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You Don't Have to Be Adam Lanza's Mother to Make a Statement

Posted: 12/18/2012 12:12 pm
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I am so troubled by people saying that mental health is the REAL issue that needs to be addressed in the wake of the Newtown tragedy. People with mental health challenges have to deal with enough unwarranted stigmatization and marginalization as it is. People with Autism, Asperger's Sydrome, ADHD, chronic depression, chronic anxiety, personality disorders, and other mental health challenges are, on the whole, non-violent and law-abiding citizens.

Many of the people dearest to me have mental health challenges. I have spent a great deal of time in my life getting to know people from across the Autism spectrum. They are among the kindest and gentlest I have ever known. I happen to have my own mental health challenges as well. I used to be self-injurious and I still suffer from acute depression and anxiety. It's not an easy thing for me to discuss without cracking wise (this is my defence mechanism) but I will do my best, considering the gravity of this issue.

Liza Long's now-viral blog post is being heralded as "brave" and "powerful." I believe it is neither. "Michael," Long's undiagnosed 13-year-old son, is no doubt a child with behavioural challenges that need to be addressed. My heart goes out to him and to his family. And, yes, we need to do better in the United States and Canada to provide free and accessible health care for people like Michael.

I have no problem with the idea that we need to talk about mental illness. We absolutely do. But let's take a close look at the language and its implications here. Long writes: "Now is the time to talk about mental illness ... That's the only way our nation can ever truly heal." Why? Why is NOW the time for a discussion about mental illness? A very dubious link is being made between Michael's rage issues in his formative years and the monstrous act that Adam Lanza committed on December 14, 2012. The manner in which Long and the media have been using terms like Autism and Asperger's prompted the Autism Research Institute to release a very carefully worded statement on the tragedy.

The truth is, the great majority of people with Autism, Asperger's Syndrome, as well as those with other forms of mental health challenges are not to be feared. As Dr. Heather Stuart quite rightly points out, "mental disorders are neither necessary, nor sufficient causes of violence. The major determinants of violence continue to be socio-demographic and socio-economic factors such as being young, male, and of lower socio-economic status ... [Further], members of the public undoubtedly exaggerate both the strength of the relationship between major mental disorders and violence, as well as their own personal risk from the severely mentally ill."

It's difficult to comprehend that an argument based on facts (such as Stuart's) may go largely unnoticed and an argument based purely on feelings (such as Long's) is currently being lauded as persuasive and groundbreaking. I believe we have been taken in too easily by the myth of the "violent madman" whether it be through depictions in entertainment or by the media. In fact, Stuart's and countless other studies have concluded that those with mental health challenges are more likely to be victims of violent crimes. The last quote I will take from Stuart is an important one because it takes us back to the issue of "the REAL issue": "Too much past research has focused on the person with the mental illness, rather than the nature of the social interchange that led up to the violence."

What is the nature of the social interchange that led to the Newtown tragedy? Or, to put it more bluntly, what was the specific context? Here's what we know. In fact: Adam Lanza's mother was a gun enthusiast and actively participated with Adam in gun culture. She reportedly "loved" her guns and allowed her son access to them. Her guns included two traditional hunting rifles, and three guns that are basically unsuitable for hunting -- two handguns and a semi-automatic rifle. These are the three killing machines that Adam Lanza took with him that morning, after killing his mother, to Sandy Hook Elementary School where he slaughtered 20 young children and six more adults. This twisted element of North American culture where, for some reason, people feel the need to fill their homes with killing machines commonly referred to as guns (and let's face it, guns have no other purpose) and to "love" these killing machines is the real issue here. There is no reasonably intelligent argument for the inclusion of guns in our culture. Full stop. The second amendment is outdated and needs to be repealed immediately.

I have faith that Liza Long's blog post was a genuine attempt to start a discourse on mental health. For that reason, I am thankful she wrote it. I would guess that she loves her children very much and wants what's best for them. This is why I hope she will see the problematic rhetoric in her proclamation of kinship and solidarity with Adam Lanza's mother. It is a much more powerful and brave message to say: "I will not provide my son with a similar context. I will not participate in my country's love affair with guns. I am not Adam Lanza's mother. I am Michael's mother."

Loading Slideshow...

  • Twenty-seven small U.S. flags adorn a large flag on a makeshift memorial on the side of Highway 84 near the Newtown, Conn., town line as residents mourn victims killed by gunman Adam Lanza, Monday, Dec. 17, 2012. On Friday, authorities say Lanza killed his mother at their home and then opened fire inside the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, killing 26 people, including 20 children, before taking his own life. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

  • In this photo taken with a fisheye lens, a message honoring the victims that died a day earlier when a gunman opened fire at an elementary hang from a bridge near Hawley Pond, Saturday, Dec. 15, 2012, in Newtown, Conn. The massacre of 26 children and adults at Sandy Hook Elementary school elicited horror and soul-searching around the world even as it raised more basic questions about why the gunman, 20-year-old Adam Lanza, would have been driven to such a crime and how he chose his victims. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

  • Mourners carry ornaments to decorate the Christmas trees at one of the makeshift memorials for the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims, Monday,Dec. 17, 2012 in Newtown, Conn. Authorities say gunman Adam Lanza killed his mother at their home on Friday and then opened fire inside the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, killing 26 people, including 20 children, before taking his own life. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

  • Crayons sit on a table outside of a barbershop a day after a gunman opened fire at Sandy Hook Elementary School, Saturday, Dec. 15, 2012, in the Sandy Hook village of Newtown, Conn. The massacre of 26 children and adults at Sandy Hook Elementary school elicited horror and soul-searching around the world even as it raised more basic questions about why the gunman, 20-year-old Adam Lanza, would have been driven to such a crime and how he chose his victims. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

  • Crayons sit on a table outside of a barbershop a day after a gunman opened fire at Sandy Hook Elementary School, Saturday, Dec. 15, 2012, in the Sandy Hook village of Newtown, Conn. The massacre of 26 children and adults at Sandy Hook Elementary school elicited horror and soul-searching around the world even as it raised more basic questions about why the gunman, 20-year-old Adam Lanza, would have been driven to such a crime and how he chose his victims. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

  • Tamara Doherty

    Shop owner Tamara Doherty, paces outside her store just down the road from Sandy Hook Elementary School, Saturday, Dec. 15, 2012, in Newtown, Conn. The massacre of 26 children and adults at Sandy Hook Elementary school elicited horror and soul-searching around the world even as it raised more basic questions about why the gunman, 20-year-old Adam Lanza, would have been driven to such a crime and how he chose his victims. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

  • Tamara Doherty, Jackie Gaudet

    Shop owners Tamara Doherty, left, and Jackie Gaudet, right, meet outside their stores for the first time since being neighbors, just down the road from Sandy Hook Elementary School, Saturday, Dec. 15, 2012, in Newtown, Conn. The massacre of 26 children and adults at Sandy Hook Elementary school elicited horror and soul-searching around the world even as it raised more basic questions about why the gunman, 20-year-old Adam Lanza, would have been driven to such a crime and how he chose his victims. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

  • Kristin Hoyt

    Kristin Hoyt, 18, of Danbury, Conn., ties a balloon to an overpass up the road from the Sandy Hook Elementary School, Saturday, Dec. 15, 2012, in Newtown, Conn. The massacre of 26 children and adults at Sandy Hook Elementary school elicited horror and soul-searching around the world even as it raised more basic questions about why the gunman, 20-year-old Adam Lanza, would have been driven to such a crime and how he chose his victims. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

  • A Newtown, Conn., resident, who declined to give her name, sits at an intersection holding a sign for passing motorists up the road from the Sandy Hook Elementary School, Saturday, Dec. 15, 2012, in Newtown, Conn. The massacre of 26 children and adults at Sandy Hook Elementary school elicited horror and soul-searching around the world even as it raised more basic questions about why the gunman, 20-year-old Adam Lanza, would have been driven to such a crime and how he chose his victims. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

  • A snowflake ornament with the name of 6-year-old Noah Pozner hangs on a Christmas tree at a makeshift memorial in the Sandy Hook village of Newtown, Conn., Monday, Dec. 17, 2012, as the town mourns victims killed in Friday's school shooting. Pozner, who was killed Friday when gunman Adam Lanza opened fire inside the Sandy Hook Elementary School, will be buried Monday. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

  • Twenty-seven small U.S. flags adorn a large flag on a makeshift memorial on the side of Highway 84 near the Newtown, Conn., town line as residents mourn victims killed by gunman Adam Lanza, Monday, Dec. 17, 2012. Authorities say Lanza killed his mother at their home and then opened fire inside the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, killing 26 people, including 20 children, before taking his own life, on Friday. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

  • Jamie Duncan, 16, of Newtown, Conn., lights a candle at one of the makeshift memorials for the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims, Monday,Dec. 17, 2012 in Newtown, Conn. Authorities say gunman Adam Lanza killed his mother at their home on Friday and then opened fire inside the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, killing 26 people, including 20 children, before taking his own life. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

  • A mourner carries a giant Winnie the Pooh stuffed animal to place at one of the makeshift memorials for the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims, Monday,Dec. 17, 2012 in Newtown, Conn. Authorities say gunman Adam Lanza killed his mother at their home on Friday and then opened fire inside the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, killing 26 people, including 20 children, before taking his own life. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

  • A hearse arrives at B'nai Israel Cemetery with the body of Noah Pozner, a six-year-old killed in an elementary school shooting, during funeral services, Monday, Dec. 17, 2012, in Monroe, Conn. Authorities say gunman Adam Lanza killed his mother at their home on Friday and then opened fire inside the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, killing 26 people, including 20 children, before taking his own life. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

  • People arrive at B'nai Israel Cemetery during burial services for Noah Pozner, a six-year-old killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, Monday, Dec. 17, 2012, in Monroe, Conn. Authorities say gunman Adam Lanza killed his mother at their home on Friday and then opened fire inside the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, killing 26 people, including 20 children, before taking his own life. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

  • Veronika Pozner

    Veronique Pozner waves to the assembled media as she leaves after a funeral service for her 6-year-old son Noah Pozner, Monday, Dec. 17, 2012, in Fairfield, Conn. Noah Pozner was killed when Adam Lanza walked into Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., Friday and opened fire, killing 26 people, including 20 children. (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow)

  • Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

    Twenty seven wooden stand in a yard down the street from the Sandy Hook School December 16, 2012 in Newtown, Connecticut. Twenty-six people were shot dead, including twenty children, after a gunman identified as Adam Lanza opened fire at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Lanza also reportedly had committed suicide at the scene. A 28th person, believed to be Nancy Lanza, found dead in a house in town, was also believed to have been shot by Adam Lanza. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

  • Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

    Newtown residents Claire Swanson, Kate Suba, Jaden Albrecht, Simran Chand and New London, Connecticut residents Rachel Pullen and her son Landon DeCecco, hold candles at a memorial for victims on the first Sunday following the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 16, 2012 in Newtown, Connecticut. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

  • Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

    U.S. President Barack Obama waits to speak at an interfaith vigil for the shooting victims from Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 16, 2012 at Newtown High School in Newtown, Connecticut. (Photo by Olivier Douliery-Pool/Getty Images)

  • Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

    Eknoor Kaur, 3, stands with her father Guramril Singh during a candlelight vigil outside Newtown High School before an interfaith vigil with President Barack Obama, Sunday, Dec. 16, 2012, in Newtown, Conn. A gunman walked into Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown Friday and opened fire, killing 26 people, including 20 children. (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow)

  • Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

    New London, Connecticut resident Rachel Pullen (C) kisses her son Landon DeCecco at a memorial for victims near the school on the first Sunday following the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 16, 2012 in Newtown, Connecticut. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

  • Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

    US President Barack Obama speaks during a memorial service for the victims and relatives of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting on December 16, 2012 in Newtown, Connecticut. Twenty-six people were killed when a gunman entered Sandy Hook Elementary and began a shooting spree. AFP PHOTO/Mandel NGAN

  • Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

    A woman covers her face as US President Barack Obama reads out the names of children killed during Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting at a interfaith memorial for victims and relatives at the Newtown High School on December 16, 2012 in Newtown, Connecticut. Twenty-six people were killed when a gunman entered Sandy Hook Elementary and began a shooting spree. AFP PHOTO/Mandel NGAN

  • Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

    A woman pays respects at a memorial outside of St. Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church, Sunday, Dec. 16, 2012, in Newtown, Conn. On Friday, a gunman allegedly killed his mother at their home and then opened fire inside the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, killing 26 people, including 20 children. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

  • Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

    Residents wait for the start of an interfaith vigil for the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting on Sunday, Dec. 16, 2012 at Newtown High School in Newtown, Conn. A gunman walked into Sandy Hook Elementary School Friday and opened fire, killing 26 people, including 20 children. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

  • Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

    Cheryl Girardi, of Middletown, Conn., kneels beside 26 teddy bears, each representing a victim of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, at a sidewalk memorial, Sunday, Dec. 16, 2012, in Newtown, Conn. A gunman walked into Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown Friday and opened fire, killing 26 people, including 20 children.(AP Photo/David Goldman)

  • Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

    Connecticut State Police officers respond to a bomb threat outside of St. Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church, Sunday, Dec. 16, 2012, in Newtown, Conn. Worshippers hurriedly left the church Sunday, not far from where a gunman opened fire Friday inside the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

  • Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

    Ava Staiti, 7, of New Milford, Conn., looks up at her mother Emily Staiti, not pictured, while visiting a sidewalk memorial with 26 teddy bears, each representing a victim of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, Sunday, Dec. 16, 2012, in Newtown, Conn. A gunman walked into Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown Friday and opened fire, killing 26 people, including 20 children. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

  • Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

    This photo provided by the family shows Jessica Rekos. Rekos, 6, was killed Friday, Dec. 14, 2012, when a gunman opened fire at Sandy Hook Elementary School, in Newtown, Conn., killing 26 children and adults at the school, before killing himself. (AP Photo/Courtesy of Rekos Family)

  • Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

    A U.S. flag flies at half staff outside the Newtown High School before President Barack Obama is scheduled to attend a memorial for the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, Sunday, Dec. 16, 2012, in Newtown, Conn. A gunman walked into Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown Friday and opened fire, killing 26 people, including 20 children. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

  • Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

    David Freedman, right, kneels with his son Zachary, 9, both of Newtown, Conn., as they visit a sidewalk memorial for the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims, Sunday, Dec. 16, 2012, in Newtown, Conn. A gunman walked into Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown Friday and opened fire, killing 26 people, including 20 children. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

  • Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

    A man reacts at the site of a makeshift memorial for school shooting victims in Newtown, Conn., Sunday, Dec. 16, 2012. A gunman opened fire at Sandy Hook Elementary School in the town, killing 26 people, including 20 children before killing himself on Friday. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

  • Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

    People wait in line to attend an interfaith vigil with President Barack Obama, Sunday, Dec. 16, 2012, in Newtown, Conn. A gunman walked into Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown Friday and opened fire, killing 26 people, including 20 children. (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow)

  • Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

    Residents greet each other before the start of an interfaith vigil for the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting on Sunday, Dec. 16, 2012 at Newtown High School in Newtown, Conn. A gunman walked into Sandy Hook Elementary School Friday and opened fire, killing 26 people, including 20 children. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)

  • Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

    Residents greet each other before the start of an interfaith vigil for the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting on Sunday, Dec. 16, 2012, at Newtown High School in Newtown, Conn. A gunman walked into the school Friday and opened fire, killing 26 people, including 20 children. President Barack Obama is to scheduled to speak at the event. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)

  • Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

    Residents greet each other before the start of an interfaith vigil for the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting on Sunday, Dec. 16, 2012, at Newtown High School in Newtown, Conn. A gunman walked into the elementary school Friday and opened fire, killing 26 people, including 20 children. President Barack Obama is scheduled to speak during the vigil. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)

  • Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

    This image provided by the family shows Grace McDonnell posing for a portrait in this family photo taken Aug. 18, 2012. Grace McDonnell was killed Friday, Dec. 14, 2012, when a gunman opened fire at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., killing 26 children and adults at the school. (AP Photo/Courtesy of the McDonnell Family)

  • Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

    This Nov. 18, 2012 photo provided by John Engel shows Olivia Engel, 6, in Danbury, Conn. Olivia Engel, was killed Friday, Dec. 14, 2012, when a gunman opened fire at Sandy Hook Elementary School, in Newtown, Conn., killing 26 children and adults at the school. (AP Photo/Engel Family, Tim Nosezo)

  • Emilie Alice Parker

    This 2012 photo provided by the family shows Emilie Alice Parker. Parker was killed Friday, Dec. 14, 2012, when a gunman opened fire at Sandy Hook elementary school in Newtown, Conn., killing 26 children and adults at the school. (AP Photo/Courtesy of the Parker Family)

  • Noah Pozner

    This Nov. 13, 2012 photo provided by the family via The Washington Post shows Noah Pozner. The six-year-old was one of the victims in the Sandy Hook elementary school shooting in Newtown, Conn. on Dec. 14, 2012. (AP Photo/Family Photo)

  • Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

    This handout image provided by ABC News, shows Nancy J. Lanza mother of suspected mass shooter Adam Lanza at an unspecified time and place. Twenty six people were shot dead, including twenty children, after a gunman identified as Adam Lanza opened fire at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Lanza also reportedly had committed suicide at the scene. A 28th person, believed to be Nancy Lanza was found dead in a house in town, was also believed to have been shot by Adam Lanza. (Family of Nancy Lanza / ABC News / Getty Images)

  • Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

    <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20121215/us-school-shooting-victims/?utm_hp_ref=homepage&ir=homepage">Lauren Rousseau, 30,</a> had started a job as a full-time teacher at Sandy Hook Elementary School this fall. She was killed in the Dec. 14 shooting at the school.

  • Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

    School psychologist Mary Sherlach, 56, was killed during an attempt to stop gunman Adam Lanza during the Dec. 14 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20121215/us-school-shooting-victims/?utm_hp_ref=homepage&ir=homepage">Sherlach and school principal Dawn Hochsprung</a> reportedly both lunged at Lanza in an attempt to protect the school's students and teachers. Both Sherlach and Hochsprung were killed.

  • Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

    Victoria Soto, a 27-year-old teacher, was killed in the Dec. 14 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Her cousin, Jim Wiltsie, told ABC that Soto, a teacher, died while shielding her young students from the gunman, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20121215/us-school-shooting-victims/?utm_hp_ref=homepage&ir=homepage">according to the AP.</a>

  • Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

    <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/14/sandy-hook-principal-dawn-hochsprung_n_2303944.html">Sandy Hook Elementary School Principal Dawn Lafferty Hochsprung</a>, 47, was killed as she, along with school psychologist Mary Sherlach, attempted to overtake gunman Adam Lanza during the Dec. 14 mass shooting at the school. Hochsprung and Sherlach reportedly both lunged at Lanza in an effort to defend the students and teachers at the school. Both women were killed.

  • Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

    This photo posted to the Emilie Parker Fund Facebook page shows Emilie Parker. Fighting back tears and struggling to catch his breath, Robbie Parker the father of 6-year-old Emile Parker who was gunned down in Friday's school shooting in Connecticut told the world about a little girl who loved to draw and was always smiling, and he also reserved surprising words of sympathy for the gunman. (AP Photo/Emilie Parker Fund)

  • Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

    Shop owner Tamara Doherty paces outside her store just down the road from Sandy Hook Elementary School, Saturday, Dec. 15, 2012, in Newtown, Conn. The massacre of 26 children and adults at the school elicited horror and soul-searching around the world even as it raised more basic questions about why the gunman, 20-year-old Adam Lanza, would have been driven to such a crime and how he chose his victims. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

  • Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

    This photo posted to the Emilie Parker Fund Facebook page shows Emilie Parker and her father Robbie Parker. Fighting back tears and struggling to catch his breath, Robbie Parker the father of 6-year-old Emile Parker who was gunned down in Friday's school shooting in Connecticut told the world about a little girl who loved to draw and was always smiling, and he also reserved surprising words of sympathy for the gunman. (AP Photo/Emilie Parker Fund)

  • Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

    Robbie Parker, the father of six-year-old Emilie who was killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, fights back tears as he speaks during a news conference, Saturday, Dec. 15, 2012, in Newtown, Conn. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

  • Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

    Isabella Jimenez, 12, reacts while talking to reporters about the shooting rampage from a day earlier when a gunman opened fire at Sandy Hook Elementary School, Saturday, Dec. 15, 2012, in Newtown, Conn. Jimenez said she might know the victims because she has done volunteer work with small children. The massacre of 26 children and adults at Sandy Hook Elementary school elicited horror and soul-searching around the world even as it raised more basic questions about why the gunman, 20-year-old Adam Lanza, would have been driven to such a crime and how he chose his victims. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

  • Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

    Newtown, Connecticut mass shooter Adam Lanza is third from right in this 2008 yearbook photo. <a href="http://abcn.ws/UlqIyn">(ABC News)</a>

 

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I am so troubled by people saying that mental health is the REAL issue that needs to be addressed in the wake of the Newtown tragedy. People with mental health challenges have to deal with enough unwa...
I am so troubled by people saying that mental health is the REAL issue that needs to be addressed in the wake of the Newtown tragedy. People with mental health challenges have to deal with enough unwa...
 
 
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northernlight111
0 Fans
01:21 PM on 12/23/2012
You say that her article was not brave yet she wrote an article entitled "I am Adam Lanza's mother." She risked all sorts of judgment by linking herself to one of the most hated men in the world in the immediate aftermath of the shooting. No one wants to look like Adam Lanza or be connected to him but her willingness to make herself vulnerable adds depth that your article lacks.
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northernlight111
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12:57 PM on 12/23/2012
[Continued]
Something seriously went wrong with Adam Lanza---his neurological issues were obviously one of the biggest impacts on his life and can not be ignored. For the sake of the victims of a situation like this, we need to look at every factor we can. As you said, most people who are mentally ill are kind-hearted and law abiding. Associationg mental health issues with violence should not demonize those with mental health issues anymore than associationg poverty or masculinity with violence should demonize people who fit into those groups. I would give up my right to bear arms in a minute knowing that it could save the life of a child. I'm not trying to say "guns don't kill people, people kill people." But we need to analyze the minds of people who commit atrocities like this just as much as we need to think about gun control. I do not think an endless amount of your well-researched facts will back up the opinion you use that "too much past research has focused on the person with mental illness."
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northernlight111
0 Fans
12:55 PM on 12/23/2012
Obviously massacres of children raise questions on mental health issues as well as gun control. Liza Long is not saying that people with neuro-developmental or mood disorders are by nature morally evil or are inherently predisposed to violence. But there is no error in an essay going on the fair assumption that a neuro-developmental disorder or any mood disorder can make you mentally less stable. It can make you act frighteningly unlike yourself, and, perhaps most importantly, it can make you hate the world (in part because of the stigmatization that I appreciate your arguing against). That does not justify murder. But Long's article expressed that the role of the parent of someone with extreme mood or mental development issues is extremely difficult and I appreciate her empathic article despite it's "audacity" to actually express pathos and emotion--although these seem to have little place in your value system. Remember now that appeal to emotions is valued by experts as a tenet of any good argument. There should not be so much stigma around mental illness and I personally experience it daily, but to emphasize how relatively infrequently mental illness can be connected to violence, in an attempt to protect sufferers, is also to undermine the intensity with which they (we) suffer. Mental illness does cause violence, self-inflicted or outward-directed.
[Continued below]
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nicumber
18 Fans
11:39 AM on 12/19/2012
This is a well stated and factual article. That it comes from someone, who can speak personally to mental health, challenges is helpful. "There is no reasonable intelligent argument for the inclusion of guns in our culture." This point is well taken. In this tragedy it figured sadly, significantly. But it is not the only issue. Both this article and Liza Long's article provide much insight into the difficulties that serious, mental health issues present for the person with the illness, and the family firstly;as well as all others, who interact in whatever capacity, with persons suffering with mental health challenges.

What I am left with, from reading these two blogs is that mental health, illness is with all of us, as is cancer, diabetes, etc. We need more to realize that each of us has a part in lessening the burden of illness. None of us is immune.Yes, we are not all created equal. So, what can the non professional, ordinary citizen do? More of us can contribute with little acts of kindness, affirmation, and validation in our interaction with others, on a daily basis to students in school or persons on the street, or in our home. I believe we underestimate, how influential our attitudes can be at the grass root level, before we know of problems escalating. Random acts of kindness do not cost, and will most certainly benefit.
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Hydrapop
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11:20 AM on 12/19/2012
There's room for more than one point of view. The original piece absolutely did not paint a picture in my mind of horrible raging monsters but rather families who love each other and are often swept under the rug, unable to afford the assistance they need. There was no maliciousness in what she wrote. There seems to be no shortage of ways you can spin something to get butthurt over it. I could just as easily spin this article into something to be offended about.
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mpmp
0 Fans
10:37 AM on 12/19/2012
Jon Paul Fiorentino did you talk to Liza Long? Are you sure you understood what she wanted to communicate?
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wetcoastm
Free Speech As Dictated By Our Sponsors
267 Fans
11:28 PM on 12/18/2012
I think her post was brave and powerful. And I think you have a lot of nerve to attempt to critique her choice of words.

I remember having a roommate in college who had a mental illness; she was fine for several months, we discussed her illness. Then she started leaving pills all over her room floor, she stopped bathing and would talk about nonsensical things and about how she was depressed and wanted to kill herself.

There is a problem with mental health.

This week a father who brutally murdered his two children was released from a mental institution in Quebec. We also had the case a few years ago of a mentally ill man who decapitated a man on a greyhound bus, through out North America we have people in institutions for murder who are mentally ill. There are people on the streets who are mentally ill.

The West opened up the institutions 30 years ago and threw everyone out with no real plan of dealing with the risk to them and the community.

I think her post was right on the mark and we do need to have a discussion about people who have serious mental illness.
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Michael Rowe
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1132 Fans
 
12:22 AM on 12/19/2012
Mr. Fiorentino wrote a super post. Quite apart from the fact that no real details have emerged yet regarding Lanza's mental health, the notion that the only people who commit horrendous are "mentally ill" is not only maudlin and naive, but also gives an implicit "mental health pass" to the true monsters among us, the ones who conduct massacres like this one because they want to. And worse, it's a red herring to avoid talking about the real issue, which is the very short line between rage and the means to act it out, via guns.
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Hydrapop
0 Fans
11:25 AM on 12/19/2012
You really think people are avoiding talking about gun control? I also disagree that the "real" issue is gun control.
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The trash man
7 Fans
10:44 PM on 12/21/2012
Personally I think on some level all people who kill (unless in self-defense) are mentally ill. There's no good reason to murder - only bad ones. To make the decision to kill you must be insane. The specific form of insanity differs a lot though, much like each individual on Earth differs from every other individual.
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mimiem
25 Fans
10:22 PM on 12/20/2012
agree
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Aaron Darc
28 Fans
11:15 PM on 12/18/2012
THANKYOU for writing this post. We do also need, if we are going to discuss mental illness, look at the chicken and the egg, and also understand how being mentally ill or suffering from a neuro-developmental disorder, is exasperated by the very isolation and stigmatization this kind of cruel hysteria goes only to increase for these people. If we had a more understanding society (and, let's be blunt, media - Huffpo, along with everyone else, has published incredibly insensitive and sensationalist articles about "crazy" celebs, for example) and a better mental healthcare system, these incidents would be better protected from happening anyway. Understanding equals a better world, not fear and ignorance. For the US to sacrifice human lives for the love of guns (and that's all it is, let's face it) is SICKENING.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
cin123
15 Fans
08:32 PM on 12/18/2012
I fail to see why it is necessary to discredit someone else's words when making your own point.

We are all individuals with something to offer, this is complex issue and will take more than just one brain to figure it out. You make some good points but you don't have it all.

Sitting there picking apart Ms. Long's brave letter word by word is just unnecessary and does not add anything meaningful. If you are really sincere about offering something more you have missed the mark by dissing this woman.

You have not walked in her shoes. Maybe next time just make your own points and leave the self righteous criticism of other well-meaning people out of your article?
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HUFFPOST BLOGGER
Michael Rowe
Author and Journalist
1132 Fans
 
12:25 AM on 12/19/2012
Ad hominem much? The piece was about "I Am Adam Lanza's Mother." Mr. Fiorentino addressed the content of her autobiographical piece, and what its implications were. What you refer to as "picking apart" is called "analysis." That's his job as a writer.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
cin123
15 Fans
07:53 PM on 12/19/2012
Ummm...you sound like you think you are reading a newspaper. HP is BLOG. There are no "jobs" this is a discussion forum, the guy is a blogger not a researcher and not an analyst.
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stripmaller
0 Fans
08:30 PM on 12/18/2012
You are right to point out that Autism and Asperger's are no longer referred to as mental illnesses. They have been, as you point out, reclassified as neurodevelopmental disorders. Thank you.
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Jimendy
0 Fans
07:27 PM on 12/18/2012
I think that each of us can bring something to the table in this discussion. I hear and appreciate Liza's blatent honesty about the lack of service in mental health for children and teens. As the mother of a son diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome and then told that the waiting list for treatment is approximately two years, we have serious work to do on that front. Fortunately, my son is emotionally very content. A neurological disorder such as autism/aspergers is not a mental illness. This is a complex, emotional issue with many sides. Everyone brings their experience to the discussion and tries to fathom what made this happen. The fact is, we will never know. We need better gun control and more mental health services. Most importantly, we need to see these kids who are in crisis before they crack.
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HUFFPOST BLOGGER
Ike Awgu
57 Fans
07:11 PM on 12/18/2012
One of the best Huffington Post articles I've ever read.
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charley0008
89 Fans
06:51 PM on 12/18/2012
Thank you that is a good post and I too found the other post very distrubing.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
agsterino
Less stuff . . . more meaning
183 Fans
06:14 PM on 12/18/2012
Usually people are victims, not perpetrators.
They are bullied, picked on etc. when they don't appear "normal" or are different.
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Patrick Flannery
Editor, nerd, dad.
109 Fans
 
05:30 PM on 12/18/2012
The conversations I'm hearing about mental health all involved the need to make more help available earlier for people suffering from emotional and mental problems. I don't think anyone wants to stigmatize people with mental health issues. However we are kidding ourselves if we don't admit that the people perpetrating these mass murders have had deep-seated emotional and cognitive issues that made them more dangerous than they otherwise would have been.

Can't we regulate guns better AND give people more help for mental and emotional issues?
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