Arizona Congresswoman Shot in the Head at Public Event

[Skybird]

There is no sense to generalise all mentally ill people.

There needs to be made a weighing of the individual'S freedom, and the right of the community to be protected. None of the two may automatically dominate over the other, no matter what.

Schizophrenia is not like schizophrenia. While not all schizophrenic people are dangerous, schizophrenia of certain types and grades can make you a dangerous person - to yourself, and to others as well.

Other psychiatric syndroms, manic people for example or anancastic ones, need assistance, sometimes even protection from themselves, in order to not let them ruining themselves, financially for example. This would not only effect themselves, maybe, but also their families, and children, if there are any. It also effects the community because it would need to pay for the damage or later needed social wellfare, possibly.

So, again: the rights and freedom of the - sane or insane - individual do not automatically rule over the interest of the community, nor shall the interests of the community automatically rule over the interests of the individual. A reasonable balance needs to be found. Total freedom there is for none of both, and nercessarily never can be (as long as you have no anarchy, than your relative level of freedom gets decided by your relative strength compared to that of others). Chance for abuse is there - regarding both possible parties. A legal framework is needed to mark the basic structure of the balancing act - a closer assessement of the individual case and its typical characteristics is inevitable as well.

Generalisations on psychiatric drugs, also makes little sense. They have gone a long way since the 50s, some are not good, others are extremely good, and it always depends on in what context they are being used. It is amazing that by swallowing a well-chosen medicine, you possibly still can get a very differentiated, psychologic/neurologic reaction that the patient under best circumstances does not even obviously notices, assuming he suffers by something that can be treated. There are good drugs. There are bad drugs. And often, the good ones cost more money as long as their patents are still valid.

King Otto,
sorry to hear that. Don't lose your courage. I wish you a good delay! Be careful with those Benzos.