More Timely Than Ever!

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Who Are You Going to Believe: Me or Your Eyes?

Jared Lee Loughner's high-school girlfriend, Ashley Figueroa, told ABC News she does not think Loughner is mentally ill. ""I think he's faking everything," she said.

This prompted Salon.com to comment:
Figueroa is not a doctor, and these claims conflict with the opinion of top doctors in the field of psychiatry.
Well, sure. I can't imagine why we would take more seriously the judgment of someone who actually knew him intimately not long ago over a bunch of self-serving psychiatrists who never even met him.

9 comments:

Greybird said...

Well, with my being a committed Marxist — as in Chico, whom you quote in your title — I have to say that you just don't appreciate the travails of the oppressed and downtrodden court-psychologist class and their role in the superstructure of production. For without such long-distance diagnoses, how would they make a living? {/sarc}

Sheldon Richman said...

As one such Marxist to another, let me say that you gave me a chuckle and brought smile to my face.

D. Saul Weiner said...

This is a problem in medicine in general. Forget what anyone with any actual experience with a healing application (drug, herb, etc.) had to say about it, it's all ANECDOTAL. Listen to the experts, armed with their sophisticated statistical analyses. Kind of sounds like the world of economic policy-making too, no? Just trust the experts.

Kevin Carson said...

Didn't we go through this a few years back with Bill Frist and Michael Schiavo?

N. Joseph Potts said...

There stubbornly persists among the ignorati a hunger for Expert Opinions.

This hunger will be served. You also may partake of this widely consumed commodity, but bear in mind that, as a "free" good (a nonesuch), it still costs more than it is worth.

Tom said...

How can you tell when someone is faking mental illness vs. when someone has a "real" mental illness. I remember an anecdote from one of Szasz's books that I read years ago. It seems some psychiatrists were able to fool other psychiatrists into thinking that they were mental patients. After all, you can't fake cancer. (unless you tamper with the blood tests). Silly me. I thought mental illness was just like every other illness.

Sheldon Richman said...

Faking mental (or other) illness is itself a form of mental illness, according to psychiatry. When researchers have been sent into mental institutions with bogus diagnoses of illness, doctors interpreted all their behavior as symptoms of their "illness," even note-taking.

ToryII said...

[Repeat:]

Just don't forget, he shot, at close range, a beautiful adult female (in the freaking head), and another beautiful nine year old (in her tiny little chest).

I'm not accusing anyone here of being insensitive. The topic is about sanity or insanity.
--------------------------
Only a nut would seek refuge in a insane asylum.

ToryII said...

How to create your own gun free zone (two minute video):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7pGt_O1uM8