A social worker at Southern Connecticut State University has completed a study showing that support for President George W. Bush is especially high among the mentally ill.
In fact, the more severe the mental illness the greater of support. Christopher M. Lohse, the researcher, also discovered that Bush supporters showed a lower understanding of current issues, politics and government than non-supporters.
The study involved 69 psychiatric outpatients in the 2004 presidential election. The subjects completed various tests to measure their impairment.
"The funding that political preference for George Bush was associated with poor mental health is consistent with previous research on voting preference and mental illness," Lohse wrote, based on a paper published in 1977 by Frumkin and Ibrahim in "Perceptual and Motor Skills."
This appears to be a serious study, but releasing it two weeks before the election betrays a certain partisan bent.
How the mentally ill perceive the world is interesting, however. Unfortunately Lohse does not reveal the diagnoses of the 69 outpatients.
Maybe psychiatric patients have some political predictive value.
As the schizoids go, so goes the nation!
Mr. Katz raises an important question, the diagnoses of the 69 individuals in my study. While these 69 subjects suffered from a wide variety of specific diagnoses, they could all be characterized by the broad descriptor "severe and persistant mental illness." All have had multiple psychiatric hospitalizations. Particularly when not taking psychiatric medication, they see and hear hallucinations and they may also have depression, mania, drug, and/or alcohol problems. In sum, these people have disabling psychiatric disorders.
ReplyDeleteI would also like to acknowledge those at Southern Connecticut State University who worked with me in completing this research: Sharon M. Steflik, M.S.W.; Assistant Professor Misty Ginicola,Ph.D.; Professor Jaak Rakfeldt, Ph.D.; and Adjunct Professor Meghan Lowney, M.S.W.
Christopher M. Lohse, M.S.W.
Principal Invistigator,
Southern Connecticut State University Mental Health Voter Empowerment Study
So, Mr. Lohse, when exactly was this study peer reviewed, and its findings confirmed? Was there any attempt to use a control group? In other words, why should this so-called study be taken seriously, especially given the timing of its release?
ReplyDeleteWith all due respect, which there is none... I'd have to say that anyone who wanted to do a study such as this might be missing a couple screws...
ReplyDeleteGreat job done by Christopher M. Lohse,the researcher his views about mentally ill people.
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kirsten.
Connecticut Drug Addiction