Posted by LouisianaSportsman on February 21, 2014, at 15:15:58
In reply to I told my shrink I own a lot of guns LOL, posted by LostBoyinNC45 on February 21, 2014, at 12:06:11
Oh my! What a touchy subject. popcorn.gif
I am glad to hear that your personal stance on guns has not effected your quality of care! This is the standard all PDOCs should live up to when dealing with patients that they know are not crazy. If the patient is not deemed psychotic, I do not personally believe that gun policy should be a pertinent mental health issue.
A patient should not feel afraid to discuss any personal hobby with their PDOC. I feel patients may think if they share their gun hobby, they will get "red-flagged" which may make it harder for them to obtain guns or even change their therapy.
Gun ownership does not make someone crazy; the PDOC should already know if someone is "crazy", and they should already be treating that person with the proper course of treatment relevant to that person's mental health condition. A gun is merely a tool designed for a purpose, it indicates nothing about the user.
There is a can of worms, however. How do you judge whether or not to make an issue over a patient, who is seeing you for mental health issues after all, is a risk due to their gun ownership? I believe you should not be able to assess any risk to the general public based upon gun ownership alone until other factors related to gun ownership arise such as fixation, target practice on human photos, those sorta things happen-- gun ownership alone does not warrant any "red-flags".
I must say, it is so awesome that you're getting some of your old interests back! This means you're getting better. Your PDOC must be doing something right. But, you know who is really doing most of the work? You. People underestimate the severity of mental health issues and how much a triumph it is to overcome them. Congratulations on your progress thus far; keep up the good work!
May I ask, what medications are you prescribed? Are you satisfied with your current regiment? Are there any symptoms occurring that are not alleviated? I can make recommendations regarding your medication that you bring up with your PDOC, if you like. I'm one of those people that, not to be pretentious, "knows their stuff", lol. See my thread here about the SNRI Switcharoo if you're curious about my own personal meds.
Basically, the reason why I asked about your meds is because helping people out with their medication is a hobby of mine. But, we share hobbies too. Like guns. :)
I too hunt deer (not this year, the paper company came and cut down all the trees at my lease). Additionally, I like to fish (my Bass Tracker is my baby). But, in the summer time, my Tahoe is my baby, lol. I like to target practice with my Matthews in the backyard (wish I could practice with my guns, but that's a bit loud in the neighborhood, don't ya think!? haha). And, I have a an old, old Honda 4-wheeler that I might use once a year. Like you, I <3 the outdoors.
Also like you, I love the United States! Every single state. But, haha, you sound a bit more, how do I say this?, right-wing?, than I do. I'm more of a blue Libertarian with a few Republican ideas (mostly guns) scattered in here and there. I'm all over the place politically, but I have a lot of Republican -- and Democrat -- and Libertarian -- and hippy -- and New Age -- well, you get the point, friends. So welcome to the club, buddy.
Have a good one, Eric!
poster:LouisianaSportsman
thread:1060960
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20140214/msgs/1060969.html