"Mental Illness" with recent mass shootings

[Playball40]

So I would like to see an actual definition of "mental illness" because it seems that people are being lumped into a category that simply is NOT ACCURATE. The DSM indicates their definition and found that C and E both jumped out at me. I feel like someone that shoots up their workplace because they were laid off does NOT MEET THE CRITERIA of "mental illness" based on C. Nor is killing a bunch of people due their country of birth (E).

If someone with long-term and diagnosed delusions/hallucinations believed that all people with blue eyes were possessed by the devil and going to kill them and instead went to the local mall and started shooting all blue eyed people, I would say, yes, it fit the definition.

But a disgruntled, awkward person who believes Mexicans are stealing their jobs because they are willfully ignorant or too lazy to verify, goes and intentionally kills Mexicans, they do NOT fit the definition of mentally ill. They are not suffering hallucinations. They are suffering from propaganda and racism.

I'm so sick and tired of innocent people fighting mental illness every day of their lives being demonized and blamed for the acts of these people that are nothing less than selfish terrorists.

DSM-IV Definition of Mental Disorder


Features
A

a clinically significant behavioral or psychological syndrome or pattern that occurs in an individual


B

is associated with present distress (e.g., a painful symptom) or disability (i.e., impairment in one or more important areas of functioning) or with a significantly increased risk of suffering death, pain, disability, or an important loss of freedom


C

must not be merely an expectable and culturally sanctioned response to a particular event, for example, the death of a loved one


D

a manifestation of a behavioral, psychological, or biological dysfunction in the individual


E

neither deviant behavior (e.g., political, religious, or sexual) nor conflicts that are primarily between the individual and society are mental disorders unless the deviance or conflict is a symptom of a dysfunction in the individual


Other Considerations
F

no definition adequately specifies precise boundaries for the concept of “mental disorder”


G

the concept of mental disorder (like many other concepts in medicine and science) lacks a consistent operational definition that covers all situations

 

[Derec]

C is the reason why Islamic terrorism never gets classified as mental illness. Terrorism is " expectable and culturally sanctioned response" to living among the kafir.

 

[Cheerful Charlie]

I will have to agree. A bad ideology of bad lifestyle choice is not mental illness. Stupid is not mental illness.

 

[repoman]

Was listening to a guy talking about the Baltic states during the USSR and that the Lithuanians (sorry, I mean Lithuanian Supremacists) did targeted killed of newly arrived Russian (mostly?) farmers as an effective intimidation tactic and that this was a reason why after the USSR fell that the ethnic Russian percentage was the lowest of the three countries.

Is this just an autopilot subroutine that is very ancient? This I'd not at all related to mental illness, this is something that is related to resource real or perceived scarcity and note that part of the manifesto.

 

[J842P]

I agree, these sorts of ideology-based mass murders are definitely not mental illness, indeed, it is a comment part of the human experience.

Humans so not need to be mentally ill to commit these sorts of acts.

 

[Gun Nut]

I don't comprehend how anyone (especially Libs / Dems) can consider shooting up a place (for any reason whatsoever) as " an expectable and culturally sanctioned response".

regarding "E": "....unless the deviance or conflict is a symptom of a dysfunction in the individual"

IOW, you aren't mentally ill BECAUSE you shot the place up... but you are if it is a symptom of the dysfunction (even as simple as poor impulse control).

I think what playball is missing here is that "mental illness" is not limited to seeing and hearing things... there's all kinds of crazy out there... and even something as mundane as impulse control, if horrifically underdeveloped, can lead to a fleeting thought of murder turning into an actual homicide (or twenty). That it stems from simply "bad impulse control" that is even regretted right afterwards is irrelevant... SUCH bad impulse control (shooting the Mexicans allegedly taking their jobs) is a mental illness / dysfunction that should institutionalize an individual... or at least ban them from gun ownership... at.fucking.least.
I am shocked at hearing that calling a mass murderer mentally ill is an insult to the mentally ill, full stop. I'll monitor this thread, but I can't imagine participating further... it would be like trying to communicate with aliens.. and I failed out of French class for 4 years straight.

 

[Smoker]

40 years ago the DSM described homosexuality as a mental disease. Lets not trust these psychologists too much until we understand how the brain works a little better. We don't even understand why the brain needs sleep yet. According to the latest version of DSM I'm a raging alcoholic, but I seem to be holding down my job for the last ten years and enjoying life. I've been trying to think of a way to test people for "mental illness" if they want an assault rifle. What would that test look like?

 

[funcouple]

40 years ago the DSM described homosexuality as a mental disease. Lets not trust these psychologists too much until we understand how the brain works a little better. We don't even understand why the brain needs sleep yet. According to the latest version of DSM I'm a raging alcoholic, but I seem to be holding down my job for the last ten years and enjoying life. I've been trying to think of a way to test people for "mental illness" if they want an assault rifle. What would that test look like?

I completely agree

 

[Toni]

40 years ago the DSM described homosexuality as a mental disease. Lets not trust these psychologists too much until we understand how the brain works a little better. We don't even understand why the brain needs sleep yet. According to the latest version of DSM I'm a raging alcoholic, but I seem to be holding down my job for the last ten years and enjoying life. I've been trying to think of a way to test people for "mental illness" if they want an assault rifle. What would that test look like?

And 50 years ago, we locked away those who were 'mentally retarded' or severely handicapped.

This, as well as the designation of homosexuality as a mental illness, were more about society's prejudices and inability to deal with difficult issues.

Frankly, so is the death penalty.