Tragedy

The recent school shooting in Connecticut has left me feeling sad and dismayed.  It is a terrible, tragic event that never should of happened.  Unfortunately, now it adds another layer of stereotypes and stigma to those that battle mental illness.  Selfishly, I see this as another hurdle for my cause.  I am out here trying to break down the stereotypes of mental illness and tell people that not everyone that has a mental health issue is dangerous.  While that remains true, this does not help my cause...at all.

Yesterday while reading through Twitter I cam across an interesting article from Huffington Post.  It was written by a mother who has a son with mental health issues.  It outlines the difficulties she faces everyday with her son.  It is a fantastic article and it sheds light into what families go through on a daily basis when dealing with mental illness.  I encourage you all to take a moment and read the article.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/16/i-am-adam-lanzas-mother-mental-illness-conversation_n_2311009.html?utm_hp_ref=tw

Words cannot express the pain and sorrow that the affected families are going through right now.  I don't know a lot about the person responsible for the tragedy but it would certainly appear that he is a very conflicted individual.  I don't know his back story and I don't know if anyone tried to get help for this individual or not but it certainly brings up an important point.  We cannot continue to hide from mental illness.  We, as a society, need to be more proactive.  We need to take the time to learn the warning signs.  Just like with any disease, early detection and early intervention are the keys.  We cannot stand by idly and hope these issues will just go away on their own.  If you have a family member that exhibits the signs of mental illness, you must intervene.  Professional help for these individuals is the only thing that can help them.  Our society as a whole must be proactive as well.  We can no longer push these individuals aside and ignore them.  These people have an illness and we must get them the help they need.  They may fight us, they may call us names or even try and attack us.  It will be difficult to say the least, but we must get them the help they need.