We need to advocate for better mental health

adnrnstudent, ASN, RN · Dec 15, 2012

Gotta be real careful naming kids. I'm a odd duck with my ADHD & personality quirks and would never hurt anyone but I fit the criteria. Think of all the odd doctors. Odd & brilliant go hand in hand for a lot of us and most of us odd ducks would never hurt anyone because we have a intact value system.

RN58186 · Dec 15, 2012

Yes, absolutely we need to advocate for better mental health care. In all countries.

But what really bugs me is whenever something like this happens the media announces "had mental health issues" or "had stopped his/her psychiatric medications". As someone who has a mental health diagnosis, and has endured the stigma attached to it, those kind of statements I find annoying at best and offensive at worst. The media would not announce that the person was diabetic who forgot their insulin, or a cancer patient on chemo. Yet, it is considered appropriate to advance the stigma of mental health patients as violent even though most of us are not. Mental health patients are fair game for having the details of their medical condition and compliance to treatment splashed over the airwaves in a way that would never happen to any other illness. I want to know what makes it acceptable to broadcast this kind of information about anyone, psychiatric patients or otherwise. Why are mental health patients any less deserving of privacy than other patients? :sour:

Okay, rant over.....

NutmeggeRN, BSN · Dec 15, 2012

So true RN 58186 and there is no rant, you speak the the truth.

I meant no offense and apologize if I did. The media runs with any little bit of information as if it is their job to figure out why something so incomprensible happened. I have friends and many kids with a mental health diagnosis and try to be sensitive to it. They were wrong on many fronts yesterday in their quest to be first with breaking news....

the whole thing is just horrible in so many ways

wish_me_luck, BSN, RN · Dec 15, 2012

rn58186, agree, agree, agree. I am tired of people blaming mental illness. There are so many factors that people are not considering--his parents divorced, which affected him (the news reporting that) and he had an altercation with people at that school. They even went further and mentioned Autism and personality disorder (not just mental illness). I am terrified of opinions from people who know nothing about Autism or PDs or mental illness.

This should be the best reason for breaking this stigma and being open and honest about mental illness. People are terrified of the stigma and won't get help. If they aren't getting help, then that's when these things are possible.

BostonTerrierLover, BSN, RN · Dec 16, 2012

I too separate out mental illness and pure evil acts:(

Two totally different animals. It's hard to believe- but there are monsters among us- in sheep's clothing.

I too also call for more wholistic psychiatric, mental healthcare- but I do still separate the two.

Long Term Care Columnist / Guide · Dec 16, 2012

Yes, absolutely we need to advocate for better mental health care. In all countries.
But what really bugs me is whenever something like this happens the media announces "had mental health issues" or "had stopped his/her psychiatric medications". As someone who has a mental health diagnosis, and has endured the stigma attached to it, those kind of statements I find annoying at best and offensive at worst. The media would not announce that the person was diabetic who forgot their insulin, or a cancer patient on chemo. Yet, it is considered appropriate to advance the stigma of mental health patients as violent even though most of us are not. Mental health patients are fair game for having the details of their medical condition and compliance to treatment splashed over the airwaves in a way that would never happen to any other illness. I want to know what makes it acceptable to broadcast this kind of information about anyone, psychiatric patients or otherwise. Why are mental health patients any less deserving of privacy than other patients?
Okay, rant over.....

Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!! :up:

I wonder sometimes if society at large has any clue at all how much those of us with MI dread hearing that a horrific crime such as this may have arisen from a psychiatric condition. Especially if it's the same one we---or someone we care about---suffer from. We fear being tarred with the same brush, even though we live our lives as decent human beings and would be the last folks one would suspect of harboring murderous thoughts. Unfortunately, it's all too easy to explain everything away by using the term "mental illness" when a time bomb goes off and tragedy occurs. Will we ever learn?

kat7464 · Dec 16, 2012

Sure there are mental health issues, but don't forget that we have kicked God out of our schools, our country, our lives. How can we expect His protection when we have rejected Him on almost every level (unless it's convenient). I am personally sick and tired of feeling like my pity must be shifted from victims and families to these low-lifes who slaughter because they have problems. We all have problems!!

tellis6645 · Dec 16, 2012

I was watching CNN when all this was happening and they had Dr. Phil on there. He was saying.. "If you know anybody who might seem to be mentally unstable, please call your local law enforcement, they can help you". This is your responsibility. I had to give a sarcastic little laugh. Society does very little to help with mental health issues. I have a family member who is very unstable. I could see him doing this in a second. Have we called the police with our evidence of his threats and crazy behavior.. yup. Did he get arrested.. yep. Did he get help? No, he got probation and is back home. I fear for my life, and the lives of my family and the best they can do is probation. It happens all too often. I agree that we need a better system in place. Im just waiting for the day, my "family member" snaps. So many lives ruined over the inability to help one individual.

wish_me_luck, BSN, RN · Dec 16, 2012

tell, I have to laugh at that too. You can't call local law enforcement on mentally unstable people. The only way they can be detained for anything in this capacity is if they are a threat to themselves or others. They have to say something specific that would be of the affirmative (the way the laws are written) and to be quite frank, society should not be in a position to decide what is mentally unstable or not. There's definitely criteria the person has to meet.

It scares me that Dr. Phil is dispensing this advice.

I think we are going backwards in mental health care/issues/advocacy. Laws protect people with mental illness with ADA. But then you have state laws (that if they are stricter) can over ride federal law. That's why The Code of VA over rides HIPAA. I lost my privacy rights.

I am waiting for us to be chained to walls again or be killed in mass in a Holocaust. Yes, I truly do fear this. It's like a witch hunt anymore.

NutmeggeRN, BSN · Dec 16, 2012

Obviously no one would be named, but more than once, when something has happened involving those I am familiar with, I make a note to myself-I knew it. I'm not talking about "odd duck" "quirky personality" types and maybe I was still too shaken to clearly articulate what I meant.

I am talking about when a child is an animal killer, when they act out and are abusive, when they self harm, when they set fires. when they have NO remorse..... I am talking about behavior that is out of the norm.

I am NOT talking about depression, anxiety and so many of the issues that folks deal with and manage everyday..

I see it every day...kids who cannot get the care they need due to a marginal area agency, due to lack of transportation to said care, due to kids living in squallor because of their parents inability to function, due to children with no coping skills having children of their own and perpetuating the cycle, due to the self medication of parents and kids with illicit drugs and alcohol.

That is where my frustration is.

wish_me_luck, BSN, RN · Dec 16, 2012

nh, I hear what you are saying. But, I have BPD. The news is reporting Adam Lanza had a personality disorder. I know there's different types and you know that. But, lay people/society has never heard of a PD on the whole, so they don't realize there's different ones.

Society tends to group people together whether it's the same or not. That's why mental illness on the whole gets a bad rap. We should be fighting this stigma, so people are moring willing to get tx, provide services to get people to appts, etc.