My father killed himself and had been contemplating killing some or all of us children too. He practised suicide several times; he wrote everything down in his diary, which I read. His parents took him to a psychiatrist who did not/could not commit him; I don’t know if they read the diary, but they left us alone with him sometimes. This was in 1973. Paranoia and depression were normal in some circles - part of the anti-establishment world-view.
I think a lot of mental health professionals believe that extreme alienation from society is often just and reasonable, because society is so unjust.
Mrs VS
It’s not just the mental health professionals, it’s the sociologists and the ACLU lawyers; all the left-wingers who shaped our “liberty for the insane” policy.
Mrs VS
I also think that psychiatrist think that medication is the answer for every single problem. In some cases it is, and others it isn’t.
It’s also kind of scary to think that you have to medicate someone the rest of their lives.
My mom is on lithium, and it is helping her. She’s fairly normal on it (and a total loon without it).
My 10 year old daughter has brain damage and had terrible tantrums when she was younger. She couldn’t talk and got frustrated. She had impulse and sensory problems. Everything combined, and she would just meltdown. Well, I went to a psychologist and the first thing she wanted to try was medication. I didn’t go that route. Now at 10, my daughter is doing much better. She’ll still hit me (and her siblings) when she gets mad, but she’ll stop and get control of herself. She’s learning how to control her anger much better, plus she can talk some now. She can also write, and that helps her to vent. I’d much rather her learn how to handle her impulses and anger without medication, than to live on medication that suppresses those impulses.