Unintended Consequences

When my first son was born I wanted to have him circumcised. My wife's doctor, a female GP from England was dead set against that. She didn't really have a reason other than she, presumably backed up by some data or inclination coming from within the medical community at the time, felt it was unnecessary and perhaps even barbaric. We argued strenuously and I prevailed. When the deed was done she made a point of coming into my wife's room and dispensing significant guilt. Over the years, there have been controversies about snipping. Government, seeing division in the ranks and having some medical opinion to back them up, decided that they could defray some of the growing medical costs by making this particular operation 'parents of user', pay. Today AIDS is one of the most devastating and expensive health concerns in the world. A recent study revealed that just being circumcised reduced the incidence of contracting this killer disease by at least fifty, that's right 50 percent.

When I was a child it seemed every other kid had his or her tonsils removed, often along with the adenoids. In the last generation, however, there was a collective steering away from these operations partly because they were deemed to be not as necessary as previously thought but also because newer medications to reduce the swelling and pain of tonsillitis were less expensive than surgery. In the past several years there has been awareness that ADHD (Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity) is becoming more prominent and is destroying children's ability to get a normal education and lead a “normal existence”. Reasons were unclear and many treatments have been espoused to fix the disease. I see now there is evidence that removal of tonsils has reversed and eliminated ADHD for some people. It seems there is a correlation between sleep disorders and ADHD and also an identification that enlarged tonsils interfere with breathing and so cause sleep disorders. Once the tonsils come out the ADHD is gone and recovery to normal function is back in a year.

Two weeks ago there was a police incident near my home. A two year old child was killed. Her father is charged with the murder. During the media frenzy that followed information was divulged that the father was being treated for depression. Our office was phoned for a media comment. Some staff believed that depression couldn't be a contributing factor in murder. A contributing factor in suicide yes, and it was possible that another “yet to be diagnosed” mental illness could bear some responsibility, but not depression. I'm not convinced.

I know the mental health community has rushed to defend sufferers of mental illness from the scare campaign associated with the speculation that all mentally ill people are capable of such atrocities…and rightly so. That kind of generalization is fear mongering, born of ignorance. We do accept suicide is an extension of depression and we have even accepted that murder-suicide has been committed by depressed people. After the murder a change of heart, remorse, revulsion, even an interruption or a desire to be punished could delay or halt completion of this process. Also, in the construct of depression there is a symptomatic anger. Where there is anger there is the potential for violence; and triggers are nebulous at the very least. The most serious depression can involve psychosis. Psychosis has been blamed for many violent deaths and is recognized as part of a defense for murder. The bottom line is we can't say for sure that depression can't spur that kind of violence and we shouldn't. This is one reason why.

We avoid blaming murder on depression and even other mental illness because we want to prevent hysterical prejudice and retribution. As long as we keep denying the possibility of depression as a possible cause we actually add to the myth of violence. By selectively excluding violence as a characteristic of depression we're saying we know categorically that this segment of the mentally ill population is harmless. It's only the others who pose a risk. The sad fact is we “know” almost nothing about what mental illness is or is not.

And that being the case we can encourage people who are “outraged by such senseless acts of violence” to ponder the question, “Is this kind of act something that could have been prevented?” Do we have to accept that unimaginable evil lives in some of us and we can do nothing or is this a part of a disease? If there were proper treatments would more people be alive to realize their potential? And then, instead of looking for scapegoats to throw in jails that are already our largest mental hospitals, we can look for treatments with the same zeal.

Many AIDS and ADHD sufferers have a right to demand answers as to why they became victims of expediency. I think we should open our minds to the possibility we are part of a similar problem. If we do then a two year old baby and the others like her will be part of a solution and not just unintended and unrecognized victims. It's the least they deserve.

Note: After this writing one of our members fell victim to murder. Many more mentally ill people are statistically likely to be victims of violence than are members of the general public. He was incarcerated in prison at the time where as many as 90% of all offenders have a lifetime diagnosis of mental illness. It's probable his murderer also has a mental illness. Are these two more unintended victims? When and where will it stop?