Gun Control in America: What About Mental Health?

Several days ago, President Barack Obama signed twenty-three executive orders spanning all different facets of gun control - universal background checks, gun violence research, and gun safety education, just to name a few - and has settled, for the time being, that the government will not take our precious guns, nor will the president trample on the Second Amendment, regardless of how we all interpret it.  Well done, Mr. President - finally, we have a Commander-in-Chief willing to do what can be done to make America a safer, more educated nation.

But I do have one question - why is mental health still being ignored in an age where we know more about it than ever?  Why is it being ignored when multiple school shootings have their origins in mental illness?  Out of the twenty-three executive orders signed by President Obama, only two pertain to mental health, and those orders only pertain to health insurance coverage and clarification of current policy.  This is not enough.  It is nowhere near enough.  In America, there is a debilitating stigma associated with mental illness and, subsequently, lack of education and attention focused on diagnoses and treatment of a variety of illnesses that are void of physical symptoms and, therefore, cannot be easily seen.

For most, mental illness symptoms become apparent in childhood, before the brain is fully developed.  It usually takes anywhere between eight to ten years from the initial onset of symptoms to successfully diagnose and treat an individual who suffers from mental illness.  For many with mental health issues, that is a decade of suffering that greatly affects their development at a time that it is so crucial to their well-being later on as adults.  The reason for this is a lack of education on mental health and the stigma surrounding it.  Many parents will write off their child's symptoms as "just a phase," instead of taking these symptoms as a cry for help.  Children that have grown up picturing the mentally ill as those who are destined for padded rooms and strait jackets will hide their symptoms as an attempt to remain "normal" to their peers.

 The results are devastating.  Fifty percent of students over fourteen that suffer from mental illness drop out of school.  Seventy percent of juveniles in state and local justice systems suffer from mental illness, and ninety percent of children and young adults who commit suicide suffered from mental illness. (source: Mental Health America)

 Dylan Klebold.  Eric Harris.  Seung-hui Cho.  Adam Lanza.  The most infamous names in school shootings all suffered from mental illness, and they were either never treated or their treatment was woefully inadequate.  I would wager that, if they were diagnosed early and received adequate treatment, these killers would have joined the millions of individuals who live their lives as productive members of society - instead, they live in the pages of history books and their innocent victims remain statistics in reports demanding the same things that I am demanding now:

 America has a mental health problem, and these problems must be addressed right now.

There have been repeated calls by individuals and institutions much more knowledgeable than I to make the mental health of adults and children a priority in the national agenda, and these calls have, time and time again, gone unanswered.  In the wake of Sandy Hook, the time to answer these calls is now.  We must educate ourselves on mental health and the dangers of ignoring the cries for help from millions of those who suffer from mental illness.  Parents, especially, must be vigilant of their children and address their children's problems with the utmost seriousness.  Teachers must be vigilant of their students.  Employers must be vigilant of their employees, and friends must be vigilant of each other.  Early diagnoses and subsequent treatment can and does work, and we, as a community and as a nation, can prevent another killer from gunning down a classroom, or an office building, or a theater.  Stop throwing prescription medication at those who take the chance of being labeled and actively seek treatment and focus on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), which has a proven record of alleviating symptoms of most mental illness without the dangers associated with taking antidepressants and antipsychotics.

President Obama must make juvenile mental health a priority and put the full force of the United States government behind the effort.  Restricting high-capacity magazines and banning assault weapons are necessary for the safety of all Americans, but gun control does not deal with the pervasive problem of mental illness.  If we want to save lives, start with those of us who need help the most, and the rest will fall into place.