HEY PEOPLE, CAN WE JUST LISTEN FOR A MOMENT ? :: Dr. Sanity

When I have a patient who tells me repeatedly that he is homicidal; and that he has the means to act on his homicidal fantasies; and that he intends to act on his homicidal fantasies--I usually don't just keep asking him if he is really serious.

I take him at his word. I take him very seriously because lives are at stake.

That is part of my job, and when I have evidence of either suicidal or homicidal intent, I must act.

Let me be perfectly clear: I don't like this responsibility. I don't like it at all.

However, I accept that it is one of the "social control functions" that psychiatrists are expected to perform by society at large. And I try to do my best--because I have it within my (admittedly limited) power to prevent something bad from happening.

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