Yes mental illness is part of this

[nadinbrzezinski]

absolutely... but don't get distracted.

If the shooter knew what he was doing... no mater how crazee he is, he can and will stand trial. The mental illness angle is important, but at this point it will be used as an EXCUSE by the RW to deflect from the HATE SPEECH we are seeing.

Look people are some people crazy and will go down the deep end? Yes.

Does our access to medical care for the mentally ill suck> Absolutely.

But please, do not fall into that trap. It is easy to use that as an excuse instead of facing the constant barrage of elimitianionist rhetoric coming from the right. I will go there with the comparison since it is appropriate. This is exactly what happened in Nazi Germany. So yes, medical care matters, yes he might be loony as a toon. But he is rational to stand trial, leave that to the side. It is time to face facts. This is not the first internal terror event, and it will not be the last, not until we FACE the hate language.

And yes, they will do the mandatory psych screen to establish that the shooter CAN stand trial.

[HereSince1628]

1. Link to the release of his psychiatric record?

I think it's important to point out that SEVERE mentally ill do have a higher rate of violent acts than the non severely mentally ill. The rate of violence by the severely mentally ill is still less than the rate of violence by drunks and drug users.

Attention Deficit is a mental disorder but its victims are unlikely to do violence at a higher rate than the general population.

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. Sorry the legal standard is clear

if he knew what he did... he is SANE ENOUGH to stand trial. Insanity defenses are very hard to prove... but this is a distraction at THIS POINT.

Should we have better access to mental health? Yes. Separate issue.

And trust me I have transported some folks who qualify as mentally ill, but healthy enough to stand trial.

[AlabamaLibrul]

10. Yup

And you'd be one to know given your field.

The insanity defense requires that the accused not know right from wrong or otherwise was completely unaware of their actions at the time (i.e. a severe psychotic break). Being generally unstable is not an excuse for murder.

[nadinbrzezinski]

11. It is a very fine line

I transported one person to hospital who was never charged. He was the ONLY one that was never charged, and we used chemical restraints to protect ourselves, chiefly.

That is one in ten years, Oh and went straight to trauma unit for physical care and then to the psych ward.

[HereSince1628]

12. I was challenging the presumption of his mental illness, not his culpability

before the law.

More than 24 hours after the event, there is no public release of information concerning his mental wellness from a person competent to make that diagnosis after interviewing him.

This is relevant because the presumption of mental illness is not based on a real assessment. It's simply a socialized reaction to our fears about such events. We need to protect ourselves from our own anxiety and that is being done by suggesting all manner of sweepingly broad brush hyperbolic statements about the mentally ill. This has the unfortunate effect of reinforcing falsehoods and bigotry against the mentally ill. We wonder why the mentally ill must struggle against stigma? Fear based unsubstantiated and often just flat falsehoods at times like this is how that unfortunate crap is perpetuated.

BOTH the mentally ill and the mentally well commit violent acts. The majority of mentally ill have no elevated likelihood of committing a violent act. The seriously mentally ill represent something more than double the risk of violent behavior than the general population, but even that risk is less than that of drunks and drug users.

From the New England Journal of Medicine:

http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp068229#t=arti...

[emulatorloo]

2. As soon as Limbaugh et al ramped up the Rhetoric, I have been worrying that a mentally ill person

Would take their message to heart and do "be the Patriot" that stops the "Secret Plan to enslave us in Socialism"

Of course he was mentally ill, but he was fed a steady diet of violent "lets kill Democrats"

As the sheriff said Hate Radio free speech has consequences.

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. That is part of this

also I worry that we now have active cells... and a leaderless resistance movement.

[dkf]

7. It could be that the sheer volume and breadth of right wing radio makes their obsessions

More accessible to a mentally ill person. But we've got our own villains and animus too. I'm sure any person here can say they've felt true hatred against any number of people thanks to reading some bit of info.

Anyone can take that hatred and go off should they be unstable enough.

[CountAllVotes]

5. it show the brain rot you develop

when you believe and live the lie.

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. Ok I need a decoder ring

[nashville_brook]

8. rhetoric into action -- that's the order of operation.

and, it's not just Nazi Germany, it happens in every conflict. it's the very nature of conflict.

this rhetoric forms a culture where their only means to accrue power is by greater and greater threats/scare tactics. it's designed to escalate.

[nadinbrzezinski]

9. Exactly...

Rwanda comes to mind as well, just that Nazi Germany is better known.

[butterfly77]

13. And who,,

cut mental health services and which Governors threw the mentally ill on the street..