Millions of Jareds walk amongst us.

[SoCalDem]

He grew from teen to man as an awkward, socially inept guy.. How many families have one of these..maybe more.


Failure affects people differently.

He failed at high school
He failed at community college
He apparently failed at personal friendships/dating
He failed at entering the military

He was 22, no job, living as a child in Mom & Dad's home.

Angry, depressed, delusional, paranoid


I'd bet that most DUers know someone right now, who would fit this basic profile.

His parents, probably in their 40's 50's apparently are of modest means.

So they have this "weird kid", who really isn't a "kid".

They are probably away from the home most of the time, working, and may only have small interactions with him. He will not be telling them of his deep-seated psychic problems.

They probably kept telling themselves that he would "grow out of it"... that someday, he would meet someone or find that perfect job & would turn his life around.

If they did suspect that he needed mental health care, could they afford the $150+ an hour for him to go? Would he even go? Would he take the meds?

As an adult, they could not commit him long-term.

People who do check themselves in, often feel "better" once the meds kick in, pronounce themselves cured, and check out...and then stop the meds.

Police don't arrest people before they commit a crime. Psychiatric hospitals do not accept patients without someone paying the bills.

There are people like Jared all over, in every town..ticking time bombs just waiting for something to set them off, and realistically, there is little we can do.

Imagine the uproar if the school system started requiring a psychological exam before a kid left school, or a college requiring one before a kid entered.

And what if an exam shows that care is needed? Who pays? How many families have an extra $1k a month for office visits and then even more once the maximum (10-30 visits usually, if on an insurance plan)

Pre-Reagan, (in CA) "odd people" were routinely put into institutions, and once he closed all the facilities, these people were all just pushed out onto the streets. They became the "odd" homeless people.

The school shooters/office shooters/ and now this one are not of that ilk, but their mental issues are the same.. untreated mental health problems...couple that with easy access to weapons & we are where we are.

[cali]

1. there are mental health services for the severely mentally ill in every state

and they are available regardless of one's ability to pay. The director of Arizona services said that even though they've suffered terrible cut backs, Loughner would have received services. Oh, and the days of institutions sucked.

[lonestarnot]

5. Who are you trying to kid.

:eyes:

[right2bfree]

9. No kidding. In our county they no long take indegents due to cut-backs. nt

[MadHound]

2. Wow, way to lump all the mentally ill into one category, and demonize them

There aren't millions of people out there who are wanting to kill their fellow humans. The mentally ill are no more likely to kill a person than you or I. We don't need to be committing somebody simply because we think they might, somehow, pose a threat.

Your lack of compassion, empathy and understanding for the mentally is quite disturbing. I suggest that you educate yourself in order to clear up your own misconceptions.

[EFerrari]

3. Mentally ill people are many times more likely to be victims of violent crimes

than to commit one.

[pacalo]

4. Yes! And only 15 minutes of a psychiatrist's time costs $80; an hour is $320.

[cali]

6. in every state- despite serious cutbacks- there are still services

for the mentally ill, such as this:

http://www.wcmhs.org/

[right2bfree]

10. Not in all counties. And you are assuming this man-boy knew he was mentally-ill. nt

[LARED]

7. If millions of Jared walked amoung us

there woulds be mass shootings on a regular basis.

[quaker bill]

8. They are not as unusual as you seem to think

though on most occasions, they are directed at family members, ex-girlfriends/wives and their new lovers, and such. I would argue with the "millions" figure, but probably not if it were stated "100s of thousands of potential Jareds".

[customerserviceguy]

11. Well, we certainly can't lock up

every kid whose girlfriend breaks up with him, that's for sure. We shove ritalin (or its equivalents) down the throats of as many boys as possible, but we don't have enough space or money to keep track of every loony toons kid who refuses a mental health exam.

This hasn't happened since Hinckley. I'm a bit surprised that it's taken three decades between incidents. There's been a lot of incendiary political talk out there in most all of that time.

[NNN0LHI]

12. I hardly ever see any skinheads around here

Like maybe never.

Don

[Odin2005]

13. The vast majority of Schizophrenics are NOT violent.

In fact, they are far more likely to be VICTIMS of violence.

And those institutions were horrible places of torture and abuse.