Alex Yates

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...05-28-06-43-02

Fine....throw yourself off the balcony if you're so unhappy, but to throw your children????? This is beyond comprehension to me.

Solar Bell

Marital problems eh?

I wonder if she was leaving him?

He figures if he can't have the kids, she sure is not going to have them.

Who knows though...a terrible thing....

-cw-

__________________
Chuck Willard
The Willard of Oz

"Don't be afraid to see what you see."
Ronald Reagan

40cal

I was working in downtown st paul the night this happened

http://www.namiscc.org/Experiences/2...thChildren.htm

Alex Yates

I will never understand the vicious, selfish, cowardly acts of these people. It literally makes me sick to my stomach and very angry. Snuffing out the life of a child is hideous and extremely sad.

Tootsall

This happens more frequently than many of us hear about; it simply depends upon whether or not the media are allowed "in" on the story (ie, how "public" the "event" was) and whether or not they feel it is of sufficient interest to broadcast. Mental illness, particularly manic and/or postpartum depression, is a rather horrible illness that those of us who do not suffer from cannot begin understand. Too many doctors also have little or no understanding of the symptoms or the treatments. Indeed, medical science has a long way to go to having "sure-fire" diagnoses or treatments; right now they are just "shotgunning" different methods in the hope that something will work. Personally I've always felt that post-partum or manic depression was the result of a medical.... "physical" or "chemical" unbalance.

The entire scene is a tragedy in terms of not only the loss of the childrens' lives, but that of the person suffering from the illness as well as all of their friends, relatives, and co-workers AND the public security/medical fraternity who have to deal with the aftermath.

Alex Yates

What really gets me about the first story is that the guy WAS a doctor!

I know we hear of women doing this kind of thing and there is much validity to what you are saying Toots. What I don't understand are the men who take out their entire families before killing themselves..... and even more baffling, sometimes they don't kill themselves, but still take out the entire family. It does happen more often than most folks think. I know in Atlanta, it is not an "unusual" story anymore. It happens fairly regularly. It is almost always in the affluent areas too.

Tootsall

I was going to comment on that too, Alex... in this particular case it seems that the man was himself having problems of some kind; certainly "hormonal imbalances" (or chemical or.... ?) aren't restricted to the female gender! I know that you know my story... my late wife's family was similarly afflicted.... including her mother, her sister, and her older brother! They were all under doctor's care at one time or another which, in one or two cases, included institutionalization for months. Inherited? So it would seem in at least one case. A chromosomal abnormality that suddenly reveals itself in "this" or "that" generation? Lots we don't know about the condition.

I'm absolutely NOT trying to condone what occurred.... but rather put inject some "pause for thought" into the "hang 'im high" verdict that we too often see. "He just wasn't himself lately"... a statement that can be all too true!

Alex Yates

Oh, I agree with you Toots. Also, I don't have that "hang 'em high" feeling. What I have is a tremendous "punch in my gut" feeling when I hear of children's lives being snuffed out over such things. You think of their last moments or what it must have been like to have "daddy" pick you up in the air and throw you over the balcony. I just cannot fathom it. It is like Susan Smith. HOW in the world could she strap her two boys in the car and let them die such a horrible death? Obviously, folks who do this kind of thing are not well, but my heart bleeds for the children.

Tootsall

Yes, I was pretty certain of where you stood on this issue so I wasn't "criticizing" nor "arguing" with your points but more trying to inject a different "point-of-view" into the topic.

Best wishes

Toots

40cal

I'm no shrink, but the "system" as far as mental health and the treatement of subjects is much like the criminal justice system. It is reactive and not much can be done in some instances until something happens.

I really don't see how it could be any other way. We as a society can't go preemptively committing people to mental institutions w/out good cause, nor force someone to take medications w/out cause.

I know it is not a perfect system and there is bound to be room for improvement.

Now in the case of the doctor throwing his children off the balcony....

I think it is convenient to blame a chemical imbalance or other factor like that, but it may have been just plain old lack of impulse control and/or criminal intent.