Neblung said.īut DJ Jaffe, executive director of Mental Illness Policy Org, an advocacy group, said concerns over the legislation are "hyper-theoretical" and that the greater, and more practical, risk is that very seriously mentally ill people "have a plan to kill people, and it doesn't go reported." Patients might worry about being honest: Even the most fantastical violent expressions could be subject to a legal mandate, Dr. The prospect of being put on such a list could be enough to prevent someone from seeking care and creates the impression that "you're turning psychologists into police officers," said Eric Neblung, a psychologist and the president of the New York State Psychological Association. Studies have shown that mentally ill people are far more likely to be the victims of violence rather than perpetrators. He said the legislation seems designed to allay public fears of guns in the hands of the mentally ill with little thought given to "the chilling effects" it may have on treatment. "I understand the intent, but I fear these kinds of practices may well deter people from seeking care or fully disclosing" their condition to psychologists, said Harvey Rosenthal, executive director of the New York Association of Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services. If a person is found not to own any firearms, the patient would be added to a statewide criminal background check database, marking a significant expansion of who would be made ineligible to legally buy a firearm. The measure requires physicians, psychologists, nurses or clinical social workers to alert local health officials if a patient "is likely to engage in conduct that would result in serious harm to self or others." After an evaluation, the health officials would pass on the person's information to law-enforcement agencies that would be authorized to seize any firearm owned by the patient. Appelbaum said.”īy Tamer El-Ghobashy Wall Street Journal January 16, 2013Ī provision in New York state's new gun-control laws that requires mental-health professionals to report potentially dangerous patients is drawing concern from experts who fear it could discourage people from seeking treatment and treads on client confidentiality. It might include appointing a presidential commission re-envisioning community mental health care focusing more on vigilance for problems in young people, and reducing stigma."It seems to me an opportunity to step back and rethink what the entire system should look like," Dr. Appelbaum, say the Connecticut school shooting offers the kind of opportunity that only comes once every generation or two: to rethink the entire mental health system. Paul Appelbaum’s hopeful frame: “Some experts, like Dr. The Times piece underscores a critical paradox: while it leads off with concluding that mass shooters have to be ‘deeply disturbed,’ a term most will read as having a mental illness, it quotes experts who conclude “most mass murders are done by working-class men who've been jilted, fired, or otherwise humiliated - and who then undergo a crisis of rage and get out one of the 300 million guns in our country.the sort of young, troubled males who. It looks at several concerns about unintended consequences of the law that may deter people from seeking or disclosing fully in a therapeutic relationship. NYAPRS Note: Today’s papers take an analytical view of NY’s new gun control law’s impact on people with mental health needs and the services they may seek.
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