"I am Adam Lanza's mother"

[ThE_DeAd]

I don't really enjoy discussing bleeding lead stories that are over publicized by the media for coverage. In my opinion there is very little good that comes from giving the public all of the morbid details. However, when there is a good solution/prevention focused dialogue that can come out of an event, I'm all for it.

There has been a great deal of discussion surrounding the importance of gun control in the United States over the last week. However there is another issue at hand here which also requires some discussion. Writer Liza Long makes some excellent points surrounding the challenges of trying to get help for a loved one who can be a threat to themselves and others in a health care system in desperate need of reform. Some of the statistics are arguable, but the central message of the article is really something for us all to consider.

You can find the article here:

http://gawker.com/5968818/i-am-adam-lanzas-mother

 

[FJ22]

k.... dunno what to make of this one. :/

 

[ThE_DeAd]

I thought the point she made about how the government doesn't seem to care about getting her son proper psychological treatment until AFTER he has committed a crime to be pretty glaring.

 

[Parson]

Trying to get psychological help in this system is incredibly difficult -- for better or worse, I'm speaking from experience. Most of the time you need an extreme event to even get someone to look at you. I've been lucky enough to have an amazing primary care doc who lead me to a pretty good psychiatrist but it's still all out of pocket. Trying to get insurance to help with psychological help is impossible at best... they're more ready to load you up with pills and pray than get a good therapist who can really work out the kinks and let you vent/talk.

What the author says... I agree with completely. People immediately blame guns from the start. It's not the gun's fault for being fired or being readily accessible. It's the person procuring them. The source is the individual. While it might help to have gun control, in the long term, it wouldn't help all that much because those who are intent on doing damage will do so. Hell, it's call the internet? There's enough information out there to make any assortment of 'goodies' to do some serious damage. Go to any hardware store and you can easily get supplies for pipe bombs if you know the right recipes -- readily available online. I walked out one day without even realizing that I had the basics for 15 pipe bombs and no one even batted an eye.

Treat the source and the problem will decrease steadily. Treat the accessories and the problem will be as volatile as the stock market. Prison is not the answer, it's just a convenient place to put people -- to forget about them. Prison works for some people since it can prove to be an eye opener.But an eye opener is useless to someone who is blind.