Navy Yard gunman treated for paranoia and hearing voices in his head

[happyslug]

58. One aspect of treatment is NOT to discourage people to seek treatment

If someone is afraid that the police will take away his guns if he seeks help, he will NOT seek help. On the other hand if he is told the Police will NOT do that, they often agree to seek help. I have run across this situation, it is more common then people think. I have had clients who refused to seek help that they needed for fear that the police would use them getting help to take away their guns and cars (and other freedoms). To get them to agree to treatment, I have seen Psychologists and other have to repeat that statement over and over, I have seen judges have to say that to a person.

Remember Competency is a very minimal standard, do you know who you are and are NOT causing any HARM to yourself or others. If that is true, you are competent and can refuse treatment. Without treatment there is no record of your problems so no grounds to restrict that person's freedoms.

Thus one of the problems of getting data on people is they refusal to seek help. Thus to get them to agree, we often have to agree that the results of the treatment will NOT be used against that person.

Now, if the person did an previous act of violence, that is a different ball game, but in such cases the burden of proof is on the state and is almost as strict as if you are charging the person with a crime. Those cases are rarely the one we are debating. The issue are the people whose prior acts are NOT that violent AND everyone involved thinks the person needs treatment.

This is the other side of the argument, how do you encourage people to seek help, when they feel that seeking such help will cost them a freedom they hold dear? This is true of being on the streets, owning a gun or driving a car. Thus a lot of people who need help only will seek it if such help will NOT be used against them in obtaining firearms. Do we what them to get help? Hopefully the answer to that question is yes. Once you say you want to encourage such people to seek help, punishing them for doing so has to be avoided. Furthermore it is PUNISHMENT as these people see it, not as you or I see it. Once you accept those unpleasant facts, the present system is the best of a series of bad options.

Footnote: One of the problem with such people is that when most of the old Sanitariums were closed they were to be replaced by neighborhood half way houses (more permanent then criminal half way houses, with some residents staying in the house the rest of their lives). This was part of the plan closing of those old Sanitariums that was never done, for it would cost money. Such treatment center and community housing would permit have permitted better integration with the community AND a place people with mental restriction could be housed safely. Implemented only in part and it is one of the great failure over the last 40-50 years.