New Hope For Those Who Would Kill: Counseling

There's hope for those who would be violent.  Thomas Insel, the U.S. mental health chief, said yesterday that the risk of violent behavior "drops 15-fold for people who receive treatment for psychosis," compared to those who do not, according to a story at Healthwatch, THE HILL'S healthcare blog.

How do we get them into treatment before they commit a crime, though?  Those with mental illness are notoriously resistant to treatment and even Adam Lanza, who massacred 20 beautiful children in Newtown last month, was reportedly angry that his mother was about to commit him, and that's why he went on his murderous rampage.

No one will ever know for sure, and Insel is not saying treatment would have helped Lanza, or prevented the tragedy, but, according to the story, the risk of potential violence multiplies the longer psychosis goes untreated.

The scary truth is that one in five people in this country suffer from mental illness.  Not all of it is psychosis, of course -- there's depression and other similar illnesses in there, too.  But that leaves a lot of room for people like Adam Lanza, who maybe could be rescued before they commit the unthinkable.










http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch/mental-health/279107-us-mental-health-chief-says-treatment-cuts-the-risk-of-violence#ixzz2IxGzToQ0

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