I have a problem with Lukin

oftenreading said:

whispering hands said:

oftenreading said:

Do we even know if the stalker had a mental illness or is that just supposition? Not every stalker does; in fact, a significant proportion do not. I don't know enough about the details of the stalking, and would be wary of believing media reports or "diagnoses" anyway. I like what PJ_Soul has said about seeing the focus of the song more on finding a safe harbour with friends, rather than on demonizing the mentally ill.

And on a related topic, I really have a problem with the current media practice of assuming that everyone who commits a public violent act must have a mental illness. I think unfortunately the media is guiding public opinion back to a time when the assumption was that the mentally ill are unpredictable and dangerous. By far the majority of violence is committed by people without mental illness, and those with serious mental illness are far more likely to be victims of violence than perpetrators. Even in instances where someone has committed violence and has a mental illness we shouldn't assume the mental illness is to blame; it may be an unrelated co-occurrence.

Usually in these situations someone says "well, they must be crazy to act like that". Its actually a lot more nuanced than that.

Yes, it was reported that she was Bi-Polar, and hadn't been on meds in over a year.
Being Bi-Polar myself... I can tell you, she was dangerous.. This isn't some nice sweet mental illness where you just good about causing no harm. Like Schizophrenia, if left untreated, and not stabilized, it can bevery dangerous! So I honestly think he had every right to be frightened.. That lady honestly brought all that kn herself, by refusing help as offered. I thank GOD everyday I have meds to keep me straightened out.. Otherwise I could be just like that!

Just my piece.

Oh certainly, there's no question that bipolar and schizophrenia can be really devastating, mostly for the person experiencing it but also for their families, friends, and even strangers. I just don't like the automatic media assumption that individuals with mental illness are dangerous, or (even worse, in my opinion) that any dangerous individual must be mentally ill.