Members of the U.S. Congress Who Have Died

Nmysys, my friend, no I do not.

Nor do I condone the posts by another that I am honored to call friend, RT.

Honestly, what I've been seeing, in general, makes me despair that we will pull together as a country and solve our problems when we seem so divided. When an incident like this is jumped on and used for personal agendas, rather than positively as a collective group, to make changes for good, it does not bode well for the health of a nation, IMO.

SS109, I don't deny that at times in the past actions were much more violent, and more widely accepted. What has changed today is that information is much more widely disseminated, and more quickly, without filters. Mass media gives politicians and special interest groups a voice that is unparalleled in its reach compared to yesteryear. As Margaret Mead put it, "Thanks to television, for the first time the young are seeing history made before it is censored by their elders." This is good, except when we become so obsessed with having all the answers immediately, before full investigation and due process of law, that we start blaming groups prematurely and passing judgments that are ill-informed. What we've seen of this young man's small select You Tube videos, MySpace postings, and personal opinions of a few people who knew him does not constitute the full picture. What we do know is that he shot a public servant in the head from behind severely wounding her, killed a judge, and 4 others, including a child. I don't need, or care, to know anything more about his beliefs, political affiliations, relationship with his parents, or how he was treated by his girlfriend - he needs to be tried in a court of law and duly punished when found guilty. Period, end of story. And I'd like for our leaders of all flavors to stand up and forcefully condemn this action, and pledge to be more responsible with their words; for they have power.

PrintSmith wrote: And while that may indeed be true SC, I would say that most people who are prone to violence are mentally unstable. I don't care whether that person is a Unabomber, one who engages in domestic violence, a member of a street gang, the leader of a violent drug cartel, one who engages in political assassination, people who steal at the point of a weapon, people who fly off the handle when someone cuts them off in traffic, people who feel they are "owed" something by their government or by society - all of them are mentally unstable to one degree or another.

This gunman was told he could not return to college until he had been evaluated by a mental health professional and they were given assurances that he wouldn't be a danger to himself or others. His actions may be equally attributable to the isolation resulting from technology as they are attributable to the inflammatory/violent polarizing political discourse, but that won't stop the progressives from availing themselves of the opportunity presented by a current crisis to seize control of said opportunity to advance their political agenda. You can't let a good crisis to to waste after all, even if the current crisis has no bearing on the agenda you wish to advance.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41002034/ns/slatecom/
'Mental illness' not an explanation for violence
By Vaughn Bell
Slate.com updated 1/10/2011

Seena Fazel is an Oxford University psychiatrist who has led the most extensive scientific studies to date of the links between violence and two of the most serious psychiatric diagnoses—schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, either of which can lead to delusions, hallucinations, or some other loss of contact with reality. Rather than looking at individual cases, or even single studies, Fazel's team analyzed all the scientific findings they could find. As a result, they can say with confidence that psychiatric diagnoses tell us next to nothing about someone's propensity or motive for violence.

The fact that mental illness is so often used to explain violent acts despite the evidence to the contrary almost certainly flows from how such cases are handled in the media. Numerous studies show that crimes by people with psychiatric problems are over-reported, usually with gross inaccuracies that give a false impression of risk. With this constant misrepresentation, it's not surprising that the public sees mental illness as an easy explanation for heartbreaking events. We haven't yet learned all the details of the tragic shooting in Arizona, but I suspect mental illness will be falsely accused many times over.

Go to this site http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed and search for Seena Fazel - you'll get all 53 articles that she's co-authored if you want to see more.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19668362
PLoS Med. 2009 Aug;6(8):e1000120. Epub 2009 Aug 11.
Schizophrenia and violence: systematic review and meta-analysis.
Fazel S, Gulati G, Linsell L, Geddes JR, Grann M.

CONCLUSIONS: Schizophrenia and other psychoses are associated with violence and violent offending, particularly homicide. However, most of the excess risk appears to be mediated by substance abuse comorbidity. The risk in these patients with comorbidity is similar to that for substance abuse without psychosis. Public health strategies for violence reduction could consider focusing on the primary and secondary prevention of substance abuse.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16877653
Am J Psychiatry. 2006 Aug;163(8):1397-403.
The population impact of severe mental illness on violent crime.
Fazel S, Grann M.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to determine the population impact of patients with severe mental illness on violent crime.

METHOD: Sweden possesses high-quality national registers for all hospital admissions and criminal convictions. All individuals discharged from the hospital with ICD diagnoses of schizophrenia and other psychoses (N=98,082) were linked to the crime register to determine the population-attributable risk of patients with severe mental illness to violent crime. The attributable risk was calculated by gender, three age bands (15-24, 25-39, and 40 years and over), and offense type.

RESULTS: Over a 13-year period, there were 45 violent crimes committed per 1,000 inhabitants. Of these, 2.4 were attributable to patients with severe mental illness. This corresponds to a population-attributable risk fraction of 5.2%. This attributable risk fraction was higher in women than men across all age bands. In women ages 25-39, it was 14.0%, and in women over 40, it was 19.0%. The attributable risk fractions were lowest in those ages 15-24 (2.3% for male patients and 2.9% for female patients).

CONCLUSIONS: The population impact of patients with severe mental illness on violent crime, estimated by calculating the population-attributable risk, varies by gender and age. Overall, the population-attributable risk fraction of patients was 5%, suggesting that patients with severe mental illness commit one in 20 violent crimes.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11867106
Lancet. 2002 Feb 16;359(9306):545-50.
Serious mental disorder in 23000 prisoners: a systematic review of 62 surveys.
Fazel S, Danesh J.

BACKGROUND: About 9 million people are imprisoned worldwide, but the number with serious mental disorders (psychosis, major depression, and antisocial personality disorder) is unknown. We did a systematic review of surveys on such disorders in general prison populations in western countries.

METHODS: We searched for psychiatric surveys that were based on interviews of unselected prison populations and included diagnoses of psychotic illnesses or major depression within the previous 6 months, or a history of any personality disorder. We did computer-assisted searches, scanned reference lists, searched journals, and corresponded with authors. We determined prevalence rates of serious mental disorders, sex, type of prisoner (detainee or sentenced inmate), and other characteristics.

FINDINGS: 62 surveys from 12 countries included 22790 prisoners (mean age 29 years, 18530 [81%] men, 2568 [26%] of 9776 were violent offenders). 3.7% of men (95% CI 3.3--4.1) had psychotic illnesses, 10% (9--11) major depression, and 65% (61--68) a personality disorder, including 47% (46--48) with antisocial personality disorder. 4.0% of women (3.2--5.1) had psychotic illnesses, 12% (11--14) major depression, and 42% (38--45) a personality disorder, including 21% (19--23) with antisocial personality disorder. Although there was substantial heterogeneity among studies (especially for antisocial personality disorder), only a small proportion was explained by differences in prevalence rates between detainees and sentenced inmates. Prisoners were several times more likely to have psychosis and major depression, and about ten times more likely to have antisocial personality disorder, than the general population.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9196922
Psychiatr Clin North Am. 1997 Jun;20(2):405-25.
Violence and homicidal behaviors in psychiatric disorders.
Asnis GM, Kaplan ML, Hundorfean G, Saeed W.

The presence of substance abuse and dependence and alcohol abuse and dependence as well as antisocial personality disorder are particularly associated with an increased risk of violent/homicidal behaviors. The risk for these latter behaviors in schizophrenia, mood disorders, and anxiety disorders may appear somewhat greater than that for a general population but are not of the same magnitude of that for substance abuse or antisocial personality disorder. Interestingly, our outpatient study found that homicidal behaviors were not associated with any specific psychiatric diagnosis. Although understanding whether specific psychiatric diagnostic categories are more prone to violent behaviors may be of importance, most studies have been shortsighted regarding this evaluation. Studies must continue to try to define and understand the relationship of violent/homicidal behaviors in mental illness.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20004282
Encephale. 2009 Dec;35(6):521-30.
[Risk of homicide and major mental disorders: a critical review].