My mind's playing tricks on me

Brain Damage.

Above is a picture of Adam Lanza as a young boy.

What isn’t in this picture is what’s most important.  What you don’t see is a gun.  What you don’t see is a murderous rage and a desire to ruin the lives of hundreds.  I don’t know why someone would enter an elementary school and open fire on 5 and 6 year old children but the fact is, something happened between the date this picture was taken and December 14, 2012 that made Adam pick up that gun and make that choice. 

What bothers us most about the Sandy Hook shooting isn’t just the fact that innocent lives were lost but that we have no idea why and that mystery lends no security, no comfort and no closure.  Not knowing why makes you feel as if it can happen to anyone at anytime and no one is safe.  9/11 claimed the lives of far more people but the motive was easier to process – those men believed they were soldiers in a war.  They wore the black hats, we wore the white ones; everything made sense.  We know who the enemy is and can protect ourselves from them.  But Adam Lanza looked like your neighbor, and there was no sign that he was capable of something like this.  The truth is, every rapist was once a toddler and every murderer had to learn to walk and talk.  The only thing that separates them from us, is mental health.  The problem is, sadly, that no one cares about mental health until blood is spilled.

We in this country still have a stigma attached to mental health that prevents us from making significant breakthroughs.  The television hit The Sopranos was a literal translation of this stigma.  The mobster boss, Tony Soprano, had to secretly see a shrink (the term “shrink” is yet another example of this stigma because a psychologist is viewed as more of a voodoo “head shrinker” than a helpful doctor) in order to deal with his issues.  Tony couldn’t let anyone know he was doing this because he was scared of losing respect, power and perhaps his life because he may share some "secrets".  Even as kids, the term “retard” gets thrown out at a very early age to anyone who exhibits even the slightest abnormality.  The threat of being called a “retard” can crush a person’s self-esteem and forces many mentally challenged individuals to live a life filled with ridicule and bullying.

Parents are often in denial and refuse to have their children treated.  They will lash out at a teacher who suggests that their child may need extra care or should be admitted into a special education class.  In many cases, the denial is so bad that by the time he or she agrees to get their child help, it’s too late because too much damage has been done.   Even worse than denial is this notion that mental health can be treated like a headache – take a few pills and it will be okay.  We as a society are so quick to medicate anyone with the slightest sign of ADD or depression that we’ve created an entirely new category of drug abuse.

Another major reason why we haven’t properly addressed mental health lies squarely in the laps of the politicians in Washington.  Treating people in a preventative way for mental health conditions is not a profit-making venture (unless we are talking about creating pills). And because the type of treatment necessary - therapy, support and hours of conversation - doesn’t look good on the balance sheet, the private sector isn’t jumping at the opportunity.  Add to the fact that many of the people that need the help can’t afford to pay for the sessions out of pocket because many health insurance plans have spotty co-payment plans at best, and you have countless people not being treated.   This assistance should be something that the government should provide but if you have been paying attention to politics for the past 5 years, then you know that is much easier said than done.  Providing preventative and continuing mental health treatment will cost money, a lot of money, and we are currently living in a world where its better to spend money on new missiles but not on counseling for a troubled teen.

Mental health is a big deal and it’s popping up in places that we would never have expected.  Royce White, 1^st round draft pick for the Houston Rockets, has not played a single minute for the team because the two sides can’t come to an understanding on how to deal with his anxiety attacks.   Although this particular conflict is riddled with enough hearsay to suffocate any objective facts, the truth is, the NBA is a multi-billion dollar organization that has been in business for almost 70 years and this is the first time that this issue has come up.   The NFL, which has been in existence 20 years longer, is facing multi-million dollar lawsuits because it never dealt with the long term mental health effects of smashing your body against others at full speed.  It should seem absurd that two very successful and visible companies never took the time to consider mental health policies and procedures, but their respective debates are simply a microcosm of the greater discourse that our very successful and visible country is in the middle of.

As with most social issues, change is probably on the horizon even if that horizon seems to be miles away.  As a society we know how to deal with disease – millions of dollars are donated on research for cancer and AIDS – and we don’t laugh at people if they say they are going to the doctor for a cough or a broken ankle.  What we need to realize is that mental health, in many cases, is every much the disease as lung cancer and every bit as debilitating as a torn meniscus.  If we do that, then maybe we can stop the next smiling little boy from turning into a monster.  I just hope it doesn’t take the deaths of another 20 children for us to to get to that point.