Quote From: fluffyfatThose were my thoughts exactly. The mentally ill man who picked up the little girl probably was under the delusion that she was his child or that he was protecting her from something. It's this type of gentle schizophrenic who never gets the medical care he needs, because he isn't considered to be "a danger to himself or others." His parents can take him to the hospital a hundred times and, obeying the law, the doctors have to release him after 48 hours unless he's threatening to either kill himself or someone else.
People don't undestand that a person having a psychotic episode is like someone having a dream while awake. Think of all the weird ideas you've had in your dreams and then imagine how it would have been if you had been up and walking around during that dream!
Most people with schizophrenia respond well to medications that straighten out the hormonal system in their brain. They are then able to stay focused on reality, they no longer hear voices or delusions and they are able to work and live happily along side the rest of us.
However, if they don't respond to the medication and remain out of control then they need to be committed to a well run mental institution. What a shame that our society has denied this basic care to those who need it.
cancer was once the hidden problem in society and now it is mental illness. God bless the parents of the mentally ill man for holding their heads up and trying to enlighten society regarding their attempts to help the son they too were losing. It was not the man's fault that he was delusional and certainly not theirs.
expecting a mentally ill person to monitor their meds or even for a loved one to do it puts the emphasis on the victim - perhaps like telling a cancer sufferer to go home and shrink the tumor.
couldn't Dr. Phil have shown more compassion and faulted society more than playing the victim/aggressor card and the race card. Both these cards only scratch at the hurt. Society must be lead to where it accepts the realities of the mentally ill.
Punishment , in this case, is not my problem but it is a small solution to a huge, swept under the carpet, group of illnesses.
Just as in a cancer, research and multi-level approaches to it are necessary.
How sad that a psychologist played showman with these parents instead of a vanguard for where I hope society is eventually heading. Compassion, understanding, guilt-freeing,
God bless this man's parents for letting us know he came from and has a loving home but that still is not enough to overcome this illness.
