This is a comment by S. L. Maxam on the post “Video of Aurora Shooter – First Court Appearance“.
“I just want to let every one to know the word crazy is a pejorative especially if Holmes is suffering from some kind of mental illness.
“‘Crazy’, ‘insane’, ‘pyscho’, etc. are all words that contribute to the stigma of mental illness and causes individuals to not get help.
“I’m not saying what Holmes did is rational in any circumstance but we have to be careful with the words we use to describe people. Actions are slightly less sensitive.
“Lastly, you can’t ‘pretend to be crazy.’ I’ve been in several psych wards. Any professional can tell you within five minutes if a person has a mood disorder, thought disorder, PTSD etc. just like you can’t fake having diabetes or cancer it’s highly implausible to be screened by doctors and social workers and pass as someone with a diagnosis.
“I think this can be a huge learning moment for our country.”
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Photo credit: Flickr / MindPepper
This page really has all the information and facts I wanted about this subject and didn`t know who to ask.
“Lastly, you can’t ‘pretend to be crazy.’ I’ve been in several psych wards as a patient. Any professional can tell you within five minutes if a person has a mood disorder, thought disorder, PTSD etc. just like you can’t fake having diabetes or cancer it’s highly implausible to be screened by doctors and social workers and pass as someone with a diagnosis. The Rosenhan experiment disproves that claim. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosenhan_experiment I think we need to be wary of equating mental illness with other kinds of physical phenomena that can be easily detected with scientific methods. Mental illness is more than just… Read more »