'Mental illness' is not the same as 'mental competence'. There's a movement today to get rid of the term 'mental' from 'mental illness' because illnesses like schizophrenia, depression, and bipolar disorder are diseases like diabetes and cancer - there's no reason to stigmatize them by putting them in a separate category. And then people won't equate 'illness' with 'competence'.
While I think that suicide bombers are not 'mentally competent' (that's not quite the right term either - I would say 'morally competent'), I don't think that the majority of them suffer from bipolar disorder or schizophrenia.
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Re: Suicide Bombers, & Suicide
Date: 2005-07-14 05:17 pm (UTC)There's a movement today to get rid of the term 'mental' from 'mental illness' because illnesses like schizophrenia, depression, and bipolar disorder are diseases like diabetes and cancer - there's no reason to stigmatize them by putting them in a separate category. And then people won't equate 'illness' with 'competence'.
While I think that suicide bombers are not 'mentally competent' (that's not quite the right term either - I would say 'morally competent'), I don't think that the majority of them suffer from bipolar disorder or schizophrenia.