Mental Healthcare Crisis & Wag The Dog Politics

I have to say that I have been appalled at the capitalization of the Tuscon, AZ tragedy for political purposes. Even more disturbing than that is the fact that the mental illness factor was so terribly overshadowed by politicians trying to attach the shooter’s motive to Sarah Palin or the Tea Party or the Right-Wing Republicans, rather than face the real, hard-core issue which is the mental health crisis in America.

No. 

That would take too long.  

Too much money to fix and and too much time and energy to deal with.

So, let’s blame it on guns and change the gun laws.

Or, let’s “wag the dog” and attach the shooter’s motive to crosshair targets on a political map, or Sarah Palin saying,  Don’t retreat. Reload.  That will shift the shooter’s culpability, satisfy our political agendas and successfully divert attention away from the messy, messy REAL problem of the mental health care crisis in America. 

According to a statement put out by Michael J. Fitzpatrick, Executive Director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI):

Nationwide, the mental health care system is broken. Arizona, like other states, has deeply cut mental health services. Arizona has a broad civil commitment law to require treatment if it is needed; however, the law cannot work if an evaluation is never conducted or mental health services are not available.

After almost every public shooting (by definition, where 4 or more people are shot within a 24-hour period) most of the shooters showed signs of mental illness sometime prior to the shooting.  Interviews with family, neighbors, friends and co-workers are very telling.  Perhaps most would testify that they new the person was a little “off” in some way but they never thought they would resort to violence. 

According to Mr. Fitzpatrick’s statement:

When tragedies involving mental illness occur, it is essential to understand the nature of mental illness-and to find out what went wrong.

The U.S. Surgeon General has reported that the likelihood of violence from people with mental illness is low. In fact, "the overall contribution of mental disorders to the total level of violence in society is exceptionally small." Acts of violence are exceptional. They are a sign that something has gone terribly wrong, usually in the mental healthcare system.

So what is the solution?  Tougher gun laws? Spewing hateful political rhetoric?  How about changing the laws that govern mental health care and instead of taking away funding for community mental health facilities, give them the resources they need to help the individuals and their families?  What a novel idea! 

Identify the Problem – AND FIX IT!

I've previously blogged about our little 87-yr old family friend. After just a few months of caring for her in our home, we realized that the behavior we had been attributing to aging diseases was much more than that.  Her auditory hallucinations were, in her doctor’s words, way beyond what people experience with Alzheimer’s.  Yet, when I asked her doctor about prescribing an antipsychotic as they became more frequent and severe, he refused because the hallucinations didn’t seem to bother her.  Never once did he recommend mental health care, or a mental evaluation.  My pleas for medication or help or education or something in order to learn how to deal with her and help her, went largely ignored. As long as she didn’t think she needed help, her doc was okay with that.

Being her healthcare POA was not enough.  If she refused the medication, he could not give it to her. Well, of course she refused it.  The 10 named people inside her head were her friends and were very real to her.  She could not grasp the fact that conversing with them through the television or fireplace or thin air was a sign that they did not actually exist. They were REAL to her and I and my family were the ones who were, in her words, “not thinking correctly.”  I am pleased to report that we have since switched doctors, had an evaluation and she is now getting the help she needs and is handling life much better!

So, no.  The AZ tragedy was less about political rhetoric and more about mental illness. 

• When I hear a politician or other leader say something like, Don’t retreat.  Reload. I don’t run and load the .357.  I understand they are speaking figuratively about standing your ground for what you believe in.

• People who are able to think rationally do not have the delusion that shooting one politician is going to change our corrupt silly government.

• People in their right minds do not look at a political map with crosshair targets on it and believe that it means to literally gun down each representative in the designated areas, as well as multiple innocent bystanders.

I speak from experience with our little friend when I say that any word or image that gets tossed around in the broken mind of a person who is mentally ill, if they are not being treated for their illness, has the potential to take on a life of its own.  Mentally ill people do not know they are ill and therefore, will not ask for help.  Their conscious dreams or hallucinations are real to them.  Their delusions of grandeur or paranoid hallucinations are real to them.  Additionally, if the family lacks the emotional, physical, legal and practical resources to help their family member, they will not be able to intervene before something goes “terribly wrong” at the hands of the person who is ill.

We do not need the gun laws changed in America and we certainly don’t need more wag-the-dog politics.  We need to face the mental healthcare crisis in America, and fix it.

Those who want to take this tragedy and turn it into something good will bring awareness to the mental healthcare crisis in our country.  

Those who want to use it for political fodder will continue to do that as well.  

I hope and pray that for once, the issue of mental health will be addressed on the level it needs to be so that individuals and families will get the resources and rights they need to protect themselves and our society.

Hey... 

You wanna put something in the crosshair?

Make it the mental healthcare crisis - and help turn tragedy into triumph!