Enough is enough

Today I am sad.  More shootings.  More dead people.  Kids.  Young adults.  Drug runners.  No matter.  Humans.  They are all dead humans.

When Sandy Hook Elementary's incident became public, I felt so sad for all those kids, the ones who died and the ones who saw, heard, and experienced far more than any 5-12 year old should.  I hurt for the victims, their families, employees.  The world hurt like they did when two boys went into Columbine and the guy went into the Amish school - not to mention the guy at the mall, the sharp shooter on the tower, the kids who went on a killing spree in the 50s.

At what point is it enough?

The first thing out of the mouths (and trickling off the fingers) of certain Americans is "gun control."  Yes, this is first.  Why?  Because the NRA is smart enough to wait about 2 weeks... just long enough for the emotions to settle... before bringing up their second amendment rights.  I swear, if an hour after a huge, nationally covered incident, the NRA put out ANY public statement, people would realize how broken that group is, but alas, they are smart-broken because they don't speak up right away.  I'm convinced they know that if they spoke too soon, they would lose some of their followers; specifically the few who are not as ignorant as the blind followers.

This is not about the NRA or gun control, though.  For a few brief hours, the words on the lips of educated humans was "Mental Health".  This worked for a minute or two until extremists started pointing out how many murderers have been committed by people on medications or just coming off of medications.

Yes.  They were on medications because they had mental health issues.  You can see it as the medications leading to the problems.  I see it as someone knew there was a problem, but we didn't have the resources or knowledge to monitor them and intervene before the killings.

I do think most mental health drugs are over-prescribed and under-monitored.  This does not mean that prescribing them to people who eventually murder was a mistake.

I will say that it is incredibly naive to read the articles and information on natural solutions to mental health problems and say that the chemical drugs are the problem.  Supporters are, in my perception, people who have never had a serious mental health complication or seen one in a loved one.  Maybe they have and that person used chemical solutions which did not work perfectly.  What I know for certain is that the herbal/natural side focuses highly on success and blames failure completely on the mistakes of the individual.  It blames them and says it's their fault for not doing enough, but I have known for a fact that you can eat the way they suggest, exercise, and take their herbal solutions and still it might not be enough.  The natural community would simply find something new to blame.  At least the psychological field would say "Let's try to help."  That feels like hope.  When you have followed the herbalists suggestions, you run out of hope.

But it is never cut and dry, is it?  I'm huge on herbs and natural solutions to problems.  I avoid taking over the counter medications, am not on any prescription medications, but when I feel ill, the first thing I check is what I'm eating and what herbs I can take to get through it.  OTC is what I go to when I need more and prescription is only when the two others just aren't cutting it (which means practically never in my life).  I know the insane amounts of information out there supporting herbal/natural solutions.  I know the claims that if you hit on just the prefect combination, you'll cure cancer, never get the common cold, and avoid depression.  The problem is that just like the "success" of Zoloft, the information is biased, tainted, and incomplete.  Despite that, Zoloft people will always want their Zoloft and St. John's Wort people will always want their St. John's Wort.

The world is full of grey.  Opinionated people, imo, generally seem to take the information presented, stick it in their box, and think it's black and white.  The way I see it, there is too much evidence to both support and doubt every issue that it's no wonder opinionated people argue back and forth.  They're both right and they are both wrong.

After the shootings, I made the mistake of mentioning the need for better mental health and was bombarded with completely one-sided information about why the prescription meds are the cause of the problem (just listing what meds these violent people are on is NOT evidence that the meds are the problem, btw) which I felt completely discounted the actual point.  Yes, they are and have been on these medications.  They also are or have been diagnosed with a mental health issue which hasn't been handled properly.  Maybe they need yoga.  Maybe they need herbs.  Maybe they just need therapy to be more readily available and considered important.

In the line of only talking about the evidence YOU want to point out, other countries have better health care coverage (100% covered in the UK, Canada, etc) and they have hardly any spree killings.  Not non-existent, though, but far fewer per capita.  They also have gun control laws in those countries.  Of course, there are a thousand other factors that could account for the differences so just like I think the fact that these killers have been on meds or drugs is about as relevant as the gun control laws in other countries (which is semi-relevant, but by no means the complete story)

Aside from the medication argument, the coverage for mental health is lacking in this country.  We do not offer coverage as completely or simply as medical assistance.  Sometimes people don't know where to go.  Sometimes people can't afford the co-pay.  Sometimes there is no coverage at all and often people don't know how to find the professional to help them.

There are many things to consider here. How often does the family say they had no idea?  What's to account for this?  Slight possibility, they know that if they answer the questions of media in any way saying that the shooter had problems, the public will turn on them quickly because if the shooter has died in the incident, who is there to yell at?  The family will do in a pinch, right?

More likely I think it might be genetics.  If a person is, say, bipolar, it is likely their parents are bipolar and their siblings are bipolar.  It becomes normal to deal with those things in that house and since it didn't lead to murder or suicide within the family, how are we supposed to know the person needed help?  Exactly why there should be periodic checkups for mental health.

Once a year, insurance covers a visit to your physician for a physical.  It covers me going to my GYN annually which, if I had, might have prevented me getting a hysterectomy at age 36.  Point being, you can't force anyone to go, but perhaps if the encouragement is there...not just the option, but the encouragement and pressure, then more people could get the help they need. Even that won't stop it completely, but how many problems might it solve?  Aside from serious violence related to these shootings, I know a percentage of the population skips therapy and self medicates with alcohol, illegal drugs, etc.  Don't look at it like this will solve all of our problems, but in a world where the problems continue to grow and increase in intensity, I'll take weeding out a few problems just to deal with the rest and if we had better health coverage, maybe we would see less of this self medicating and the drug dealing industry would not be quite so heated up.

Once a year, a therapist can decide if more treatment is needed and if so, the insurance should cover it as followup or perhaps a monthly copay.  Sometimes a person who needs therapy goes once a week or more.  In contrast, let's say your physician finds out you have diabetes.  He gives you a treatment, sends you home, and follows up in 6 weeks, 3 months, then 6 months (depending).  Even if you have to pay a copay of $30, that's $30 every few months.  A therapist sees you weekly and it's $120 a month.  Perhaps they see something serious and for the first month they want to see you twice a week.  $240.  I don't know anyone whose financial situation is secure enough that $240 isn't going to add to the stress (or $120 for that matter).  That is, of course, if your insurance company recognized psychology at all.  Yes, evil Obama care is requiring better coverage for mental health.  Clearly he's out to screw us, huh?  Yeah, sarcasm probably not called for in this argument, but people are already blaming Obama for care that hasn't even kicked in yet so really I'm just mocking the uneducated or blind-trusting republicans who, again, just want to think it's easy and don't actually take in ALL the facts; just the biased reports of their side. (I am, for the record UNhappy with some of the aspect we know of Obama, care, too, but I'm willing to see how it shakes out in the wash)

Of course, then we have the problem of testing.  Therapists can ask questions, but can't be held accountable for this sort of thing.  You take blood or urine from a patient as a physician and you know with confidence the person they are testing can't learn how to fake it and you can know that the numbers mean certain very specific things.

The psychiatric industry has a much more difficult job.  Yes and no questions aren't enough to determine a person's mental health.  More research is needed here, but instead we keep sending people to the moon and looking at psychology as a "soft" science.  Is it soft because it's less important or is it soft because it isn't completely understood?

And guns.  It's a hard subject to breach.  I know why we have the right to bear arms, but it's also obvious why guns are behind these huge shootings.  Psychologically if a mentally ill person did not have access to guns, they would not automatically pick up a knife.  research shows that it's so often a gun used in these crimes because it is impersonal.  Yes, stabbing happen, but they are almost always personal attacks.  Passing laws that limit guns and require better screening is not taking away any rights.  It's just making things safer.  Without getting huge, I just have one last comment.

"If you criminalize guns, then only criminal will have guns."  And for the most part, they want to use them on each other.  Maybe we should just let the problem solve itself.