Anurag Chandra, 45, followed “doorbell ditch” pranksters who were in a Toyota Prius that ultimately went off a road. Three of six teens in the car died.
Anurag Chandra, 45, followed “doorbell ditch” pranksters who were in a Toyota Prius that ultimately went off a road. Three of six teens in the car died.
So tired of seeing this bullshit perpetuated everywhere… Stop villainizing and perpetuating this stigma against mental illness… Mental illness does not make people violent!
Mental illness did not cause this man to murder these kids… The atmosphere of pervasive fear and reactive violence against someone ringing a doorbell, delivering food to the wrong address, etc. leads to a disproportionate response of violence. It’s that a portion of the population has been spoon-fed propaganda and are ready, willing, and eager to kill others in defending themselves from an imagined threat to their life, culture, freedoms, religion, etc.
We are at this point because of systemic problems within our society, politics, news outlets, and social media. This is not a mental illness issue. This is a cultural and societal problem, driven by misinformation, corruption, and political extremism.
Edit: Want to clarify that this isn’t all addressed at you OP. I came out the gates swinging, but I’m addressing more the common arguments that perpetuate this stigma, not accusing you of sharing these beliefs.
I think it is fairly obvious that the murderer in this story would have benefited greatly from a therapist of some kind, for anger management at the very least.
Every human being alive would benefit from therapy. But that in and of itself is not a diagnostic criterion nor does it mean someone has a mental illness.
Furthermore, the existence of a mental illness in an individual who commits a violent act does not by any means dictate that their mental illness itself can be attributed as the cause.
I think you and others are getting hung up on the fact that this individual was not acting rationally and clearly had unhealthy (likely some delusional) beliefs. But that is due to an indoctrination into that conspiratorial mindset with expectations of persecution and violence and feeling justified in ‘defending’ themselves.
You can argue that this man clearly had dysfunctional thinking and I would agree with you. But this dysfunctional thinking is caused by misinformation (Fox, OAN, Newsmax) and echo-chamers on social media that rile these individuals and put them in a perpetual state of feeling like their ideals, culture, and safety are being threatened.
The misinformation in media, lies of corrupt politicians, and toxic delusional echo-chamers are the causes directly responsible for the culture we live in right now, not mental illness. And that is what it has become; a culture of extremism. Not mental illness.
This is similar to how people try to blame mass shooters on the big bad “mental illness” when there are so many actually relevant factors in play, including the media’s role itself in inspiring others thru eternalizing (and thin their minds enshrining) the mass murderers with their news coverage, plastering their names and pictures everywhere.
You can acknowledge someone is mentally unwell, but that does not mean that they acted the way they did due to mental illness. One problem I believe perpetuates the myth that mentally ill individuals are violent is the comorbidity of mental illness and substance use. Unlike mental illness, substance use is a predictor of violent/aggressive behavior… Substance use also exacerbates symptoms of mental illness. So when someone sees a homeless person who’s obviously mentally ill acting aggressively, they often think it’s the individual’s mental illness causing the aberrant behavior. But in reality, the substance use is actually what is responsible for the violent behavior as well as the exacerbated symptoms of the individual’s mental illness.
Ah, so therapy for otherwise “normal” people won’t help anyone?
Mental Healthcare isn’t just for people with “serious mental illness”.
I don’t know what you’re trying to get at with that ridiculous question… I never said anything of the sort.
And I know mental healthcare is not just for severe mental illness. I have formal education and years of experience in this field.
deleted by creator
I would argue it was clearly implied by the original commenter. And not all my points were directed at OP himself, but the talking points I see constantly perpetuate this myth. I probably should have made that more clear…
This is just a major sore spot/pet peeve of mine, and I’ve worked so much with the population this myth affects. There is still such a stigma against mental illness (although we’ve come leaps and bounds over the last 20 years) and I feel compelled to try to combat it when I see it. I’ve seen repeatedly firsthand how stigma affects this population, and the things my clients would tell me were heartbreaking…
deleted by creator
Agreed, and that’s certainly how I read OP’s comment.
Im OP- that is exactly what I was saying.
Everyone will need a therapist at some point in their life for one reason or another and right now it costs way too much or carry’s too much of a stigma for people to consider it.
If people don’t find ways to adequately deal with their negative feelings they act out. Sometimes I horrific ways.