Mental Illness

I was watching a news report last night and felt really uncomfortable. It was as if I was invading the space of a family tragedy which envolved someone who is suffering from a mental illness.

The story was of a guy who had tried to jump to his death but taking his two small children with him. He is reported to have thrown the little boy from the 4th floor balcony before jumping with his little sister.

The little boy died but both the father and daughter have survived although badly injured.

The cameras showed the guy being comforted by his poor mother as he entered the court. This poor woman has had two of her sons already kill themsleves.

Do you think that invasive journalism like this is acceptable?

nope but it is a news story and a very sad one i dont know how it can be reported without it being invasive

Very difficult to comment without seeing it, one thing i will say, the case you are talking about has horrified so many people.

We cannot comprehend when someone wants to kill thier children. I mean if they wanna kill themselves its somehow more acceptable than taking the lives of those they love with them too, especially children who have no say in the matter so its actually "murder".

People want to grasp why? why do something so atrocious? How can we prevent this from happening?

Although the journalism may seem invasive, as i said, i didnt see it so cannt give a qualified comment, there was probably no need for the cameras to be there in the court, the important thing is the story be told correctly without bias and some sort of learning experience is gained from this tragedy.

I watched two different stations reporting the tragic events.

The station that concentrated on the dramatic and very sensational court pictures didn't give a lot of substance to the actually story.

I later watched another report which gave the details about this very ill man having had two brothers previously kill themselves. The reporter mentioned that he was comforted by his elderly mother in the court without having to show the very private moment. They also explained that his wife who is a nurse was trying to deal with her husbands mental health problems.

Sometimes journalism goes too far for my liking.

Part of me thinks we should leave this man to his grief, for that will be far more punishment than anything the Greek authorities can do to him, this guy is broken and given the chance he will commit suicide the first opportunity he gets, so yeah the cameras should not have been allowed in the court, it should have been a closed court session.

But then another part of me thinks regardless of whether your wife is leaving you or not, and i can share some of this guys feelings you just don't take the life of your kids, they don't deserve that, if he thought he could no longer live himself then he should have thrown himself of that balcony, the only reason i could think that he would take the kids is too punish his wife, and that is evil.

Its fair to point that he had a history of mental problems and had just recently stopped taking his anti-depression meds

it was reported he had stopped taking his meds as do a lot of mental health patients. but whatever happens its a tragedy for the family and for him though i do think even mental health suffers have to accept some level of responsibility for actions that harm others.

exactly how i feel Cole

The mans father had died and 3 months later his younger brother commited suicide followed then by the older brother.

No excuses for what he did, but the guy had alot on his plate. He was on anti-depressants and drinking heavily too. His marriage was a wrech, hence the holiday to try and iron out a few problems in the relationship.

Again i am not making excuses for what this man did, but it was obv not completely his judgement.

Like Treebs said, all you can hope is that people learn something from this. The mother has spoken and is praising her husband for the wonderful father he was. Thats what i dont understand.

But you are right. There is no punishment worse than the guilt this man is feeling and will be feeling for a very long time. He is on suicide watch, as he feels he should die. That feeling will stay with him for life.

I'll be honest there have been times where I hadn't felt my life was worth a tuppence but what pulled me through was knowing my kids would be without a mum and that's selfish.
Perhaps a part of him felt that way, he loved his kids so much that he couldn't bare to be parted from them in even in death, it's not that uncommon for that line of thinking in the very depressed. He obviously didn't get the help he desperately needed.
Unfortunately our mental health department of the NHS is over stretched and under staffed, there aren't enough counsellors or professionals to go around. Mick had counselling but he was told 4 sessions were all that were allocated to him. WTF?
4 hours is crap!
I'm not defending the guy because he murdered his own child but some of the blame has to lay at the feet of the authorities. This is just happening far too often for my liking.

his family klives down the road from me, i saw the funneral march... was very hitting...

ive had loadsa support from the nhs and they cant really win if they let you live in the community they get berated if you do something and if they section you (if they have the spaces) they get accused of being heavy handed. this guy did make a decision however flawed his thought process was and i have very strong views about people hurting others when its their life they want to end. maybe we will find out more as the case progresses

You know there are groups like Mothers Against Drinking and Driving, Greenpeace, anti-smoking organizations, Cancer foundation, Aids foundation, PETA and much more. I am just wondering if there are any Mental Illness awareness organizations. Mental illness is a serious problem. Tragedy can be prevented if there are organizations to assist and aide. Every human needs comfort.

Whenever I have a glimpse of cable/satellite tv, I always see the same organizations showing support other than mental illness. I even once saw a colon cancer organization commercial. I always see the 'anti-depressants' commercials promoting the pills, but never an support group organization.

Maybe this is an idea for anyone who has relatives, friends or love ones that are suffering from severe or semi-severe mental illness.

To prevent another case like this to happen again, support anyone who has mental illness. You have no idea how dangerous they can become without the prescription drugs or you could be the next victim who happens to be in the way. I do apologize for the uncomforting thoughts. However, showing another person you care will make a difference by just listening to what they have to say.

Take care and have a lovely day.

yeah in the UK we have help groups but a lot of people dont want to use them, which is a shame because the people running the groups know what living with mental illness is like wayyy more than the Doctor treating them.

I kinda think, why do we have the right to be told and shown all of this. We don't know the guy, yet we are learning all about him. Lots of other things like this happen everyday, yet they get to keep their privacy.

I feel guilty watching stories like that, and yes, I think news reports can sometimes be too invasive.

I also dont think surgery procedures should be shown on the news.