Dear Pharmboy,
"I did not say that he WAS involuntarily committed..."
Well, then you weren't really responding to my initial post. MindBender26 took the fact of Mr. Burkett's hospitalization and started talking about the requirements of an involuntary commitment. I pointed out that that's something we can't assume (involuntary commitment), that his hospitalization may have been voluntary, and thus we can't draw the conclusion that 1.) Mr. Burkett was "significantly mentally ill," or 2.) "a danger to himself or others."
"And, I would speculate that depression is associated with a low rate of self-referral..."
I can't say, I don't recall statistics about it (which is pretty bad, in that I once studied in this field). However, anecdotally, I've known a number of folks who were severely depressed who checked themselves into the hospital. I've also known a few folks hospitalized involuntarily for actual suicide attempts. I can't recall anyone involuntarily committed for depression alone.
And depression alone is given as the reason for hospitalization.
It's possible that not everything is reported here, but to reiterate, we can't make the leap to Mr. Burkett's being "significantly mentally ill," or "a danger to himself or others" from what we know here.
If you re-read post #19, you'll see that was the point of the post.
sitetest
Mental illness is always an interesting discussion. I would remind you of a Fort Worth Star Telegram article dated today, Sept 18. According to the article .. .
Burkett said in the lawsuit that the disease and the delay in treating it "ravaged his body dreadfully," leaving him a "shadow of his former self."
The lawsuit also said Burkett had since "suffered a severe nervous breakdown, causing severe mental, emotional and neurological injury, from which plaintiff continues and will continue to suffer."
I will not argue with his assessment of his own condition. Here is the link.
http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/nation/9698435.htm