Posted by baseball55 on October 6, 2015, at 21:04:14
In reply to Re: Shooters and Psychiatry » Tomatheus, posted by hello321 on October 6, 2015, at 19:48:07
To me, the point of Scott's story is that mental illness is incredibly complex. Psychiatrist Glen Gabbard, in his textbooks for psychiatric residents, writes that mental illness is a bio-psycho-social problem. The experience of mental illness, despite people meeting certain DSM criteria, is highly individual. When people suffer symptoms of depression or anxiety or psychosis, there are broad similarities, but the content of their ruminations and delusions is strongly affected by their psychological and social experiences.
Using myself as an example, I grew up in an abused and neglected. I was resilient and achieved a lot. In my 40s, I became depressed, but a lot of my depression was driven by the circumscribed nature of the life I had created to overcome despair about my youth. I believe there is a strong biological COMPONENT to my depression, but that the biology doesn't explain the intensity of the SI I experience when depressed. Many people are very depressed or anxious and never have overpowering SI. I, on the other had, have been hospitalized 10 times, following two suicide attempts and voluntarily committing myself to be safe from suicide. I believe the SI comes from a weak grip on life due to my history and from a tendency, due to my history to fall into despair that I will never be cared for.
I got help. But most people whose ruminations are about violence toward others do not get help. They may go to a doctor about getting on a drug to deal with their out-of-control feelings, but they don't do therapy and commit to trying to change. Instead, they ruminate on violent acts. I doubt this has much to do with meds and more to do with their psycho-social history which determines the nature of their ruminations.
This complexity and individuality is why I again recommend Patrick Gilligan's book, Violence. The case studies draw a complex picture of violent men (all the subjects are men, as are all the "shooters" and most perpetrators of violent crime).
poster:baseball55
thread:1083163
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20150929/msgs/1083287.html