29 May 2013

Mental illness and offending. Spot the difference?

| IrishPete
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Can anyone spot the difference between these two media reports?

Canberra Times and ABC.

I was wondering why Justice Higgins was sending someone to prison who has Bipolar, and I think I have the answer.

IP

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Lookout Smithers8:17 am 31 May 13

So the media printed a story about a tenth of which is probably only mildly accurate. Having an Its nothing new. It says over 3 years so it was probably 7, bi polar is printed too so its probably actually cancer. Media print lots of horse shit everyday. Not because they can, but because the only journalists that will get hired now days are ones willing to say yes and print what they are told. Combine that with them with a straight Pass kinda degree. And you get the equivalent of a primary school teacher/nail technician handling court reporting.

IrishPete said :

Erg0 said :

They reported that the court heard it, which isn’t the same as reporting it as a fact. That said, a lot of people aren’t very good at nuance.

The CT article commences “A bipolar accountant” – that’s pretty definitive (and not very PC)…

IP

Fair point, didn’t take note of that. There is an annoying tendency among some news outlets to tart up the first paragraph as click bait and then report the actual facts further down.

Erg0 said :

They reported that the court heard it, which isn’t the same as reporting it as a fact. That said, a lot of people aren’t very good at nuance.

The CT article commences “A bipolar accountant” – that’s pretty definitive (and not very PC)…

IP

IrishPete said :

dustytrail said :

Both got the name and age correct. LOL

The term “Bipolar” covers a lot these days ….. everyone is suffering from it, it seems, which makes the people with MDI (a real mental illness) appear to be faking it. However, it is no longer PC to talk about people with manic depressive illness (MDI) as it has been re-appraised as bipolar due to the proper medical term of MDI being considered humiliating those with a mental illness. MDI is an inherited mental illness and can be contained with medication. Depression (often called Bipolar) is something else, entirely.

When i studied in the 1980s it was still being called Manic Depressive Psychosis. Not a very nice sounding term. Bipolar without mania is probably what you are referring to as being overdiagnosed. Some depression is clearly biological in origin, so is conceptually similar to bipolar. Other depression is much less biological.

Anyone who has ever seen someone who is having a manic episode will be left in no doubt about this illness. Nor is it correct to say it can be controlled with medication – 1) if you are among the lucky, as some people do not get full control with medication and some of the medication has nasty and life-shortening side effects, 2) it is the nature of bipolar that many people won’t believe they have it, and won’t keep taking the medication.

IP

and there is bipolar one and bipolar two, the former being the more classic ‘manic depressive’ illness charactised by both mania (highs) and depressive lows, while bipolar two often presents without the mania, though of the two has a higher instance of related suicides. [call lifeline 13 11 14 if you are contemplating anything rash]

and there is no is/isn’t about either, rather they are a spectrum and both related to classic depression, but treated by quite different medications.

dustytrail said :

Both got the name and age correct. LOL

The term “Bipolar” covers a lot these days ….. everyone is suffering from it, it seems, which makes the people with MDI (a real mental illness) appear to be faking it. However, it is no longer PC to talk about people with manic depressive illness (MDI) as it has been re-appraised as bipolar due to the proper medical term of MDI being considered humiliating those with a mental illness. MDI is an inherited mental illness and can be contained with medication. Depression (often called Bipolar) is something else, entirely.

When i studied in the 1980s it was still being called Manic Depressive Psychosis. Not a very nice sounding term. Bipolar without mania is probably what you are referring to as being overdiagnosed. Some depression is clearly biological in origin, so is conceptually similar to bipolar. Other depression is much less biological.

Anyone who has ever seen someone who is having a manic episode will be left in no doubt about this illness. Nor is it correct to say it can be controlled with medication – 1) if you are among the lucky, as some people do not get full control with medication and some of the medication has nasty and life-shortening side effects, 2) it is the nature of bipolar that many people won’t believe they have it, and won’t keep taking the medication.

IP

Aeek said :

Gullible? Haven’t you noticed how the media reports the defence case as if it is the truth AND the prosecution case as if it is the truth, in separate reports.

He is now convicted. That kind of reporting is okay during a trial.

I’m just saying the CT seems to be more gullible than the ABC, who at least reported the bipolar claim as that, a claim. It may turn out to be true, but the CT reported it as fact.

IP

I would’ve thought that the real question was whether he was mentally fit to plead and given that he’s pled guilty to stealing almost $1m then there’s no reason for him not to be incarcerated regardless of his bipolar claim.

Gullible? Haven’t you noticed how the media reports the defence case as if it is the truth AND the prosecution case as if it is the truth, in separate reports.

Both got the name and age correct. LOL

The term “Bipolar” covers a lot these days ….. everyone is suffering from it, it seems, which makes the people with MDI (a real mental illness) appear to be faking it. However, it is no longer PC to talk about people with manic depressive illness (MDI) as it has been re-appraised as bipolar due to the proper medical term of MDI being considered humiliating those with a mental illness. MDI is an inherited mental illness and can be contained with medication. Depression (often called Bipolar) is something else, entirely.

I’m not exactly sure what you’re on about, but I can offer the opinion that stealing a company’s money is generally treated as a much worse crime than most others, including violent assault!

I’m struggling IP, what are you trying to say?

Here’s the answer:

CT “A bipolar accountant …” and “The court heard Narayan, a bipolar sufferer, had been in the grip of a mania during the three-year period and was convinced he was a financial genius who had saved his employer millions of dollars. Voices he heard, via auditory hallucinations, told him the company owed him money as a result.”

ABC “Narayan told a pre-sentence report author he suffers bipolar disorder and had auditory hallucinations throughout the period of offending”

Seems like the CT is the more gullible of the two media outlets, and more gullible than the judge. Which is saying something when the judge is Mr Higgins.

IP

Is this a trick question? Ok are you referring to this;

The court heard Narayan used his position as financial controller of construction company GE Shaw to funnel $987,000 into the accounts between November 2008 and February. February ????

Adi Narayan, 51, from Forde had been facing 106 charges of theft after police uncovered a series of fraudulent transactions from bank accounts between November 2008 and February 2012.

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