toldailytopic: Should being diagnosed insane excuse capital punishment?

kmoney

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The TheologyOnline.com TOPIC OF THE DAY for November 29th, 2011 09:31 AM


toldailytopic: Should being diagnosed insane excuse capital punishment?


I would say yes. The trouble is in the diagnosis. Insanity can be faked. Doctors can be manipulated.
 

Random

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Never heard anything like that. The people with Catatonic-Type I've met in the hospitals spend their days sitting stiff, only repeating what others have said to them. One woman with it suddenly got up and began walking "on all fours" and barked like a dog for roughly 10 minutes. They are very dangerous to themselves as they often won't eat or drink anything.

I don't want to go off on a discourse on the types of schizophrenia since that's not what this thread is about. But I have heard of the ones who are violent from people I know who are psychologist or studying to be. It's why they are to be approached with extreme caution. Even says it in the medical textbook that my friend showed me the other day.

Anywho, it does not matter if a person is mentally ill or has some kind of disorder. We as human beings still have a sense of what's right and wrong. If I hypothetically had some illness that compelled me to harm others, I would want to be taken out so no one has to suffer because of my actions. My sense of right and wrong tells me that it's wrong to harm people. Thus if I can't help myself, the right thing to do would be to end it so I can go before my Lord and say I did the right thing. This is of course all hypothetical, but it's what I would do if I couldn't control my desires. The whole insanity plea is a joke that murders use to keep from frying. They know they did wrong and don't care. It needs to be done away with.
 

Coffee is King

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I don't want to go off on a discourse on the types of schizophrenia since that's not what this thread is about. But I have heard of the ones who are violent from people I know who are psychologist or studying to be. It's why they are to be approached with extreme caution. Even says it in the medical textbook that my friend showed me the other day.
I'll have to read more on it. Obviously, I know more about Disorganized-Type than I do the others. Thank you for giving me a topic to research.
Anywho, it does not matter if a person is mentally ill or has some kind of disorder. We as human beings still have a sense of what's right and wrong. If I hypothetically had some illness that compelled me to harm others, I would want to be taken out so no one has to suffer because of my actions. My sense of right and wrong tells me that it's wrong to harm people. Thus if I can't help myself, the right thing to do would be to end it so I can go before my Lord and say I did the right thing. This is of course all hypothetical, but it's what I would do if I couldn't control my desires. The whole insanity plea is a joke that murders use to keep from frying. They no they did wrong and don't care. It needs to be done away with.
Good show. :up:
 

Thunder's Muse

Well-known member
I don't want to go off on a discourse on the types of schizophrenia since that's not what this thread is about. But I have heard of the ones who are violent from people I know who are psychologist or studying to be. It's why they are to be approached with extreme caution. Even says it in the medical textbook that my friend showed me the other day.

Anywho, it does not matter if a person is mentally ill or has some kind of disorder. We as human beings still have a sense of what's right and wrong. If I hypothetically had some illness that compelled me to harm others, I would want to be taken out so no one has to suffer because of my actions. My sense of right and wrong tells me that it's wrong to harm people. Thus if I can't help myself, the right thing to do would be to end it so I can go before my Lord and say I did the right thing. This is of course all hypothetical, but it's what I would do if I couldn't control my desires. The whole insanity plea is a joke that murders use to keep from frying. They know they did wrong and don't care. It needs to be done away with.



Is a person who is that ill capable of seeking help?

I agree that the insanity plea get's thrown around a lot. Thankfully, it doesn't fly much here in Australia.
 

Coffee is King

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You mean the symptoms that are diagnosed as such?

There are many symptoms for the different types of Schizophrenia, it all depends on which are more prominent. My prominent symptoms are disorganized speech (needlessly rhyming, making up words [neologisms], jumping from topic to topic, and overall speaking incorrectly), disorganized dress (wearing a shirt and tie with sweat pants or a shorts and shirtless in December), and disorganized emotions (no emotion, wrong emotions, monotone voice). I do have hallucinations and delusions (though they aren't well formed), but these are not my prominent symptoms. There is more than one type of schizophrenia.
 

Coffee is King

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I agree that the insanity plea get's thrown around a lot. Thankfully, it doesn't fly much here in Australia.

Here in Arizona, we don't have not guilty by reason of insanity, but we do have guilty by reason of insanity. It can mean the difference between the wonder drug (lethal injection) or life in the state hospital.
 

ghost

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There are many symptoms for the different types of Schizophrenia, it all depends on which are more prominent. My prominent symptoms are disorganized speech (needlessly rhyming, making up words [neologisms], jumping from topic to topic, and overall speaking incorrectly), disorganized dress (wearing a shirt and tie with sweat pants or a shorts and shirtless in December), and disorganized emotions (no emotion, wrong emotions, monotone voice). I do have hallucinations and delusions (though they aren't well formed), but these are not my prominent symptoms. There is more than one type of schizophrenia.
So what you want to really know is, why do people have:

Disorganized speech
Jumping from topic to topic :chuckle: (that's funny considering where we are talking about it).
Disorganized dress
Disorganized emotions
Hallucinations
Delusions

Is that correct?
 

Thunder's Muse

Well-known member
Here in Arizona, we don't have not guilty by reason of insanity, but we do have guilty by reason of insanity. It can mean the difference between the wonder drug (lethal injection) or life in the state hospital.



It just seems like such a fine line, doesn't it? We can only hope that they have really good psychiatrists making the decision, huh?
 

Coffee is King

New member
So what you want to really know is, why do people have:

Disorganized speech
Jumping from topic to topic :chuckle: (that's funny considering where we are talking about it).
Disorganized dress
Disorganized emotions
Hallucinations
Delusions

Is that correct?
Yes, I'm wondering what your take on it is.
 

Coffee is King

New member
It just seems like such a fine line, doesn't it? We can only hope that they have really good psychiatrists making the decision, huh?

We aren't known for honoring it too often. This is still the wild west, and many a bad guy used to wind up dangling from telegraph poles. Even now, in this huge city, it's not uncommon for groups of citizens to form a posse and prowl the neighborhood looking for a rapist or child molester. People in Arizona demand swift justice from her wrongdoers.
 

ghost

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Yes, I'm wondering what your take on it is.
Why don't we first see what the profession that claims it is an "illness" has to say...

Etiology

Many theories have been introduced in an attempt to explain this disorder. Currently, most professionals believe it is a result of a physiological condition brought out by a life stressor.

Source

Notice that there is no real organic causation defined. Do you know why that is? Because there is no organic causation, which you need to have in order for it to be defined as an illness.

What biological tests did they do on you to determine that you have this so-called "illness"?
 

Quincy

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Also, as far as I understand it, actual insanity is also quite rare and very different from a mental illness. Being schizophrenic is not the same as being insane.

I agree. From my experience, maniacs tend to be uncontrollable and not suffering from the same symptoms. They can often appear to be normal people, until the right stimulus comes around. It takes a great deal of studying these terms and definitions to begin to understand them. I just know them on a cursory basis because I had to do quite a bit of therapy during the last decade, so I can relate to Coffee and what you have shared with us in the past.

As I've briefly mentioned on here in passing before, I'm hypomanic, which is like the opposite of depression. Some people say that is an advantage because you don't sleep but 4 or 5 hours a day, and you are highly driven. Those people either don't have it or they don't understand that they are prone to having a disconnected view of theirself though. We tend to think of ourselves as perfect and beyond reproach, far too optimistic. Just as an example, when I was about 8 or so, I saw my first rattlesnake. I knew it was poisonous but I wanted to play with it. So, I took off running to try and grab it, I didn't think anything bad would happen to me because it was me. My grandfather stopped me though :chuckle: .

I'm blessed in some ways though. I rarely get sad and never get angry. I've been taught that as long as I avoid caffeine, sugar, dance/disco/funk music and other types of stimulates I operate normal. I still only sleep about 5 hours a day (though I don't drink anything but water and I work 10 hour days), give or take and I sometimes get a little too giddy and get all Joker-esque on people. Some of that may seem positive but when you work 10 hours straight physical labor and realize you forgot to take a lunch or break because you never felt tired, you realize you messed up once your body starts to break down. The big difference is someone who is criminally insane would never be able to understand these things about theirself, to know they have a problem and how to control it.
 

ghost

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Biological, just a blood draw. I did have a CT scan, and I do have a loss a gray matter and enlarged ventricles. This is common with schizophrenia.
Your "doctor" told you that you have "schizophrenia" based on a blood draw and a CT scan showing a "loss in gray matter" and "enlarged ventricles"?

When did they make this "diagnosis" before or after they had placed you on medication?

Tell the truth.

Had you at anytime prior to this so called "diagnosis" had any exposure to any drugs?
 

Coffee is King

New member
Your "doctor" told you that you have "schizophrenia" based on a blood draw and a CT scan showing a "loss in gray matter" and "enlarged ventricles"?
No, those are just common in the ilness. He based it off of my symptoms.
When did they make this "diagnosis" before or after they had placed you on medication?

Tell the truth.
Before.
Had you at anytime prior to this so called "diagnosis" had any exposure to any drugs?
No, swear to God. I've never smoked pot even and I've never even been drunk before. I am a teetotaler http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teetotalism. I was diagnosed at age 16, symptoms started around age 12-13.
 
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