Pro-Force Attitudes a Symptom of Post Traumatic Stress? | Mad In America

This is a really interesting article that focuses on E. Fuller Torrey and his current promotion of AOT otherwise known as forced community treatment. Its speculation but interesting. The idea is that he is experiencing something akin to post traumatic stress and its changed his outlook and interactions with patients etc. I honestly wonder if as a doctor whether you do get to the point where you have seen too much and the rare cases begin to set your opinions rather than the majority because they are so traumatizing.

Here in the US we believe in innocent until proven guilty for most but with mental illness there is a suspension of that where the mere thought is sufficient for confinement. Anytime we label people and then associate a particular behavior with that group(ie violence in this case) we are at risk of classifying people in a way that will result in rights restrictions. Yet you see police targeting minorities again and again. Its almost a self-fulfilling prophecy. You can only see what you are looking for and scrutinizing a group based on any characteristic will results in more observation of any act than in another group which is not so carefully monitored. I honestly wonder if there is any truth to the increase in violence seen with some mentally ill people or if it is due to the fact that they are less capable of hiding the things they've done both due to increased observation and perhaps a decreased capacity for self-preservation(ie lying or hiding what's been done). I don't know I mean for me I did have thoughts that were unreasonable when sick but it's not something I ever would have acted on however I was terribly afraid that I would based on media portrayals of what being psychotic was like.