Taking Down David Brooks' Supposed Psychiatric Diagnostic Skills

[HuckleB]

"That guy must be crazy"
http://scienceblogs.com/webeasties/2011/01/that_guy_must_be_crazy.php

"New York Times columnist David Brooks wants to explain away the actions of Jared Loughner, the gunman that shot 20 people at a political event as the isolated actions of a deranged psycho ...

Never mind that there's not actually any evidence that Loughner was schizophrenic, and folks in the media like Brooks are woefully unqualified to make such claims based on a book list and a couple of youtube clips. It's easy to be convinced that Saturday's shooting spree was just the actions of a crazy person - it would be nice to be able to explain it away, and delude ourselves into thinking that if only we could lock schizophrenics up more easily, we'd all be safer.

But Vaughan Bell has a devastating critique of this sort of thinking in Slate, noting that the most complete scientific research on the effects of mental illness show very little increase in risk of violent behavior ...

We may never know what caused this young man to walk into a crowd and start shooting. But we should use it to have a serious conversation about violent political rhetoric. We should use it to have a serious conversation about gun control. We should even use it to have a serious conversation about mental illness. What we should not do is say, "Oh, he was crazy," and move on."


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The whole piece offers more context, as well as some good links on the matter.

[JonLP24]

1. k&r

:kick:

I really enjoyed this link.
http://www.slate.com/id/2280619/

[HuckleB]

2. Thanks. Yeah, that link is great! -eom -

[Supersedeas]

3. Wolf Blitzer had a "psychologist/attorney" unequivocally diagnose Laughner as a schizophrenic

yesterday. Guy's name was Alan Lipman.

BLITZER: Is that a paranoid schizophrenic, or is there a difference?

LIPMAN: Well, formal thought disorder is present in all forms of schizophrenia. But the next feature which is very clear is a part of paranoid schizophrenia. And it's very important to the shooting that occurred. And that is delusions.

Delusions are false beliefs that are bizarre. If you look at his writings, which, as we've seen in Secret Service reports about such shootings, writings are very valuable indicators of state of mind, Loughner stated that he believed that his mind was being controlled. He stated that he believed that the government was listening in on him. Again, textbook demonstrations of delusions of persecution --

BLITZER: So these are signs we should be looking for in individuals like this?

LIPMAN: If you see these writings, they are clear indicators that this person has a very high probability of suffering from a psychotic illness.

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1101/11/sitroom.01.html


Now, how did Lipman get access to Secret Service Reports this early into the investigation. Just three days, and CNN has a psycologist/doctor with a diagnosis and access to Secret Service files.



Bizarre.

[HuckleB]

12. It doesn't say he had access to any Secret Service Reports...

This is bad journalism, and bad practice.

[Supersedeas]

16. Nice catch--it is hard to decipher what writing the good "doctor" is referring to

Without ever examining the patient, the good doctor...three days into the investigation...seems pretty confident in his diagnosis from the studios of the Situation Room.

[HuckleB]

17. It's one bizarre world we've created for ourselves. -eom-

[RainDog]

4. k and r n/t

[Cetacea]

5. He's not the only one.

There is just as much scapegoating coming from the left.

[HuckleB]

6. What do you mean by scapegoating, in this context?

[Cetacea]

8. By making mental illness out to be the villian

Suddenly every one except the experts is an expert on mental illness and violent, criminal behavior. This would be a great time for a national discourse on the fact that the relationship between the two is no greater than it is in the normal population.

When the left does try to pin some of the blame on Palin and other hate-wingers the dialogue goes right to blaming mental illness. And from what I've witnessed so far, people from the left go right along with it. As usual.

[HuckleB]

9. Got it.

Thanks.

:hi:

[Supersedeas]

7. you will probably need to flesh that out a bit.

[gratuitous]

10. I understand Loughner has invoked his constitutional rights

Which, in this context, sounds pretty sane to me.

[HuckleB]

14. Indeed. -eom-

[saras]

11. The other problem

The other problem with just labeling him 'crazy' is that except for the shooting itself, all of the 'evidence' of his 'craziness' would require us to find a quarter of the entire nation equally as 'crazy'. And obviously you can't wait until someone shoots someone to diagnose mental illness.

The article was great, but the quality of responses to it was rather depressing.

[HuckleB]

13. Diagnosing Arizona: the quest for the mind of Jared Lee Loughner

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/the-lay-scientist/2011/jan/10/jared-lee-loughner

Of course, the question of diagnosis does not exist in a vacuum. Whether or not he has a diagnosis is a legitimate question. However, the answer to that question does not negate the great possibility that he was influenced by violent rhetoric from the right wing.

[DCKit]

15. I watched Brooks very carefully last night on "The Newshour".

I was not disappointed in his performance. He delivered exactly what I expected - a dump-truck of BS.

[HuckleB]

19. +1

[HuckleB]

18. Whatever Happened to Loughner's Language Problem?

http://www.slate.com/BLOGS/blogs/weigel/archive/2011/01/10/whatever-happened-to-loughner-s-language-problem.aspx