The Arizona massacre highlighted the age-old issue of violence and the mentally ill. We see things like this: Lawmakers call for hearings, help for the mentally ill after Giffords shooting.
I do not wish to go over old ground here, about which I have posted at length in the remote past in the wake of other similar situations, but I can assert a few basic facts:
1. Dangerously ill people rarely seek help, want help, or cooperate with help. There is no shortage of "help" out there. Paranoid people, especially, distrust and avoid any forms of help. It is often said that those most desperately in need of help cannot recognize their need - or most fear what they might find out about themselves.
2. Just being delusional does not get you hospitalized, and getting hospitalized does not necessarily mean you will get help that you want to use. Lots of people are quietly psychotic out there in the world. At least 1% of the population, probably.
3. The ability of Psychiatrists to predict violent behavior, or self-harm, is approximately zero. That is because the incidence is so low. We usually just hedge our bets, and take our chances with the judiciary. If a court lets them go, nothing we can do. It's a free country, including free to be nuts. In Russia, Cuba, or China, they just mysteriously disappear. One of the prices of freedom is messiness. In authoritarian nations, the government provides the messes, behind the scenes.
