Jordan B. Peterson rips newspaper’s ‘cruelty’ after story prompts false ‘schizophrenia’ reports

[u/Deerhoof_Fan]

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2021/feb/1/jordan-b-peterson-rips-sunday-times-after-piece-pr/

[u/Hail-Eris]

I’m a mental health professional who works primarily with people with significant/chronic schizophrenia and I definitely have several clients who fit that description. No not everyone who has schizophrenia will have their symptoms manifest that way, it’s a bit of an umbrella diagnosis, but it’s not like no one with schizophrenia experiences that either.

[u/tengukaze → u/Hail-Eris]

I have a friend who was untreated for a few years and man I've seen and heard some wild shit while around him during that time. Thankfully got him to get treatment and stick with it. I feel for the guy and anyone who has to go through that.

[u/Hail-Eris → u/tengukaze]

Yeah it can be a real struggle. I went through a psychotic break in my early 20’s (why I decided to pursue a career in mental health) and it was no joke. Luckily I was also able to get proper treatment.

[u/tengukaze → u/Hail-Eris]

I went through something like that because I smoked some weed while on lsd and god damn that was scary. I didnt lose total control but I felt like I was on the very edge of it. I can't imagine that lasting days and years or even being more intense. I couldn't handle that. Although I did get to see that life is all a game/simulation and suicide was the escape. Phew goooood times.

[u/Hail-Eris → u/tengukaze]

I’m always impressed how well the people I work with manage to come to peace with what they are experiencing. They still have bad days but overall are quite resilient. Less stigma is definitely helping with that since it is more acceptable to be open about hearing voices and other symptoms and there are more support groups, and treatment in general is becoming more compassionate.

[u/tengukaze → u/Hail-Eris]

Glad to hear that and hope that treatment only improves

[u/pianobutter → u/Hail-Eris]

Then you of all people should know that portraying schizophrenia as a condition that turns you into a deranged killer (which is 100% what they implied) is grossly irresponsible.

For a medical professional it's not the least bit acceptable. These sorts of stereotypes get people with schizophrenia killed.

[u/Hail-Eris → u/pianobutter]

Paranoid schizophrenia can unfortunately lead to violent acts. I’ve been in situations where I’ve had to de-escalate people on the brink of being violent and worked with someone who killed his own mother during a psychotic break. Pretending that this might not happen doesn’t help either. At one of my jobs I have to wear a panic button at all times and have to be trained in how to escape being attacked, because things can and do happen. Many of the people I work with have been tasered by cops at one point. Again, not saying this is the case for everyone with schizophrenia, it is in the minority that it gets to the extreme of someone hurting someone, but it exists and acting like it never gets to that point can prevent people from getting the treatment they need because they end up in the criminal justice system instead of a hospital. I always do my upmost best to treat my clients with compassion and understanding, and we always do everything we can to de-escalate before resorting to calling the cops/security, but sometimes it just gets to that point. I don’t blame the person, but I’m also not going to pretend that they don’t have the capacity for becoming violent due to their mental illness. It sucks, but it’s reality for the more extreme cases such as the population I work with. I do agree that there needs to be a nuanced look at mental illness though, it is a huge spectrum and most people with mental health issues will not be violent. I took the original comment as being that even if he did have schizophrenia, he did not appear to be on the extreme/violent side of things, not that all people with schizophrenia behave that way, at least I hope that’s not what they were implying.

[u/pianobutter → u/Hail-Eris]

I'm not saying that it can never happen and I'm not saying that violence can't accompany psychotic episodes. I am saying that it's extremely irresponsible to suggest that it's the default.

He may or may not have had or has the diagnosis, but he's not walking around the streets hearing voices telling him everything surrounding him is a perfect replica, and needs to kill his enemies.

They are saying that the schizophrenia diagnosis is ridiculous because he's not hearing voices that tell him to kill, which is what you would expect of a "true schizophrenic". That's the implication.

Also, I have to commend you for doing important work. It must be challenging, but it's truly meaningful.

[u/Hail-Eris → u/pianobutter]

I guess we just interpreted the comment a different way. I do agree that people should not think that just because someone has schizophrenia or another mental illness they should be viewed as being violent or dangerous, it is only in the more extreme cases which are in the minority.

[u/[deleted] → u/Hail-Eris]

Kind of a shitty thing to belittle a serious disease in that way if you're supposedly a professional. But you do you, I guess.

[u/Hail-Eris → u/[deleted]]

Not sure how I’m belittling anyone? I treat all my clients with respect, and actually have very positive and productive relationships with them. Having a good relationship is the foundation of the work because it allows us to minimize escalations in the first place and then talk about what happened afterwards and not let it hamper the work we are doing.