Dr. Martin Hash Podcast

Like most mental illness, schizophrenia is a clinical diagnosis: 2 out of a gaggle of possible symptoms, or 1 if hearing voices telling you to hurt someone. Since schizophrenia without drug treatment is totally debilitating, it's a frightening disease, akin to dementia in its drag on society. Schizophrenic people can't do anything, except, and here's the good news, if they're medicated. You probably can't tell a schizophrenic when they take their medication, until they don't, then it's the homeless guy talking to himself on the street.

There's a huge liberty issue here: on the one hand, a schizophrenic has the same Rights as everyone else, and if they don't want to take medication, that's their choice; but on the other hand, the manifestation of schizophrenia makes that person completely useless & unproductive. There are over 3 million schizophrenic Americans, as compared to 8 million alcoholics. There's a subtle difference between forcing someone to take their medication to be a productive member of society, and forcing them not to drink alcohol for the same reason... Or is there? Can a mentally ill person's liberty be infringed if the result is that their self-awareness can be recovered? Only if they are a threat to themselves or others.