The day after the tragic shooting in Tucson, Arizona, I was shocked when I heard the reactions from many politicians and the media. Almost all were blaming each other, taking responsibility and motivation off of the shooter and placing it onto each other! Blaming harsh political rhetoric. Blaming gun control laws. This only contributed to the insanity of the event. My guess is that, because it occurred during a political event, they jumped to the conclusion that it was committed with political motivation. In the days that followed, the blame has died down and popular consensus is that the shooter was mentally ill.
DUH.
This mentally ill man could have just as easily been obsessed with a neighbor, rock star, or grocery store clerk. Would the politicians and media have blamed the neighborhoods, musicians, or food stores for a similar slaying? Were the Rolling Stones or Bob Dylan blamed when John Lennon was killed?
As they say in AA, “It’s not all about you.” and “You’re not all that!”
The media and politicians missed the real story: MENTAL ILLNESS. Here was a perfect opportunity to educate the public about mental illness.
The crime lies in the stigma, ignorance, and lack of involvement of communities.
Mental illness is a disease of the brain. It is a PHYSICAL disease that manifests in abnormal feelings, beliefs, experiences, and behavior. Most people still do not realize that clinical depression, anxiety, panic disorders, schizophrenia, bipolar disorders, and other mental illnesses are PHYSICAL diseases that occur in the brain. As physical a disease as cancer, diabetes, or arteriolosclerosis.
People are scared of the mentally ill. It’s only natural. We fear what we don’t understand. Our vocabulary illustrates these fears:
CRAZY, LOONEY-TUNES, NUTS, MISSING SOME MARBLES, DAFT, LOOPY, SCREWY, WIGGED-OUT.
The politically correct have learned not to use the words GIMP, SPASTIC, DEAF AND DUMB, BLIND AS A BAT, RETARD, or CRIPPLE. It’s time we give the same respect to the mentally ill.
I was very heartened by President Obama’s speech/eulogy. Not once did he mention the shooter’s name. Nor will I. There should be no fame attached to crime.
The true crime lies in the stigma, ignorance, and lack of involvement of family, friends, neighbors, and communities.
So, what can you personally do? Educate yourself. Learn the facts. Learn the symptoms. The best place to start is www.nami.org. The NATIONAL ALLIANCE ON MENTAL ILLNESS. They offer mental health support, education, and advocacy. Go to www.psychologytoday.com. Learn what you can do to help if someone you know has a mental illness.
If everyone who feared that shooter had stepped forward, had warned others, had tried to get him, help, maybe this tragedy could have been avoided. How? The MOBILE CRISIS UNIT can be called 24 hours a day, in all areas of the country. You can seek advice and a plan of action. Look online for hot lines and warm lines. There is help.
Call 911. However, laws that protect the mentally ill from being hospitalized against their will are also the cause of so many left untreated. Unless you are clearly a threat to yourself or others, you cannot be hospitalized or treated involuntarily. Mental illness is a family illness. Everyone is affected. Families suffer. For example, if a person has just threatened suicide with a plan, and then denies it to the mobile crisis team, there is nothing they can do. That is why the mentally ill sometimes have to hit bottom (suicide attempt, crime, near-death) before they can get help. Often the mentally ill lack insight and awareness, as judgment and sense are functions of the brain. There must be a better way to help the afflicted during times of crisis.
Let us not miss this moment in our history. Let us use this tragedy to pursue treatment and cure. Ask Congress to fund more research into mental illness. Prisons are filled with the mentally ill. If we put $ into treatment and cure, drug addiction and alcoholism (self-medication), crime, and violence would fade away.
Kathleen Cairns, Psy.D. is a licensed clinical psychologist in private practice in West Hartford, Connecticut. She works with adults, adolescents, and couples. You may call her at 860-236-5555 to make an appointment. She is the author of “The Psychotherapy Workbook.” You may email her at kathleen.cairns@mac.com and she will try to answer as many of your questions as possible.
www.kathleencairns.com
Life goes on… and every day matters…
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Clearly the guy is mentally ill – I don’t think there’s ever been any question about that. As I understand it, schizophrenia typically begins to manifest itself in men during the teen years. There’s ample evidence that Loughner has been exhibiting signs for quite a while.
That said, the kid is anti-government, and that is a political position. Just because it doesn’t fit the narrative of right or left doesn’t mean this was not a political act. It just means it’s hard for partisan pundits to discuss it within the agenda they try to fulfill to maintain ratings on an hourly basis.
It is illegal to yell “fire” in a crowded theater for a reason – people react. The guy was clearly hearing voices of some kind, and unfortunately a lot of those voices weren’t just in his head. We all heard them. The crosshairs and the “2nd amendment remedy” signs are basically unconscionable and those politicos will never live them down. They are advocating armed insurrection and murder. Plain and simple. In this event, they got what they were seeking and now are afraid to take their lumps for it. It’s good that the worst offenders have been highlighted in the discussion because there’s no place for it in a civil discourse.
I thought John Dankosky did an excellent show on the topic:
http://www.yourpublicmedia.org/node/9568
Hart’s point was a good one – disconnecting the rhetoric from the violence is like suggesting Hitler wasn’t responsible for the Holocaust.
It’s also worth noting that mediamatters.org is reporting that there have been three assassination attempts thwarted and attributed by family members to Glenn Beck’s message:
http://mediamatters.org/research/201101130002?lid=1152376&rid=58069000
And are they listening? I read a post this morning reporting that Rush Limbaugh played the song “I Shot the Sheriff” on his show yesterday. He only uses music on the show as a snarky message. He’s daring another nutjob to shoot the sheriff in Tuscon. Message is plain, obvious, and inappropriate.
Let’s the lack of attention to mental illness doesn’t get worse in these years of budget deficits. It’s already difficult to diagnose.
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