Arizona Tragedy - WWYD?

[mom'sfolly]

Dewey, The key is it being "court ordered", which is not easy. Anyone saying my neighbor is acting weird and threatening to kill themselves is NOT going to get their neighbor Baker Acted.

 

[dewey]

mom'sfolly, just so you know, I hadn't read your post before I posted. I saw your post afterwards, mine wasn't in response to anything you said.

Sometimes I start writing long before finishing and hitting submit because I get called away by work other things.

I don't know about other states, but here in Arizona if an interested party (a neighbor, family, friend, or total stranger) will sign an affidavit, a judge reviews it almost right away and then based solely on the swearing party's written statement, the judge makes a determination immediately as to whether the other person is a danger, and if so, immediately orders that person to be picked up involuntarily by law enforcement for eval in a mental health facility...and that person has no say-so about it at that time, no hearing beforehand, nothing.

Maybe that's not well known by the majority of us people, and maybe such a thing sounds unbelievable, or even scary to ponder, but it happens daily in AZ, and probably in other states, too.

 

[Dunkopf]

What's the best kind of doctor to go to for help with possible depression? My GP seems to be a little lost with it. Is there any actual way to see about early onset Alzheimer?

 

[bburn]

find a different doctor....if there is anything I know after raising a special needs child that was misdiagnosed at a young age is that not all doctors know what you need to know....keep looking until you find a doctor that will listen....plus, for alzheimers there are all kinds of organizations that you can contact....do not give up!

 

[welsummerchicks]

Dunkof, a psychiatrist can help your relative. If you go to your regular family doctor for these issues, most likely, s/he will refer you to a psychiatrist.

The picture with alzheimers and depression is a confusing one that requires very good help.

Elderly people do quite often get depression.

It may be a part of alzheimers or another illness, or it may occur completely on its own. But depression in an older person does not necessarily mean alzheimers. Sometimes older people get depression because they have sadness about ageing, sometimes it's that simple. Chronic pain can also take its toll and cause depression. Believe it or not, kidney disease is one of the surprising roots of changes in behavior and thinking. All of these and many more are possible causes of depression.

Depression CAN in fact, affect memory. People with depression often feel listless and may forget things. Some people with depression don't mention feeling sad, as one lady at the nursing home told me, 'I felt numb, not sad, really, but like I couldn't feel anything at all'. A few people actually get anxious with depression. They very often don't impress peope as being sad so much as restless and anxious. And actually, with some forms of depression, people do hear and even see things that other people do not (hallucinations).

Since older people often have their metabolism, kidney, liver, slowing down or working less efficiently, I always feel much more comfortable if a psychiatrist is the one that works out what's bothering them. A psychiatrist has a complete medical education, just like a doctor, and THEN s/he goes for additional training on illnesses that affect thinking and behavior, and their treatment.

An older friend of mine went to a psychiatrist last year. I had urged him to go, in fact I dragged him over there, LOL. Doc sorted out what was wrong, prescribed treatment and friend is doing a lot better this year.

 

[Welsummer Rancher]

" This isn't untainted by economic self-interest. There is often financial incentive to diagnose and treat. It's what keeps the agencies running, and it helps your stats on efficacy. Get the easy ones in and then out, and the agency looks more effective than it is. "


FYI- The schools also get BIG $$ for educating "special needs" children who have been "diagnosed"

with such afflictions as ADHD. It's all about the money.

As a side note, my 15yoa son was "diagnosed" ADHD, against my wishes, when he was 6 years old. Me and his mom are divorced, and the bottom line is that neither she nor her new hubby wanted to put up with things a typical 6 year old boy does. Or, to better state it, they didn't want to "parent." So, the doctor (seeing $$) placed my son on Strattera. Turned my boy into a zombie for several years. His grades in school plummeted, he lost weight, and became very angry and violent at school. I refused to give him the strattera when he was on weekend or summer visitation with me, and he did great. No problems. Last year, he told the district Judge that he wanted to live with me and my wife, and now I have full custody.

First thing I did was throw the Strattera in the trash. Now he is doing wonderful. He has put on some weight (a good thing), is much stronger, no anger issues, grades went from D's and F's to A's, and B's. The sad thing is that in spite of how well he is doing, his mom and her husband still want him on the meds. Ha, nanner nanner. Now, somebody go ahead and tell me about the love of a mother.

 

[thaiturkey]

There are some very interesting views and insights in this thread and people who have related personal experiences are, I think, very brave.

The OP, if I understood the title of the thread correctly, is asking what we would do in a situation similar to that in Arizona last Saturday. That's almost as tough as the more general issue of what to do about a possibly mentally ill relative. There is no proof yet that the suspect in this crime is mentally ill. His actions alone suggest that there is something wrong in his head but no-one yet has the necessary information for an accurate diagnosis. There are, though, other issues at play in this case.

I did a Google search to find out about the gun laws in Arizona. My reading of what I found is that anyone can by a gun unless he or she has already been convicted of a felony or is certified as mentally ill. You need a licence only if the gun is to be carried concealed. So, the suspect could simply go out and buy a gun, listen to his own crazy logic and then shoot as many people as possible. The final act is illegal but that's too late for the victims.

It seems to me that the local law is weighted too much in favour of the right for everyone to bear arms and pays insufficient regard to any right to go about your own lawful business without the risk of someone killing you. That's assuming that a right not to be killed exists in law. I suppose it must. Add to that the recent appalling political rhetoric that has had the attention of everyone around the world who speaks English and has a television and some deranged people will see their opportunity to go ape. I'm trying to avoid the political element in this but some words and images were used carelessly that might well have influenced the suspect. That's not to say that those words and images could be proven to be the cause but they are a sign of the vitriolic climate that many of us have watched over the past few months in disbelief.

I hope that this incident, finally, will wake up a few bigotted and narrow minded people to the reality of what they are doing to a great country.

 

[welsummerchicks]

If you read this guy's website, listened to the description of his behavior and just consider his actions of shooting a bunch of people, a 9 year old child, some older folks and a politician he had virtually no acquaintance with (except a few that fired his delusions), and see his behavior in court, he is very, very sick. Schizophrenic or some mix with bipolar to some degree, that's for experts to determine. But he is very, very delusional.

 

[Dunkopf]

I heard a guy this morning that wrote a column in the Denver Post. His theory was that all the political vitriol combined could tip someone over. He was saying that all the stuff that has been put out there about the government wants to take your guns and put you in concentration camps and kill granny with a death panel, added to all the targets on people and saying stuff like "I would like to drive a stake through this persons heart" and a bunch of similar stuff like that all adds up. Someone that is very paranoid and delusional could take it to heart. Add that to the fact that almost all states have reduced funding for psychiatric help significantly, and you have a serious problem. A lot of violence has been happening for about 2 years now. You add it all up and it becomes pretty clear.

I hope they tone it down some. I think people can get their opinions out there and influence people without using all the hate talk. This applies to all people. Words have consequences. They can't be taken back and some people have serious problems that don't allow them to process words or put a lot of unintended meanings behind those words.

I think this guy will win his insanity defense when the time comes and he will be back on the street in 20 years or less. He is a scary looking dude though. It's too bad he wasn't helped before he did what he did.

 

[thaiturkey]

Quote:
Maybe, but I'll leave it to the experts to decide. In the meantime, lunacy is only one cause of events such as this one in Arkansas. While folks are preoccupied with the connection between mental health and violence they are being led gently away from the greater issue - let people carry guns in the street and someone will get killed. Don't let the gun lobby fool you into thinking that the cause of those six deaths was mental illness alone. It's the law that made it much more likely to happen that would otherwise have been the case.