Posted by Tomatheus on October 6, 2015, at 15:09:00
In reply to Re: Shooters and Psychiatry, posted by SLS on October 6, 2015, at 0:53:21
> Sometimes, violent people try antidepressants in the hopes that they will relieve them of their inner pain and struggles. They don't. They are not truly depressed. When they are arrested for a violent crime, they report taking an antidepressant. What shall be the possible conclusions?
>Well, one could conclude that the antidepressant had something to do with the violent crime, or one could conclude that it had nothing to do with the violent crime. As far as whether a depressive illness might be involved, I think that I'd have to ask how the person ended up getting an antidepressant medication in his or her possession. If the medication was prescribed by a doctor who properly diagnosed the person with a depressive disorder, then I'd have to argue that the person was actually depressed (although you'd probably argue that the person wasn't properly diagnosed if he or she had violent tendencies without being what you'd call "truly depressed").
I don't doubt the idea that there are individuals out there taking antidepressants, even though the individuals don't have a depressive disorder or any of the conditions for which antidepressants are indicated. Perhaps there are some individuals with, say, antisocial personality disorder, who take antidepressants for their antisocial personality characteristics, even though they don't meet the criteria for any depressive disorder and are hence not "truly depressed." But as I was saying before, I think that all of the facts need to be examined when looking at whether a violent crime might be tied to a mental illness and/or the medications used to treat mental illnesses. Did the person have a history of violence? If a medication was involved, did others notice personality changes after the perpetrator started taking the medication? Even if a medication wasn't involved, did the perpetrator act in ways that were out of character in the days and weeks leading up to the incident? Was the perpetrator acting on delusions that the perpetrator might not have ordinarily accepted as true if he or she didn't have a mental illness? These are some of the first questions that I would ask if I were trying to evaluate the extent to which mental illness and/or psychiatric medications might have played a role in the carrying out of a violent crime. The answers to these questions might not always be straightforward, but I think that questions like these should be asked when looking at cases of violent crime where mental illness and/of psychiatric medications are thought to possibly be implicated.
Tomatheus
"I need you to show me
The way from crazy
I wanna be so much
More than this"- Jimmy Eat World
poster:Tomatheus
thread:1083163
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20150929/msgs/1083270.html