I guess that the Atlanta Police Department will hire T.I. for their C.I.T. team. (Crisis Intervention Team) Probably Not! This, in my opinion, was a terrible PR Stunt. I guess by now we all realize that T.I.’s (Clifford Harris) Federal Court date is coming-up this Friday. I believe that it is on Friday. (confirm in the tabloids) This plot is unacceptable in light of the rivoting rate of suicide completion by African-American males in this country. Depression and Suicide have taken a very serious foot-hold in our community and this is scary. T.I., Suicide is no game and I am NOT sure that you have the clinical skills to talk down an actively suicidal patient. Here in America, Suicide is a Medical Emergency and should be handled by properly trained”clinical” professionals. This disease is very serious and could lead to a lot of liability if not handled clinically appropriate. Yesterday, seemed to be a scene out of a bad “mental health” movie! Now, on the flip side T.I., if your clinical intervention (the recorded video) went awry, would your insurance handle that liability associated with the possible adverse outcome? I can not understand why anyone would even participate in such a stunt. Was the radio station in on this PR stunt, also? Atlanta has its ups and downs in its reputation, however I hope that we don’t begin playing with the psychiatric emergency of “suicide.”
In my opinion, yesterday was just a bad PR stunt! As a trained Psychiatrist, it usually does not go down like that my dear readers. Mr. Harris, no matter how much we do in the community, people tend to remember our vulnerabilities especially once exposed. You have done a lot for the community, but the driving while intoxicated and failure to honor your probation requirements, just has to be dealt with in a court of law. T.I. you are a role model. With this, you should want to present behaviors, at all times, that point young people in the direction of success. Your issues with the “Purple Drank” just didn’t make sense to me several weeks ago.
Peace Out,
Dr.O
