Psychs of the Times
Though people like me tend to downplay it, mental healthcare professionals do have cause to worry about aggression from their clients, if only because their client base is likely to be more volatile, or at least unpredictable, than, say, that of a dentist. This point was nicely made in an article in Psychiatric Times, the most widely read publication in the field of psychiatry. It's a journal I rarely read, but my psychiatrist lent me a copy because he thought I might be interested in some of its content. When I took it from him and started to read the cover story, I quickly realized that I was quoted in the cover story. I held it up and shook it. "Did you see this?" He hadn't. Nor had he seen the fact that he was also quoted in the story. Nor had he noticed that his father, also a psychiatrist, was mentioned. Oh, the incestuous world of psychiatric pundits.
That weirdness aside, the article by Richard A. Sherer is worth reading, and it's timely: A new report suggests that the 19-year-old who killed his psychiatrist is not criminally responsible for his actions, in part because he wasn't taking his medications. He is now competent to stand trial because he's on the meds again.
Violence Against Mental Health Professionals: Fenton Death Highlights Concerns
Report: Teen Not Criminally Responsible for Killing Psychiatrist
Comments
This was obviously a terrible tragedy - (what murder isn't?) - but whether or not this guy who killed his psychiatrist is ultimately held "criminally responsible", I think he will likely be incarcarated for a very long, long time. I remember after John Hinckley tried to kill Ronald Reagan, there was a huge public uproar because of his use of the "insanity defense", but look at how long he's ended up being incarcarated - has his punishment really been lighter than it would have been if he had received a regular criminal sentence?
One thing psychiatrists often do that puts them at greater risk than other medical professionals is to accept for treatment people who don't want to be treated. A lot of people would consider that in itself to be a violent act, and it sometimes provokes a violent response. Do people who voluntarily come seeking psychiatric treatment act out violently against their caregivers more than other kinds of patients? I don't think I've ever seen any statistics on that.
My experience has been that psychiatric patients are more likely to absorb violence from the people obstensibly treating them than are medical patients in general - simply because they have no recourse. And I think that people who are treated violently will ultimately be more likely to act violently, even if it's not right at the time when they were treated that way.
Everything I've read about Dr. Fink in your blog leads me to believe he's probably a pretty good psychiatrist, Liz, but one thing that he's quoted as saying in the article really caught my attention. He said: "Patients are impulsive. They can react negatively to a remark that you didn't think was terrible." I've noticed that a lot of regular people can be that way, too. Even people who aren't patients can react in surprisingly negative ways to remarks that the person saying them hadn't thought were all that terrible. (Once I made what I thought was a relatively innocent remark about George Bush using the word "internets", and my wealthy, right wing brother-in-law reacted in a way that seemed really unexpectedly negative to me).
I think that people in general can be volatile. I think that the powerful often feel entitled to treat those of lower social standing abusively, and they are surprised on those few occasions when they get a violent response - even if such a response might not be considered very surprising if it can from someone they considered to be their social equal.
Well, I know I've gone on a long time here. I hope that most of this makes sense.
Posted by: Kent | February 16, 2007 09:36 PM
Hi Liz,
I've linked your blog, I'm wondering if you'd link mine if you like it? It's about manic depression, but recent entry has a bit about criminality and schizophrenia.
It's at
http://thesecretlifeofmanicdepressive.wordpress.com
Posted by: Seaneen | February 17, 2007 12:10 AM