IPFS
Bob Ross
More About: HealthcareWhen Can We Have an Honest Discussion on Mental Illness and the Way it is Treated?
With the recent heartbreaking event
at Sandy Hook Elementary School shaking the people of this country to their
core, both sides of the predominant political spectrum have succeeded in politicizing
the deaths of the children. Whether pro-gun control or pro-second amendment,
the emotions on both sides are running high and the debate is necessary, but
perhaps too rushed. The fact is, twenty seven people are dead not because guns
exist or there were too many gun laws, but because one man lacked the mental
stability to restrain himself from committing such an atrocity.
The
shooting is a result of mental illness above all else, and it is this cause
that we should pay close attention to. Why are we seeing more shootings by
deranged, single men even as overall gun violence is on the decline? Why do
these people share similar traits including isolation from society and
unbalanced psyche? There is an article that is making the rounds that I
recently read that brings up the problem of mental illness in relation to violence,
and while I found it an interesting and even refreshing diversion from the gun
debate I thought it lacked a coherent solution to dealing with the problems of
mental illness. In the article “'I
Am Adam Lanza's Mother': A Mom's Perspective On The Mental Illness Conversation
In America,” Lisa Long expresses empathy with the mother of the shooter
Adam Lanza as she chronicles her struggle in raising a child with what is believed
to be Asperger’s Syndrome who sometimes exhibits violent tendencies. Long does
an excellent job of showing how difficult life can be living with a child who
threatens her life, and the complexity it brings to a relationship that is one
of unconditional love.
My
concern comes when reading through the long list of prescriptions for mind
altering drugs her son has been on, and her frustration with their ineffectiveness
and even the ineffectiveness of the doctors in diagnosing her son’s condition.
This leads to another worthwhile discussion the country needs to have, with all
the advances we have made medically, why are there more cases than ever before
of people suffering from mental conditions and also why are the “solutions” as
bad as the conditions? Drugs have failed at treating mental illness of all
kinds, and have such damaging side effects that they often cause the problems
they intend to treat. Homicidal and suicidal tendencies are two of the main
side effects in psychotropic drugs, and having lived with four people who have
had legitimate mental conditions I have personally seen the terrifying effects
these drugs can have on people. Prescription medications are not only
ineffective at treating conditions; they are often times significantly more damaging.
How did
we as a society get to this point, and are drugs really the best solution we
can come up with to treat this problem? I think a paradigm shift is in order
regarding the way we think about mental illness and the way we treat it. So many people could benefit if we can
formulate a different approach to mental and physical health, and I think a
good first step would be to realize the holistic nature and interconnectedness
of the two. As science improves and we gain more knowledge, there is resurgence
in viewing humans as beings with complex systems that rely on processes that
can’t be cut, poisoned, or burned out once a part is seen as malfunctioning.
Mental health is linked with physical health, and treating the symptoms of a
condition without addressing the cause is partly why our healthcare system is
so lacking and our people are so sick. Why do we avoid what is blatantly
obvious---that as our waistlines increase, so does the incidence of mental
disorders?
Over
two-thirds of Americans are overweight or obese, and while correlation is not
always causation, how can we hope to be mentally fit if we aren’t physically
fit? I have seen first-hand how much someone who suffers from something as
serious as schizophrenia can be significantly helped by given nutrient dense
food, exercise, and ample sunlight along with the elimination of drugs and
denatured food. After testing this on myself, and also seeing it benefit people
I know, I can see a huge difference in how denatured food affects our mental
processes. I have felt a tremendous difference in my mental and physical health
after cutting out processed foods and switching to a diet high in healthy
saturated fats, plenty of fresh fruits and veggies, adequate sunlight, and some
supplements. More and more research is coming out linking mental and physical
health, and more people are feeling the difference in their health when they
make the change. I have been seeing more articles like this one “Hannah’s
Story: 2 Years on GAPS Diet Reverses Autism” that show parents taking a more
proactive role in their child’s diet. With diabetes rates and other diseases
that normally affect older people at an all-time high limiting the lives of
children, the effects of denatured, high sugar diets are apparent.
Can a
change in diet cure the darkest mental disorders? Absolutely not. Modern
medicine has its place in treating a variety of physical problems. I am also
not making the case that this or any tragedy could have been prevented by
proper nutrition as life is never that simplistic, but I am saying that we need
to re-focus our efforts on how we treat these illnesses. Drugs don’t work, but
we can work together to find something that does, or at least is much, much
better and far less damaging. My generation was the guinea pigs for psychotropic
drugs and attention disorder drugs, and I believe we are seeing the fruits of
this flawed approach manifest in these outbursts of extreme violence from
people in my age range. We are also seeing another approach surface—one based
on using the foods we were created to eat to treat the physical and mental
problems we are developing as a result of malnutrition. Americans didn’t get
sick physically or mentally overnight, and all of these health problems cannot
be fixed with a pill.
Throughout history there have
always been people who commit violent, irrational acts, and I want to be very
clear that I am not trying to completely diagnose the “why” of this tragic
situation, but I do see it as a symptom of a society that treats the causes of
mental illness with mystery instead of logic and quick fixes instead of
painstaking, long term efforts. I am optimistic that in every tragedy there is
a lesson to be learned, and that working together to formulate real solutions
to the issue of treating mental illness we can at the very least correct a
broken approach and possibly even raise a less violence prone, healthier
generation. We owe it to future generations to give them a better start
especially those victims of mental illness and the victims of its effects. By
opening and expanding the discussion we can start working on long term, meaningful
solutions. My heart and prayers go out to those affected by the actions of an
unstable man, and I sincerely hope the families find closure and peace in these
troubling times.
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5 Comments in Response to When Can We Have an Honest Discussion on Mental Illness and the Way it is Treated?
Medicine has always been an attempt to defeat Darwin. The more sophisticated your medicine gets, the more previously unviable patients you save. Though most patients' problems do not make them a danger to themselves or others, some of the patients "saved" are. We endangered society greatly when we began using our streets as "extension prisons" for violent criminals -- now we endanger it further by using them as "extension hospitals" for dangerous patients.
Thanks, PureTrust. Yes, I think vaccines and many pharmaceuticals are having a significant affect on the brains of Americans. I don't think the extreme rise in vaccinations over the past fifty years and the rise in autism and other brain disorders is a coincidence.
Take a look at the Freedom's Phoenix article about Italian courts judgments on the source of autism. It has to do with vaccinations. Do you think, maybe, that medications have do do with all kinds of erratic behaviors among people?
http://www.freedomsphoenix.com/Discussion-Page.htm?EdNo=001&Info=112089&View=Hide
Also, take a look at my comment in that article.
Note: If you are using a recent version of the Firefox browser, simply highlight the above link, and then right click it. You will be given options about how to open the link. Try it.
There also seems to be something to the idea that we live in a world that is increasingly connected by social media, yet decreasing in real life social relationships. People, especially younger people I've noticed, substitute real human interaction with online, virtual communication. This seems like a potentially damaging phenomenon to the social fabric of our society. The internet becomes a blessing and a curse as it increase our awareness of the far away world, but replaces face to face human interaction with something lacking the emotional connection we need the thrive as humans.
Are we more connected yet lonelier than ever before? The chemical reaction our brains produce when around real people I think is different than what we can get out of purely online relationships, and the increasing separation of the family is also a result. You raise a good point, the boy's father was missing from his life, and this is always a concern. Children need both parents active in their life, and the more the family structure suffers, the more the children suffer, and that can lead to drugging for a condition that could be treated with a healthy relationship with both parents.
Good stuff here. We're trying to solve a problem. The talking heads just want us all to feel sad about it, as though it can't be prevented. I've had a simple theory for a long time: when people feel anonymous, they can turn mean. We need a sense of inclusion. Isolation breeds aggression.
It's interesting that so many of these shooters turn out to be boys this age. (This one looks like a little dweeb generally ignored.) It's a time when parents sound like bartenders after last call: "You gotta go some place, cause you can't stay here."
With this one, already little hints of the malaise: Dad gone some time ago. Hasn't heard from brother in a couple years. I don't see a list of his friends. I wonder if he felt very much alone.
The guns are a symptom, but, you know, it might take a little more out of you to have to kill a little kid with an ax.