crazy?? says who??

ive always wondered this. i think movies have had a grand effect on my personal opinion.

but anyway...
why do we have mental hospitals??

who are we as human being to say another human being is insane? who gave us the right to lock someone up for that, for not being "normal"???

its rediculous. give me some thoughts....

ive always wondered this. i think movies have had a grand effect on my personal opinion.

but anyway...
why do we have mental hospitals??

who are we as human being to say another human being is insane? who gave us the right to lock someone up for that, for not being "normal"???

its rediculous. give me some thoughts....

You're right, we shouldn't commit people who pull out all their own hair, beat animals to make themselves feel better, believe they are several people at once, or exhibit other such behaviour...that would just be wrong for us to classify them as something other than normal, right? I mean, sure we have MRIs that show abnormal brain patterns and professional psychological analysts that study the behaviours listed above, but how can we classify people who do those things as somethign other than normal, right?

::sarcasm off::

Ciao,
~MFP

[edit on 1/25/2006 by bsl4doc]

yeah. its definately the movies then. haha.
i know there are some ppl who are mentally unstable, but i want to think that there are ppl in there that just say "crazy" things, and are just being put away so they dont get to other ppl with thier radical ideas.

or something like that.

In the UK at least "they" can't just lock you up becuase you are a bit "crazy". It is know as being sectioned:


Good guide to it here

From what I've seen and heard of it, it is pretty hard to get someone sectioned and they are usually being violent towards themselves or others. Being "mad" is not good enough.

The great majority of people in mental hospitals have not been sectioned, and a free to leave whenever they like.

As to the terrible state of mental health services in this country, that is a different matter.....

mod edit to use "news" instead of "ex"
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[edit on 29-1-2006 by sanctum]

It is a movie cliche that people get "locked up" for simply having some strange ideas. Indeed, it unusual fo anyone to be locked up, even if they are a danger to themselves or others. In the bad old days, it was not unusual fo a woman to be put into permanent psychiatric care because she fell pregnant out of wedlock. This is an example of an extreme, but there are people who are not fit to live in the community.

There is a big trend in the UK for health in the community projects. The official reason for these is to attempt to rehab these people and intigrate them into society. The real reason is to cut costs, as the old mental institutions cost a lot of money to run and were a big drain on NHS resources. Since this policy was introduced, the number of violent crimes committed by people who are under the care of a community psychiatric team has increased greatly. In the past, when these people were identified they were taken into care until treatment could be completed. At the minute, the majority of people under psychiatric care are walking free in the community.

As for sectioning, there are several different sections that can be put into place depending on the circumstances.. They are only to be used if the patient is positively identified as being a danger to themselves or others if they are not under direct medical supervision. They tend not to be used much as the law regarding their use is very vague to say the least. It is estimated that as many as 70% of those who are being held under one of the mental health acts sections at any one time are being held inappropriately.

Some people just need locking up, no matter how much you try to rehab them.

Originally posted by seperate body from mind

who are we as human being to say another human being is insane? who gave us the right to lock someone up for that, for not being "normal"???

its rediculous. give me some thoughts....

Well gee, who are we as human beings to say another human being is anything?

Sorry, but I can't get beyond your signature on this one.

Just as an FYI...I have no medical training. This opinion is based off of personal experience.

I have had a friend that is diagnosed as being bi-polar (now commonly called manic-depressive). This means she can have erratic mood swings without warning, from deep depression to wild, chaotic and aggresive actions.

At one point, her deep depression caused her to cut herself as a form of self-mutilation. She believed that trying to curb her emotional pain by providing herself physical pain would cure her.

She went into the emergency room, drowning in her sorrow, and explained herself to the technicians. Rather than lock her up and throw away the key, they brought in social workers, gave her some sedatives and made a psychiatric appointment for her. Then they sent her on her way.

This is very common. If they do not believe that you have the willpower to actually kill yourself (ie: if you are not hysteric and uncontrollable), then they just make some appointments for you and send you on your merry way.

This has happened more than once.

While it is concerning (how many people are "on the edge"??), it is understandable. We would inundate all of the mental hospitals with people that are significantly less dangerous than those who are admitted for more severe mental disorders.

In my opinion, you really have to go off "the deep end" to be admitted to a psych ward. It takes a long time to get there. Once you are there, you may only have a two week stint before they deem you "ok" to reassert yourself with the real world.

Movies are awful depictions of real life scenarios.