Congressional hearing on violence and severe mental illness

Violence, pachy, not orneryness They have a Congressional committee hearing on orneryness and I'm there!

But I certainly have had violent feelings -- I suspect for similar reasons as those who act on them. There but for the grace of God... I am thankful I never acted on any of mine in a particularly violent way. Frankly, I was too scared of the consequences.

And thereby hangs the difference between us and the severely mentally ill, we see and/or consider consequences.

I think mine was pretty severe.

What mental illnesses lead to this kind of violence? As far as I know I have never heard an official diagnosis of Adam Lanza for example, what doctor has come forward and I have not heard if he was ever treated. I don't remember any official diagnoses of the shooters in Columbine either. Do we even have an official diagnosis of any of these shooters?

Well, see, I don't think "fear of consequence" is what defines mental illness, severe or otherwise. In fact, one could point out that psycho/sociopaths feel no remorse and are apathetic towards consequences. On the flip side, someone with severe anxiety and cognitive issues to the point of nonfunctional (severely mentally ill by certain definitions) are often too worried about the consequences of everything.

And if you really want to deal with the whole mental health thing, the greatest violence ever committed on American soil wasn't by crazy people.

"And if you really want to deal with the whole mental health thing, the greatest violence ever committed on American soil wasn't by crazy people." quote TheDragon

I have to say that I was thinking the same thing when reading through this thread Dragon.

Untreated mental illness leads to this type of violence in some people, as I mentioned, untreated or undiagnosed, or people who require medication to maintain a balance in society and quit taking it AMA. This is not the "average" unwell person...and we need to guard against allowing them to take away handguns from "everyone and anyone" with any unwellness.

What I've heard (and no, I don't believe everything I hear) Lanza had a sensory integration disorder, and at the time of the violence he had been suspended or expelled from school and his mother was going to have him committed...or at least that he feared she was... and that she loved the school and students more than him.