January 13, 2011
It has been a tragic week. A terrible shooting happened in Tucson, AZ. The country is in mourning, as would be expected.
My heart goes out to the victims and their families. I can relate. I have a husband who I can’t imagine living without. I have a granddaughter just 3 years older than Christina was.
There has been much finger pointing as to what the cause of this senseless killing was. A good deal of emphasis has been put on intolerance of government, political issues, and gun control, but I think people may be looking in the wrong place. In the mass media, very little, if anything, has been said about Jared and the mental health system.
The Community Partnership of Southern Arizona, who is responsible for providing mental health services in that area, stated that Jared was not-nor had he ever been- in their treatment system. There also has been little attention paid to presenting the possibility of this crime being prevented, if only Jared had been receiving treatment. If just ONE person who noticed his odd behavior, who was afraid of him, who thought he would some day end up on the front page of the paper for something like this would just have intervened and notified the 24/7 Crisis Line, could this have been prevented?
We cannot be sure, of course, but the behavior and symptoms that have been described suggest a mental illness and mental illnesses can be treated. The fact that Jared was able to purchase a semi-automatic weapon certainly figured into the tragedy, too. However, guns can be purchased illegally and perhaps it might have prevented this particular tragedy, but not a different one at another time.
Most people are unaware of the fact that only 5% of persons who commit violent crimes have a diagnosed mental illness, and, of these 5%, nearly all are either not in treatment and/or have substance abuse issues. Unfortunately, this message will not likely be heard and so, yet again, mental illness will be equated with violent behavior. The truth is the vast majority of persons with mental illness are, with the help of medication, living normal lives in the community; and with one of every five persons being affected by mental illness at any given time, you are no doubt either one of them, or living, working, and/or participating in other activities with them.
This lack of education and stigma against persons with mental illness must be addressed. Imagine that you-or someone you love- were, through no fault of his own, diagnosed with a severe mental illness? How might that change how you feel about this situation or about the way persons with mental illness are treated, in general? Would you want to be designated as a “nut job”, or as “evil”? So many-even college educated, professionals- are sorely misinformed or ignorant about mental illness; and that was apparent in the statements that have been made during the past week.
We have other victims who I have not heard mentioned at all- Jared and his family. Their lives will, also, never be the same. Not to minimize the lives that were lost or the individuals who were injured- that is tragic and never should have happened. However, Jared is only 22 years old and his life is also changed forever. His family not only has to deal with the shame of what their son did and being treated as outcasts, but also the grief of a “losing” the son they thought they knew. Imagine if he were YOUR son. Yes, what he did was horrific, but would it have happened if he had been receiving treatment? Would you love him any less?
Your brain is a powerful organ, controlling body functions and your thought processes and feelings; and it can be “diseased” just like any other organ of your body. The illogical, irrational thoughts of a brain affected by untreated mental illness- which may, in fact, make perfect sense to the ill person- can lead to disaster.
If just one person had taken time to make that call….
Rose Alberghini, Executive Director