Dear Science,
I’m just floored that the recent cop killer was out and about on
the streets despite being so obviously crazy. What the hell? Shouldn’t
homicidal maniacs who think they’re Jesus Christ and meticulously plan
executions of cops be kept locked up indefinitely? Can being crazy
really cause people to do all these things?
In Fear of Crazy
Mental illness, at its core, is a derangement of conscious thought.
As such, the sort of crazy that we’re dealing with in people like
Maurice Clemmons is a uniquely human illness.
Consider schizophrenia. It’s a sort of inability of the brain to
accurately sort out what’s going on in the world. For most of us, our
brains do a very good job of sifting through the patches of
information gleaned from our senses—forming a coherent and
generally accurate representation in our minds of what is really
going on. Think of how the eyes work, rapidly scanning the space
around us, only resting for a moment at any given spot. Our brains have
to interpret this jumble into some sort of coherent sense of where we
are and what is around us.
For those with the various kinds of schizophrenia, the mind can
start responding to self-generated information (hallucinations,
voices, and the like), misinterpretations of what is being sensed, and
a general failure to integrate all this into a coherent sense of what’s
going on. With this can come a diminished ability to respond back to
the outside world, leading to flat faces, an inability to
interact with others, a detachment from the surrounding world, or an
inability to even generate a coherent chain of thoughts. In this
jumble, strange beliefs (e.g., that you’re Jesus Christ) can become
fixed in the malfunctioning mind.
Schizophrenia is more common than you’d expect. The lifetime risk of
being diagnosable with schizophrenia is about 0.5 percent. Doing the
math, we could expect about 3,000 people in Seattle, and 32,000
statewide, to have schizophrenia. But being schizophrenic does not make
you automatically dangerously violent. While those with
schizophrenia are more likely than the general population to commit
violent acts, it’s not clear that the disease is causal. And people who
are confused and unable to properly respond to their environment are
far more likely to harm themselves than to harm others.
Drugs and treatments exist for the disease. A strong social safety
net and appropriate, stable, and controlled housing can help
those with mental illnesses live their lives peacefully. Of course, all
of the above were dismantled by a process starting during the Reagan
administration as a means of saving money. We’re still paying a
steep price for these savings.
Compassionately Yours,
Science
Send your science questions to
dearscience@thestranger.com.
When you bold the words “automatically dangerously violent” and not “does not” what is the percieved central message. I think the overall tone is good, but the word processing leaves something to be desired.
Peace
“A strong social safety net and appropriate, stable, and controlled housing can help those with mental illnesses live their lives peacefully. Of course, all of the above were dismantled by a process starting during the Reagan administration as a means of saving money. We’re still paying a steep price for these savings.”
No, my fine friend on the port tack, the ACLU went first, winning the ‘right” for crazies to sign themselves out of custody, providing they promised to keep up their meds. Of course, the state-gov stalwarts, in Dem states, as well of those on the starboard tack, no longer able to enforce their will upon the crazies, took advantage of their release, by closing all of those beautiful old asylums in every county in the country. The insane have rights
All of this will of course, be soon rectified by the accession to the throne in the minds of the left-oriented of Barack Hussein Obama, Jr. A saint, the man gave up British Citizenship to lead us out of the Bush Dark Ages. But first, his Education “Czar,” must teach fisting techniques to 5th graders.
Of course, after that speech in Norway, this POTUS geek is also liable to re-open the loonie-bins. Ya just never know.
Homer
For more evidence of the damage caused by Reagan, see post 2, above.
Post 2 is also a good example of a mind responding to self-generated information and a failure to integrate actual information into a cohesive assessment of what’s going on, as mentioned in the article above. Also, it’s always struck me as odd how many unstable Fox-News enthusiasts read articles on The Stranger website and then comment on them. Not that their opinions aren’t welcome, but it seems like an inordinate amount. Anyone know why that is?
two questions.
first, does ‘flat faces’ have a precise definition that i’m not aware of?
second, you seem to suggest that the mind’s response to self-generated information and misinterpretations of sensory data cause a “diminished ability to respond to the outside world.” can you elaborate on this relationship? you seem to suggest that it is a causal relationship, but i don’t understand why a few hallucinations would necessarily result in an inability to generate coherent thoughts.