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Better Treatment, Not Just Gun Control, Is The Real Answer!

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Written by Ilene Flannery Wells   
Thursday, 18 October 2012 16:44
I was reminded by a friend, while discussing gun violence, that sensible gun laws such as an alert to authorities when someone purchases a certain quantity of bullets in a certain period of time, would not necessarily have prevented the Aurora, CO tragedy from occurring   He could have just as easily have driven a car into a crowded market.  

When President Obama mentioned mental illness, twice, in the second presidential debate with Mitt Romney, I was glad it at least got a mention.  However, the point my friend made, and which I knew, but was trying to stay on focus about gun rights, was that the best way to prevent the tragedy that happened in CO, and AZ, and countless of other tragedies, is to have better access to treatments, more appropriate treatments, and better supports for people with serious mental illness who live in the community.

It seems that the most seriously ill are the forgotten population and the only mention they get in the media, and in these debates, is in reference to violence, not the treatment they so desperately need.  We spend much more time, effort and money helping the "worried well" as another friend likes to say, than the most seriously ill and disabled.  Because of this, they languish in grimy and poorly run board-and-care homes or adult homes (like my brother Paul did), end up homeless or incarcerated, die all too young (like Paul did) from other health issues made worse from the inadequate care, die by cop, or commit suicide...and everyone suffers.

When mental illness is tied hand and hand with gun violence as it was last night, the criminalization of mental illness will only continue.  We need treatment, not incarceration.  Sensible gun laws are good, but for people with serious mental illness, it is ignoring the real problem, and it only perpetuates the myth that people with mental illness are violent.  

When untreated, or there is inadequate treatment and supports, the risk of violence does go up, but all of the statistics prove that people with untreated mental illness are more at risk of BEING the victim, than we are, of that violence. We just don't hear about it on the news.

The President failed to mention this last night. He also failed to mention that the reforms in ObamaCare go a long way toward helping the most seriously ill with mental illness get the treatment they need. They do not go far enough, and I won't share my long laundry list of other needed reforms, but the reforms in ObamaCare will help more people with serious mental illness, and other serious, chronic illnesses get better treatment and supports. 

I fear what "Repeal and Replace" would mean for them.
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