Crazy Town

Do you know anyone, especially in your own family, that is legit mentally ill.  Crazy-town?  A danger to themselves and others?

I was thinking about how HARD it would be to do something about that.  Just massively difficult.  I am glad it is not a problem I have had to confront.

To get a friend or family member committed, even if it is for the best would be gun wrenching.  

How to fix this?  I don't know.  Make the experience feel much more like you are securing them real meaningful help rather that condemning them to compelled institutionalization?  But we'd have to be confident that the insanity could be cured, and rather quickly, properly resecuring the afflicted's freedom.  

But we aren't confident.  At all.  There is no quick cure.  This isn't the Clap, circa 1965.  Where a shot fixes you up.  So we are still confronted with the hesitancy of compelling someone to at least get treatment.  And sometimes that is deadly.  If it was ALWAYS deadly, it'd be a lot easier to lock up crazy Uncle Frank.  But not all ticking time bombs go off.  Hell MOST of these time bombs don't go off.  And therein lies the problem.

The family of the Boulder shooter, I am sure, would rather have had that shooter committed to some asylum 2 months ago and maybe getting good treatment, but definitely secure and in custodial care, than in jail now and prison hereafter.  Also secure.  But without the 10 innocent victims.