Ludovic, would you want police officers to have the authority to arrest and detain you if that police officer happened to hold the opinion that you might do something dangerous? Wouldn't you prefer it to be the case that the police officer can only arrest you if the police officer is going to charge you with a crime, and that you have some protections against false arrest? Is there anyone on this board who -- without reference to the presence or absence of psychiatric diagnoses -- thinks the public good would be well-served if police officers could arrest anyone at any time on the basis of thinking that the person is dangerous and might do something violent?
Put those hands in the air. Higher, so I can count them.
All right, now the rest of you: justify treating someone different on the basis of alleged psychiatric condition. If I'm a law-abiding paranoid schizophrenic with delusions of grandeur, why the fuck should I be subject to detainment and arrest (let alone forced psychiatric treatment!) just because some grandiose personage with delusions of omniscience thinks I might do something?
I should not be held responsible for what you, some cop, or some shrink thinks I might do.
If I engage in an arrestible action -- an action that would be arrestible if any John Q Citizen engages in it -- then you get to intervene. That would include making threats.
If you think I might hurt myself as a result of being incompetent, start a guardianship proceding and me and my lawyer will be present to contest your allegations. If it's an emergency -- i.e., I'm climbing bridges or apparently trying to hurl myself out of windows or something -- the police have the authority to intervene immediately.
Aside from those rather narrowly constructed responses, though, your opinion of my mental processes should not count for much.
And the presence of an MD and a specialization in psychiatric medicine on your resume shouldn't change that.
See my next post on this same thread
See my previous post on this same thread
Original SDMB thread Is manic-depression a disease to be cured?