The diagnosis is in on Dennis Markuze
Posted on: October 13, 2011 - 3:31pm
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The diagnosis is in on Dennis Markuze
The court-required month-long psychiatric evaluation of Dennis Markuze is complete, and the diagnosis is "Bi-polar, compounded by alcohol and substance abuse". He is now in a substance abuse rehab center, with another court date scheduled for 2 December.
It sounds like he was a bigger mess than I expected. It's a good thing he's getting treated now.
http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2011/09/the_diagnosis_is_in.php
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Never ever did I say enything about free, I said "free."
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And by this time next year he may very well be back to his old shenanigans while claiming the doctors already "cured" him. Granted the post you just made isn't your words but someone else's.
“A meritocratic society is one in which inequalities of wealth and social position solely reflect the unequal distribution of merit or skills amongst human beings, or are based upon factors beyond human control, for example luck or chance. Such a society is socially just because individuals are judged not by their gender, the colour of their skin or their religion, but according to their talents and willingness to work, or on what Martin Luther King called 'the content of their character'. By extension, social equality is unjust because it treats unequal individuals equally.” "Political Ideologies" by Andrew Heywood (2003)
Now that the Montreal police have been forced to pay attention to the situation and the system is 'officially' aware of him, I doubt repeated offences would be ignored like they were in the past. The negative PR would just be too ugly for them. If he repeats he'll be picked up again and hopefully get some longer-term help.
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With more thantwo decades in the mental health field, I would say that the odds of him going back to his old ways are quite high. From what I found, he is a poly substance abuser and that tends not to go away. With the right counseling, he may end up in remission but the stats show that even then, a year or so is fairly typical.
So yah, once he starts drinking again, it is only a matter of time before he starts up. With some luck though, his recent escalation has been broken and we can just get the usual insane stuff without the pics of dead birds and vacuum cleaners for a good while.
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Maybe, but I don't see how bad PR is a concern for most police, unless it's a police captain we're talking about. I can only speak to what I understand about police in America, but we have something called Internal Affairs to (weakly) investigate crooked cops and also unduly harass and intimidate plenty of decent cops. We also have wonderful things like a supreme court decision that says police are not legally obliged to act in response to a call for help, and utterly stinky bs like Civil Forfeiture which allows police to basically steal stuff they think is involved with criminal activity and it pays quite a bit of much of their budget.
As an example of not being legally obliged to act in the states, in the attacks 1999 at Columbine High School, the police that showed up waited several hours before deciding to respond. "Fuck no am I riskin ma neck for a bunch of teenagers!". It is, of course, fortunate for the police involved that no one was shot after they arrived, lest their reputations and their careers be in the shitter, and they have grieving parents with an axe to grind with them.
Knowing all of this, one would think negative PR isn't a concern for police in the states. I can't really comment on police in Quebec because I simply don't have the info, but I imagine that depending on the level of similarities to the US police, their value in good PR may be reduced or almost nonexistant.
/shrug
“A meritocratic society is one in which inequalities of wealth and social position solely reflect the unequal distribution of merit or skills amongst human beings, or are based upon factors beyond human control, for example luck or chance. Such a society is socially just because individuals are judged not by their gender, the colour of their skin or their religion, but according to their talents and willingness to work, or on what Martin Luther King called 'the content of their character'. By extension, social equality is unjust because it treats unequal individuals equally.” "Political Ideologies" by Andrew Heywood (2003)
Quebec police are to be avoided, from what little experience I have with them. I could get into it a bit, but it'd be a lot of social commentary on Ontario, Quebec, and the relations between them and the variences between their laws.
I feel it should be noted that I have no idea how Americans could have heard of this guy. He doesn't get much, if any, coverage in Canadian media. I'd never heard of the guy until a topic was posted here. And I still haven't seen him mentioned anywhere but here.
Enlightened Atheist, Gaming God.
It was negative PR that got them to do anything about Markuze at all. Not going to link, but google should suffice.
The thing is that this was an international series of offences that occurred over years, but the Montreal police were the only link in the chain that consistently failed to do anything. (I suppose the RCMP should have taken it seriously too, but they deferred to the police, and it always fizzled there.) Part of the background is that Quebec is seen by some as 'aloof' and 'insular'. "Screw them, we're not going to go after our own." That kind of thing. Whether or not that's true or fair, I can't say. But it took 'one of their own' to put the issue front and centre where they could not ignore it (a Montreal-based journalist). So it looks bad on them already that that's what it took to get them off their asses. If they let Markuze slip back into his old ways and ignore it again, it will look twice as bad, and not only will non-Quebecois complain, but so will the Quebecois who got behind it in the first place. I don't think they would be able to ignore it. Could be wrong, but I'm pretty confident about it.
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Simple. He has been a notorious idiot all over the internet for years. He has dozens of sock puppet account not only here but at many other forums and blogs as well. While he never did his worst here, he has sent out a great many death threats.
Recently, he showed up at a free thinker convention and allowed himself to be photographed. Then tracking back through the event registration records, his real name and address were finally learned. After that, there have been months of people trying to get his local police to take notice, only to go nowhere. Finally, a few weeks ago, someone set up an online petition that was set to email the police every time someone signed it.
Within a few days, the police were begging people to stop signing it as it was getting in the way of them ignoring the matter. Bad move on their part. That just got people signing it faster. Finally, they relented and sent someone over to see what was going on and apparently he was clearly so messed that he got hauled in and sent for a month long psych evaluation.
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Touche, Answers. I know about him exclusively through 2nd party and 3rd party sources, and I suspect I've had a few run ins with him on the troll board. In any case, I find it hard to believe that someone so... malignant of behavior, can be cured or even moderately alleviated of symptoms. My understanding is that you have to first actually want to get better, for mental health to improve.
/doubts
“A meritocratic society is one in which inequalities of wealth and social position solely reflect the unequal distribution of merit or skills amongst human beings, or are based upon factors beyond human control, for example luck or chance. Such a society is socially just because individuals are judged not by their gender, the colour of their skin or their religion, but according to their talents and willingness to work, or on what Martin Luther King called 'the content of their character'. By extension, social equality is unjust because it treats unequal individuals equally.” "Political Ideologies" by Andrew Heywood (2003)
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Right Kap. I doubt that he even thinks that he has a problem. In which case, he is likely to rebel against any type of treatment. Common is to decide that the patient feels fine now and just like if you take whatever the doc prescribes for a while, you are cured. Followed by stopping the meds. If the Canadian courts force it on him, this creates an even bigger problem because he will find ways to act out.
I don't know how the medical system where he is operates but down here, I have personally seen cases where, once a person is on court ordered treatment, the doctors think that they now have power to compel a specific course of treatments and that they do not have to pay attention to the patient.
Since getting psych meds balanced is a tricky process, especially for a first timer, they usually don't get it right at first. But under compelled treatment, if they don't pay any attention to side effects reported to the patient trouble is sure to happen. That happens more often that it should. Doctors being arrogant tend to blame any outcome on the patient acting out and they do not learn from their mistakes.
In any case, as soon as he is back on the streets, I am sure his first stop will be for a bottle of vodka. Then to his dealer. This will be on top of whatevere meds are in his system.
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Dude, honestly, I'm bipolar. And I wouldn't say I'm an abuser, but I drink and do other substances all the time. And I'm not even half as fucked up as this guy.
I mean, maybe he does seriously have a mental illness, and substance abuse issues, but I think he has deeper issues than that. Like, maybe he's missing some brain cells.
I hope he gets help, but I have a feeling we haven't seen the last of him...
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Hey gg, welcome back. I have not seen you around in a while.
I know what you mean though. I tend towards depression myself. When dad died, I went into the death spiral for a couple of years. As far as substances go, well, I am half Scot half Irish so yes, I drink well past what my doc would like (but really, who ever said that two shots in six hours even counts as drinking anyway?). That and I am a bass player. Whatever you think that means is probably on the conservative side.
Yah, this guy has issues beyond the obvious medical ones. I have also been a psychiatric social worker for 25 years and I can tell you that there are degrees of sick. You and I may not have it bad enough to keep us from regular activities but my stock in trade has been people who have it really bad.
Based on what I have seen him do around here (and this obviously cannot be a good opinion if only for the fact that I have never been in the same room with him), I would suspect what would be called “negative symptom schizoaffective disorder”.
Let me dissect that:
Schizo means bat shit nuts.
Affective means coupled with either depression or bipolar.
Negative symptom is complicated but it is contrasted against positive symptoms.
Positive symptoms are the odd ones. Thinking you are Jesus is an example. As is the guy who baby sat me as a kid. He thinks that there is an evil computer thousands of miles away that controls his brain.
Negative symptoms are the opposite, sort of. If you meet him in person, he will just be really not able to think clearly. He would not show much in the way of emotion or motivation. He probably does not have any friends. That sort of stuff.
In short, he is one sick puppy.
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Same here. I have moments where, for several weeks at a time, I'll feel an unnatural high of levity, self-confidence, and motivation that is almost impossible to achieve the rest of the time. I don't go around harassing and stalking people simply because I disagree with what they say. Maybe piss on their flowers a bit.
I don't think this guy could chalk up his behavior to bipolar, anymore than Mike Tyson could blame his run-ins with the law on being "manic-depressive". Use of cocaine, painkillers, or whatever the hell other stimulants Markuze might take could only be partially explained by that one condition.
What I believe lies at the core of this person's behavior is what's known as a personality disorder, and more specifically a "dramatic" or "Cluster-B" personality disorder. I estimate that anyone who has ever had severe, lasting conflicts at home, workplace, church, bar or during sports practice, knows at least one person with just such a personality. The folklore phrase "bad apples on every family tree" also applies here, in the sense of their being an estimated incidence of one out of every hundred people demonstrating behavioral traits like Markuze's.
Without writing a long-winded essay or lecture over what is admittedly an amateurish understanding of psychiatry, Markuze has a potentially life long problem that is particularly resistant to 'breakthroughs'. If true, it earmarks him as being a likely recidivist, not someone who beats their spouse then hours later is genuinely remorseful for doing so (love-hate relationship.)
“A meritocratic society is one in which inequalities of wealth and social position solely reflect the unequal distribution of merit or skills amongst human beings, or are based upon factors beyond human control, for example luck or chance. Such a society is socially just because individuals are judged not by their gender, the colour of their skin or their religion, but according to their talents and willingness to work, or on what Martin Luther King called 'the content of their character'. By extension, social equality is unjust because it treats unequal individuals equally.” "Political Ideologies" by Andrew Heywood (2003)
I'm not sure how just being "bipolar" explains behavior like that - I've known people with bipolar disorder and they still have jobs and social lives, they weren't spending hours a day for the last 10 years stalking atheists online because of some Nostradamus prophesy.
I've known people with bipolar and depression who actually have jobs and social lives, they didn't spend the last 10 years stalking atheists online over a Nostradamus prophecy. I would have assumed extreme schizophrenia.
I guess there are differing levels to mental illness - there isn't just one "bipolar". Just like there are differning levels to obsesity - one guy might weigh 250lbs, and another guy might weigh 950lbs, but both just get hit with the same label of "obese"
Optimism is reality, pessimism is the fantasy that you know enough to be cynical
I heard about him because I've seen his spam on about 5 out of the 6 forums I used to frequent.
Optimism is reality, pessimism is the fantasy that you know enough to be cynical
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You hit the nail square on the head there.
I shall not presume to speak for Greek Goddess but I will tell you that my deal is called “sub clinical”. Basically, the side effects of the medicine would be worse than the condition it could treat. So I can hold down a job but my life still sucks major.
A possibly useful comparison would be to men with high blood pressure. Some of the medications will prevent boners. Would you rather be 40 years old and never get laid again or die earlier than you could but still well after the point where you would have stopped getting laid anyway?
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