what is thought of those who are physically incapable of distinguishing reality from the imaginary (audio/visual hallucinations), such as is the case in schizophrenia or other psychotic disorders? Some have said that all murderers should be executed "like...vermin" but what of those who, for one reason or another, are not being treated for such a problem? Is it not then our responsibility to try and help them rather than dispose of them?
The standard, as I understand it, is that if a person is a danger to society, or themselves, they should be confined and treated.
If a person that has committed a brutal murder is found to have a history of severe psychotic disorders that led to those murders then they should be confined and never released. If Therapist could positively prove that the individual would never be a harm to society again then society might consider their release. My experience is that psychology as a science and profession is not that advanced and has a very long way to go before they are capable of making a judgment of that nature.
In truth, severe cases like that of the little girl you describe cannot "easily be helped with medication and therapy". The impact and effect of most chemicals prescribed for most of these severe patients is no where near fully understood and many of the drugs prescribed have very serious side effects, some of which cause serious problems both related and unrelated to the condition which they are meant to treat.
Doctors don't know near as much as they like us to think they do. Big Pharma focuses on designing drugs that can be patented, not drugs that cure. Some of the drugs they sell perform barely better than the placebo they test it against in clinical studies.
Just 25 short years ago doctors of all walks refused to acknowledge that Post Partum Depression could lead to severe Psychosis. One result of this is that almost no research on this was done previous to that. That means the body of science used to base treatment on now is only 25 years old and there is very little of that even now. How many years did women suffer because doctors refused to consider the symptoms and their relation to child birth a valid medical diagnoses.
Still today, St. John's Wort is barely being supported as a treatment for depression even though clinical studies show it to be as effective as Paxil while exhibiting none of the ill side effects of Paxil which can include an increase in suicidal tendencies.
It would be nice if a pill a day really could cure psychotic disorders, but humans, it turns out, are quite complex and the knowledge about how they work is still pretty rudimentary and our means of acquiring it crude and wasteful.
--
Bill
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