As for why schizos are concern, here are two reasons that instantly come to mind:
Posted on 06/17/2011 2:46:04 PM PDT by KantianBurke
BOSTON — Last November, Yvette Chappell found herself increasingly anxious that her 27-year-old son, Deshawn James Chappell, was spiraling downward into deep psychosis. He was exhibiting intense paranoia and calling late at night to complain about deafening voices in his head.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
As a side note, my friend’s brother was living alone on a beach in northern Michigan when winter was coming on. He had to petition the local judge, a personal friend, to issue an order to have him committed to the state hospital. It was indeed a very complicated procedure but was necessary in his brother’s case despite what happened to him while he was there............
Wow, that’s uncanny. A friend of mine has a brother with schizophrenia who was released from the mental hospital in Traverse City. For years, a social worker would find him a room to rent each spring. He’d live independently, usually not taking his medications, as a homeless person in the bad part of town. Late each fall, the social worker would “discover” he was living on the streets and have him committed during the cold winter months.
There is a happy ending to my story, though. Eventually he was found by someone who actually *wanted* to help him, not just shuffle paperwork for him and collect his SSI check. They found a nice home for him where people will make sure he takes his medication and keeps a regular schedule while having his own space.
I’m very sorry your friend wasn’t able to find the same kind of help for his brother.
Deshawn James Chappell’s rap sheet
- 2003: Charged with armed robbery, assault with intent to rob in Chelsea; disposition unknown.
- 2004: Charged with disorderly conduct, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon in Chelsea; disposition unknown.
- 2005: Charged with trespassing in Chelsea; disposition unknown.
- March 14, 2006: Charged with assault and battery and violating a restraining order in Chelsea for punching his stepfather in the face; charges dismissed in July 2006.
- Nov. 9, 2006: Charged with beating and robbing his girlfriend in Lynn; charges dismissed in April 2008.
- Nov. 13, 2006: Charged in Roxbury District Court with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, assault and battery and violating a restraining order; found guilty in April 2007 and sentenced to one year in jail, three months to serve.
- March 13, 2007: Charged with selling marijuana and a drug violation near a school or park; disposition unknown.
- March 3, 2008: Arrested for larceny for stealing $300 worth of baby curtains and linens from a Chelsea shop; pleaded guilty in February 2009 and put on probation for six months. Case dismissed on Nov. 12, 2009, when he paid restitution.
- June 30, 2008: Violated his probation, according to a judge’s ruling; probation terminated October 2008.
- Sept. 8, 2009: Barred from contacting a Chelsea woman, who accused him of threats and harassment, according to a restraining order issued by a Chelsea District Court judge.
- July 7, 2010: Arraigned for procuring alcohol for a minor in Somerville District Court. A guilty finding was entered Aug. 18.
Source: Trial court documents
Great comment. But that was not the only driving force. Several years ago commercial insurance carriers basic policy generally allocated approximately $25,000 per year for in-patient treatment. Some physicians would hospitalize patients and once their benefits were exhausted after a very short period of time, they would immediately discharge them with little follow-up because outpatient benefits were extremely limited. Flagrant misuse of Medicaid benefits, at least in Texas, were extensive and lots of kiddos were hospitalized for treatment of Oppositional Defiant Disorder for several days and then discharged, most with no visible improvement. A few doctors made a whole lot of money until this was shut down. I also remember many years ago that people who had issues such as mental retardation, Downs Syndrome or severe learning disabilities were shuttled off to state institutions where they remained, some for their entire life. There is relatively no easy, inexpensive or long term care for many people who suffer from such illnesses such as paranoid schizophrenia or severe bipolar disorder.
Actually he did. Following his release from Traverse, he was put on meds, was provided public housing in Boyne City as well as employment. However, over the years, he would slip off the meds and regress but eventually get put back on them by his social worker. This was a constant problem.......
It wasn't a happy story but it wasn't totally bad either until the last year of his life when he contracted cancer............
As a side note, my only real contact with the brother was when he showed up at my apartment here in S.E. Michigan on a Thursday afternoon after driving the almost 300 miles from Boyne City. He said he had an appointment the the French Consulate in Detroit the next morning to discuss an enhanced railway system from Detroit to northern michigan.......??????????
I immediately called up his brother who at that time was living down here too and he came over that evening to spend time........
The brother spent the night at my place and I had to go to work the next morning. When I got home, he had left for his home in northern Mich........
Dealing with a person with schizophrenia is unlike anything anyone can image if they've never experienced it. Especially if they are college degreed like my friend's brother was from U of M.........Their reality is in their own mind and you can't reason or rationalize with them at all......
There is a happy ending to my story, though. Eventually he was found by someone who actually *wanted* to help him, not just shuffle paperwork for him and collect his SSI check. They found a nice home for him where people will make sure he takes his medication and keeps a regular schedule while having his own space.That *is* a happy ending!! :)
I didn’t read the whole entire article, maybe about 2/3. But I have to say it was a pretty good article.
This is the second good article I’ve read from the Slimes posted here in the last few weeks. Could they be improving? Goodness I hope not!
From the parts I read it covered all the angles of the story fairly, and included some quite telling quotes.
That woman Moore sounds like an atrocity who is unwilling to accept her share of the blame for the negligent was her outfit was being run. I guess more of that will come out in the many various lawsuits.
I feel very bad for both families. I know what it is like to try and get help for a mentally ill relative. Basically the liberals have made it impossible.
And all you ever hear is how few of the mentally ill are violent, which is no doubt true.
But some, like this man, are manifestly violent (and for all one knows they might be just a violent if they were sane). These people need to be LOCKED UP. If it helps to medicate them, then medicate them, but for heaven’s sake they can’t just be running around. If it’s so very few people I don’t think the burden or expense is so great that it can’t be done.
Certainly nobody who need anti-psychotic meds should be in an unrestrained situation without the required medication.
“There is relatively no easy, inexpensive or long term care for many people who suffer from such illnesses such as paranoid schizophrenia or severe bipolar disorder.”
I would be willing to pay higher taxes IF said taxes were to be used to build prisons that contain murderous paranoid schizophrenics. They have no business being allowed to walk the streets.
“False dichotomy. The mental hospitals are not staffed by murderers and rapists.”
The word you’re missing is “anymore”. Just forty years ago, however, such abuses were unfortunately common enough that the mentally ill in many states were better off on the streets than in a state-run mental hospital.
Also, if you have so much faith in government-run mental health care then I bet you’ll just LOVE government-run healthcare in general.
Agree with you about the necessity to confine seriously mentally ill people but the chances of that happening IMO are Zero and none!
Kantian,
Your opinion that all paranoid schizophrenics should be locked up with “no exception” is very extreme and is based on an irrational fear of people with schizophrenia which is no doubt the result of letting a handful of news reports you have read influence you in stereotyping a group that composes 1% of America and is for the most part, non violent. Violent impulses are not a symptom of schizophrenia and most schizophrenics are certainly not dangerous or “rabid dogs” roaming the neighborhood waiting to murder children. Your arguments are sensational and you are terribly misinformed.
While it is true that there is slightly higher chance of a schizophrenic committing a violent act as opposed to a normal person, that is mainly the case with the small percentage of schizophrenics who have a history of drug abuse or violent crime that predates the emergence of their disorder. Of course there are exceptions but studies have shown that the chance of most schizophrenics committing a violent act is around 8% as opposed to 5% with the general population. And since schizophrenics make up only 1% of the world population, a small number of which are institutionalized or in medical care, there is a significantly higher risk of you being harmed by a “normal” person and not a schizophrenic- and that is a fact.
As for your claim that paranoid schizophrenics are incapable of getting better- you should know that of all the different types of schizophrenia, paranoid schizophrenics are more likely to become functional. Many schizophrenics lead very normal lives. I have paranoid schzophrenia and I have a very good job and can take care of myself. I am a fiercely loyal friend, a caring person and have a very clearly defined sense of ethics and morality, even when I suffer from symptoms. I am no “rabid dog” that is for sure- and I most certainly do not need to be locked up because some ignorant and prejudiced idiot on the Internet (read: you) thinks it’s a good idea to classify all people like me as a threat when the facts clearly show otherwise.
Frankly, I think you are just being paranoid.
Considering the news story that started this thread and countless others, your protestations of schizos (read: YOU) being no threat to the rest of us is idiotic. You and your fellow nutcases are one reason many of us carry firearms and if threatened, trust me loony tune, we will use them to protect ourselves and our families.
“I have paranoid schzophrenia and I have a very good job and can take care of myself. I am a fiercely loyal friend, a caring person and have a very clearly defined sense of ethics and morality, even when I suffer from symptoms.”
“Fiercely...clearly defined sense...”
That’s usually the problem.
Welcome to Free Republic. Enjoy your stay.
Kantian,
What makes you think that I am a threat to you or your family? Why would you threaten me with violence when I haven’t done anything to warrant being threatened? If you took the time to learn about what you are afraid of maybe you would see that I am a person who deserves to be treated as fairly as anyone else. Just because I am schizophrenic doesn’t mean I go around trying to hurt other people. In fact, most of us don’t do anything of the sort and there is evidence to support that.
What if we were good friends and one day I confided in you that I was struggling with schizophrenia and was being treated but I was afraid of telling my friends because I was afraid they would push me away because of the misconceptions surrounding it? Would you never talk to me again? Would you be afraid everytime you saw me even if was still the same old person you knew? Would you tell your family to avoid me? Can you imagine what it’s like to experience that when you know you have done nothing wrong, nothing to deserve it?
As for why schizos are concern, here are two reasons that instantly come to mind:
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