

[sigs]

I disagree with the notion that mental illness has increased. What has increased is the definition of mental illness. Nearly every deviant or violent behavior has been redefined as either some sort of mental condition or labeled as proper behavior that we are just too biased to understand. For instance, I understand that the powers that be (I believe the psychiatry lobby) are poised to announce that internet addiction is an official illness. Standby for excuses in court and pleas for disability payments.

[ccw9mm]

Choice to commit crimes of violence arises from any number of factors, depending on the person and his/her background. There are probably as many "reasons" as there are individuals: poor parenting; bad moral disposition; lack of food; peer pressure; feud or hatred; mental defect; despair; simple greed; "juice" (aka, the "rush"); bad burrito.

How does a rational thinking person justify more / stricter laws are the solution to the problem? When the mentally ill / evil person doesn't consider the "law" before a heinous act. Only law abiding citizens obey the law, don't they get that concept?

Hard to understand, agreed. Harmful behavior already is unlawful and dealt with. More laws won't make it less likely to occur. Shackling the upstanding isn't a solution to inhibiting the criminal.

[Badey]

I would say that the leading cause of problems in our country is absentee fathers. It starts there and then snowballs.

Couldn't agree more. Mental issues, even IQ, are at best, 50-70% genetics, and the rest is nurture. The decline of the family unit, IMO, is a major cause of behavioral and mental issues. Even beyond this, poor parenting (parents who are more concerned with themselves than their children) is also a big factor.

[TxCommish]

My wife has worked for a Judge/Court for 30 years that deals with mental health commitments. Court ordered mental health commitments have risen dramatically in the past 20 years. The reasons are pretty much "all of the above" and as Sigs said, a broadened definition of "mental illness." What also affects it are the hugely increased recidivism numbers. Most of the patients, except for the really hardcore and criminally insane, get tossed back out on the street on a regular basis due to the lack of space/staff. Drugs play a huge role in all this also. As for the modern "designer" mental illnesses, most of those folks can afford for their loved ones to be committed to private hospitals and rehab facilities. The ones in the state facilities usually come right off the street, are put on a regimen of meds, stay a maximum of 90 days, and are turned back out onto the street. There, they get high, sell or lose their meds, go off the rails, get re-committed, and the whole process repeats.

[BugDude]

I also think there are new generations of people blaming their behavior on other things, such as mental and emotional problems, and they blame those issues and problems on parents, society, drugs, etc. To some degree, it's a cop out rather than accepting responsiblity for their own actions and decisions. It's the "blame somebody/something else" generations. It's not their fault, therefore it must be a mental/emotional problem. My question would be why are later generations less equipped to effectively deal with life's issues? It's because society has nannypecked them with "everybody wins, everybody gets a trophy" kind of crap. When I was growing up, you had to learn to deal with losing, making mistakes, not getting everything you wanted. When you raise generations that do not know how to deal with disappointment, then they lose their crap when stuff in life doesn't work out.

Of course, I could be wrong...maybe it's the ozone layer. Tinfoil hats for everyone.

[BigJon10125]

The issue, as I have seen is that as Sig and many others agreed is that the definition has increased. I teach AP Psychology and each time the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental illness) is changed it is always more added, not removed. One that I know was removed was homosexuality, but other than that I can not personally site any others being taken out. Prisons do no rehabilitate or offer help for mental illness to the point of actually helping so when these people enter it becomes a part of the cycle of creating more efficient criminals.

Another side of this is that much of society is more willing to ignore the needs of others than actually do something about it that helps them. OMO

[1911247]

Yeah. well...apple dont fall far from the crap tree..

[gasmitty]

The issue, as I have seen is that as Sig and many others agreed is that the definition has increased. I teach AP Psychology and each time the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental illness) is changed it is always more added, not removed. One that I know was removed was homosexuality, but other than that I can not personally site any others being taken out.
Another side of this is that much of society is more willing to ignore the needs of others than actually do something about it that helps them. OMO

Agreed - we keep expanding the list of what is considered "mental illness" while at the same time doing nothing about it.

I see similarities in many other social areas. We get smarter and smarter and our powers of observation increase with better science and better tools (like DNA and genetic research), but it seems those have vastly outpaced our ability to deal with all the ills we uncover.

[Geezer]

I believe a LOT of that mental illness stuff is nothing but pure BS. All people are different, act differently, some smart - some less so. Anybody could be judged mentally ill for some reason, if the right "doctor" is involved. I like guns and am very conservative - that, to some, would qualify as mentally ill. But if a cause is needed, there's always the reliable standby - Bush.

[sid1]

I would say all of the above. There are about 50,000 factors that lead into mental illness. and our country is dealing with NONE of them

"Ditto"

[Gene83]

When I was a kid, I got dragged to church every Sunday. It didn't matter whether I wanted to go or not. It wasn't left up to me. There was no "we'll wait until he is older and let him decide for himself." I was in church. Now, it really doesn't matter much what your particular faith is. It doesn't even matter if you continue to believe when you get older, church will give you a moral compass...a guideline as to what is right and wrong, what is acceptable behavior and what isn't. You can have profound intellectual handicaps and those lessons will still sink in at some level.

We don't have that now. It's every person for themselves, get while the getting is good, whatever it takes, greed is good and if you get caught blame somebody else. If you can't find anybody else to blame, blame it on your upbringing or some real or imagined mental problem.

That's pretty much it in a nutshell as far as I'm concerned.