Posted by octopusprime on June 16, 2004, at 11:15:23
In reply to Re: Accountability, posted by deirdrehbrt on June 16, 2004, at 8:30:09
dee this is an interesting scenario.
however i disagree that mentally ill people are not held accountable, i think they're just accountable in different ways.in the scenario you describe, the consequences are different for each person: the non-mentally-ill person gets called an insulting name and dumped; the mentally ill one gets asked if there are any sharps around and tossed in the mental hospital. either way there is some accountability for the statements, but the consequences change.
i think we get to "own", and be accountable for, behaviour while depressed/insane for the rest of our lives. for example once i had a messed up episode (where i clearly belonged in a mental hospital but refused to check myself in) and i tried to hurt my friend. he's not my friend any more. that's accountability, right? owning up to the natural consequences of one's actions, regardless if one was in a "right" state of mind when they occurred?
> Angel Girl,
> I think that most people who understand mental illness would not hold us responsible for behaviors that result from our illness. For example, someone who is desperatly angry, perhaps threatened with divorce, may try to manipulate their partner by threatening suicide if ther relationship is coming to an end. They would be held accountable for being manipulative. On the other hand, those of us who are ill, would say it for different reasons. We might be genuinely suicidal. Though the same thing was said, we probably wouldn't be held to the same standards of responsibility as the person who does not suffer from mental illness. The 'sane' person made a threat to try to prevent divorce. The depressed person stated a fact.
> There are maybe lots of other examples, but my brain isn't working that well right now. :)
> Dee.
poster:octopusprime
thread:356808
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20040611/msgs/357236.html