<p>The psychiatrist in this case may not have had a duty to warn, as his disclosure may not have indicated any actual plan or victim. It would appear by what we’ve read, Dr. Fenton thought Holmes was a possible danger to others. She apparently had two roles on that campus, one as psychiatrist and director of the counseling center, where her responsibility is to the individual students who came to see her for treatment, which likely includes medication. </p>
<p>However in her other rule, as the head of the BETA team, a campus threat assessment team, set up to protect the entire campus, she has the responsibility of reporting concerns to the team, convening the team, etc. so that the team can assess if they need to take any action to protect the campus. Those actions could include Dr. Fenton monitoring Holmes, but they could also be things like assessing whether others have reported fear of him, whether professors have noted inappropriate behavior in a classroom setting. I am on a team just like this in a corporate setting. The value of the team, is that you gather additional information about said student from others with different perspectives and disciplines. Typically a security, human resources and legal professional are also on the threat assessment team. </p>
<p>I suspect Dr. Fenton would have reported if there was a clear duty to warn, ie. he threatened to harm a fellow student, or family member. That is a fairly simple judgment call and I can’t imagine she would have had the knowledge and failed to warn. However after reporting an initial concern about Holmes to the BETA team, and then not convening said team, that would appear to be a mistake. Once an initial threat is identified the team has a responsibility to convene to determine if there is anything further to do. The fact that Holmes then withdrew from the university should have actually been a red flag of possible further deterioration, not a sign that it was out of their hands. It is a delicate balance being a treatment provider and also sitting on one of those threat assessment teams, as one must balance these issues.</p>
<p>You usually see a psychiatrist for meds. You usually see a psychologist for therapy. Psychologists are a lot less expensive.</p>
<p>Yes, he may have told her that he wanted to see her for some reason but we don’t know how long she had been seeing him. For all we know, he could have visited her once and acted strangely with no explicit mention of doing harm to others.</p>
<p>there must have been something in her assessment of Holmes that prompted Dr. Fenton to state she thought he might be at risk of harming others and to alert the BETA team. Acting “strangely” would not generally qualify for thinking one is at risk of harming self or others. </p>
<p>we can all act strangely in certain situations, or under certain stresses…</p>
<p>“You usually see a psychiatrist for meds. You usually see a psychologist for therapy. Psychologists are a lot less expensive”</p>
<p>Maybe in some communities. In mine, the few psychologists who take insurance get the same as LCSW’s, and MFT’s. And you may also see a psychiatrist to figure out what is going on. Before prozac and managed care, this meant a “psychodynamic formulation”. In some communities this might currently mean “what role do psychotropics play?”. In my community, it is maybe, “This is scary; who is going to be responsible?”, or “they need paperwork for disability” or “home hospital”. Until I had two full pay in college, I also did a lot of therapy.A “loss leader” around here. I look forward to getting past “internet symptom list” psychiatry.</p>
<p>A high percentage of mental health professionals, especially psychiatrists, will lose a patient to suicide. I don’t remember the number. Mental illness has a mortality rate and no therapist is powerful enough to stop someone who really wants to commit suicide. As for intent to kill others, of course, every step should be taken and it’s unclear if it was here, but it’s a big assumption to think that everyone planning to commit murder is going to tell a therapist and that every person under a psychiatrist’s care can be stopped from committing murder.</p>
But I assume you can’t just waltz into their office and demand that they prescribe you some drugs. There must be some discussion and evaluation that occurs first.</p>
<p>I was told that there were two kinds of psychiatrist; those that did ( lose a patient to suicide), and those that will.</p>
<p>Most schools have a zero tolerance policy with regard to threats of harm to schools. I have seen five and six year old’s referred by schools because they said they wanted to blow up the school.</p>
<p>Just looked up an estimate of the number of suicides for 2009 (random web site) and came up with 36,909 and the number of psychiatrists in the US in 2011 from the BLS and came up with 23,140. Those statistics bear out your saying.</p>
<p>It sounds like the psychiatrist may be off the hook. I guess that the next area to look at will be to see what the University Police did.</p>
<p>It’s not so simple…it will really depend on what Holmes stated to Dr. Fenton, and what her actions were. The fact that she reported to the university police is important as she felt there was a risk of harm to others, but it still is unclear what needed to be done.</p>
<p>The fact that the threat assessment team never convened a meeting after a threat was identified is not a good thing.</p>
<p>“It sounds like the psychiatrist may be off the hook.”</p>
<p>I did not realize we were looking to put people on the hook.</p>
<p>"Gosh, when I was six, I would have wanted to blow up my school. It think that’s totally healthy! "</p>
<p>Well you might have been able to say that in the past, but not now. Nobody want to be on the hook, and it looks like thats how we have to think these days.</p>
<p>I honestly think James Holmes is innocent. Keep in mind that I am not trolling. The information that is provided just doesn’t add up. I think that he was set up.</p>
<p>Somebody has to be responsible (on the hook)–the psychiatrist , the school, the movie producers, the theater owner, the NRA, Congress, gun manufacturers, --someone other than just the shooter.</p>
<p>Otherwise life (and death) is just too random for many.</p>
<p>“I honestly think James Holmes is innocent. Keep in mind that I am not ■■■■■■■■. The information that is provided just doesn’t add up. I think that he was set up.”</p>
<p>That’s what my brother says.</p>
<p>BE WARNED: I HAVE NOT LOOKED AT THIS VIDEO. </p>
<p>When I saw how Holmes looked at his first court appearance I thought something was wrong. I watched the video and it has a lot of points we should all consider before saying things such as “executing Holmes in public”. I think we should all look at both sides of the story even though the media is only showing one.</p>
<p>I only read first paragraph of that link. It was too long. The project was “halted in 1973.” Holmes was born 1987. It may be an interesting SYFY movie plot together with Mega Piranha and OctoShark.</p>