[ExI] insanity plea

Stathis Papaioannou stathisp at gmail.com
Mon Feb 25 04:54:42 UTC 2013


On Mon, Feb 25, 2013 at 10:26 AM, spike <spike at rainier66.com> wrote:
>
>>... On Behalf Of Adrian Tymes
> Subject: Re: [ExI] insanity plea
>
> On Sun, Feb 24, 2013 at 12:08 PM, spike <spike at rainier66.com> wrote:
>>>...Just
>> the discussion of the possibility of restricting gun ownership to the
>> mentally ill would compel the mentally ill to refuse to seek treatment
>> for fear that they could lose the ability to purchase a firearm.  With
>> that would soon likely go their voting rights and any possibility of
> gainful employment.
>
>>...Indeed.  This is a core problem with many attempts to put certain other
> people in a special negative class.  The average person can either be
> classified - with no real benefit if the classification is correct, and huge
> consequences if the classifier messes up - or not classified - in which case
> it's the same as if they had a correct, positive classification...
> _______________________________________________
>
> Something I have never heard of but should be available somewhere is the
> option of mental health care with complete anonymity.  Could not a person
> see a psychologist under an assumed identity?   This would not apply to a
> psychiatrist who can deal out medications.  The patient would pay their
> bills in cash and never tell the psychologist who they really are.  Does
> something like that exist somewhere?  Seems like an obvious solution.  It
> would free the patient to tell the psychologist anything, since they needn't
> fear losing rights in the future.

It wouldn't work since apart from anything else, you need collateral
history to reliably make a diagnosis. A person could present as
perfectly well because they are hiding their symptoms, because their
symptoms are treated due to taking medication which they have recently
stopped, or because they have an episodic illness such as bipolar
disorder.

It's offensive to people with mental illnesses to make general rules
about them working or even owning guns. Every person is different, and
every person has a different level of risk.


-- 
Stathis Papaioannou



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