![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Jared1.jpg\" "\\"Jared\\"")
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Here in the states, a man named Jared Lee Loughner opened fire
\nat a super market where a politician U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords
\nwas giving a speech.\u00a0 She was definitely his target.\u00a0 There is a
\nlot of coverage on the news here about his behavior as well as
\nwhen he was in high school and once he graduated people were very
\nconcerned about his behavior. The first article I read mentioned
\nhis background and how he had left a note for the senator saying
\nwhat he was going to do.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Then the article said every single thing except what was glaringly
\nobvious.\u00a0 Jared Laughtner had a severe mental illness that impaired
\nhis judgement and led to this terrible event. As I was reading the
\narticles, I said to myself:\u00a0 “Are these writers blind? Don’t they
\nknow anything? He is 100% showing all of the signs of paranoid
\nschizophrenia. All of the signs from paranoia, inability to get
\nalong with others, trouble with the reality around him to odd
\nwritings and behavior. The list is endless. I kept reading the
\narticle waiting for the word schizophrenia to be mentioned and
\nthere was not one reference to a possible brain disorder.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Of course, things are different this morning. People can’t stay
\nblind forever. Now the articles have these headlines:\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Jared Lee Loughner a ‘Disturbed’ Man\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Jared Lee Loughner and His Legacy of Despair\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Lunatic’s Veto (Thank you New York Post!)<\/p>\n
and now there is a label:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The Tuscon Safeway Shooter<\/p>\n
**\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Legacy of despair? How much longer is our society going to skirt
\naround the issue and use these words instead of saying the real words:\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mental Illness- Schizophrenia- Bipolar Disorder. The real words.
\n\u00a0As those of us with the illnesses or those of us who care about
\nsomeone with a mental illness, need to speak out and say, “This was a
\nman with a brain disorder, a mental illness that distorted the reality
\nof his mind. Yes, the shootings\u00a0 are his fault. But not in the way the
\nmedia portrays the situation. He obviously did not get the care he needed-
\nand that is the real tragedy. When I saw his picture I was so shocked.
\nAs is so common, he looks like a sweet and normal guy. The problem is
\nthat whatever illness he has, and I’m pretty sure paranoid schizophrenia
\nwill come out soon- he is a human being who did something so terrible
\nit’s hard to imagine.\u00a0 He killed and injured people as do many who are
\n\u00a0not of sound mind and body. My heart goes out the families and\u00a0
\nto U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
But… for once.. can we just talk about this for what it is? An
\nillness that was not caught and treated? We would never treat cancer in this way-even if someone committed such a terrible crime. Can we use this to discuss\u00a0 mental illness instead of finding a reason WHY this happened?\u00a0 It happened
\nbecause he was ill and even though people tried, he didn’t get the right treatment.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Julie<\/p>\n
Here are the comments I have received since posting this blog:<\/p>\n
\u00a0
\nThank you for writing this, Julie. I hope you will get it published elsewhere: this is a message that needs to get out into the world.<\/p>\n
I totally agree! My mentally ill ex once went to a political rally with a knife — because he was paranoid schizophrenic. Fortunately he turned around and went home when he couldn’t find a parking spot. It’s an illness, and we should be talking about that.<\/p>\n
I’ve been thinking the very same thing, Julie. How right you are that a mental illness such a paranoid schizophrenia is treatable and that, sadly, this is a tragedy that could have been prevented had this young man received proper help. The signs were all there. My only hope at this point is that these events lead our health care system to a better place in terms of educating the public, identifying brain disorders early on and providing treatment to all connected with the issue.<\/p>\n
Thanks for your blog!<\/p>\n
RIGHT ON!<\/p>\n
So many well put points.\u00a0 The key is having access to first a diagnoses, then treatment, then sticking to the treatment plan and medications forever.<\/p>\n
This last part can be so difficult, but when someone with a mental illness–as Jared Lee obviously has–does something so horrific, it hopefully reminds us all to keep our wellness plans at the top of our priority list.<\/p>\n
I could not agree more, Julie.\u00a0 Because symptoms are behavioral and mental instead of physical mental illness is still stigmatised in this society.
\nFor a lot of complicated reasons mental illness is not dealt with in effective ways most of the time<\/p>\n
U r soooooooo right julie! Why aren’t we using the money & energy into treating mental illness<\/p>\n
EXCELLENT point, Julie. The same thoughts occurred to me.\u00a0 Thanks for voicing them!<\/p>\n
I couldn’t agree with you more!\u00a0 I believe one of the problem’s is people think you’re trying to make excuses for folks suffering from these illnesses……but that’s not the case.\u00a0 Just like you said “the shooting are his fault”, but we can’t overlook the facts.\u00a0 Knowing everything I know now (which does not compare to your knowledge), the times I’ve brought things up to the family about Kyle’s illness….they response I get is “oh, here it comes….making excuses for his behavior again”…..NO, not excuses…..I’m just trying to get them to understand his mental illness!<\/p>\n
Keep up the good work Julie…..you have many supporters!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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Here in the states, a man named Jared Lee Loughner opened fire at a super market where a politician U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was giving a speech. She was definitely his target. There is a lot of coverage on the news here about his behavior as well as when he was in high school and once he graduated people were very concerned about his behavior. The first article I read mentioned his background and how he had left a note for the senator saying what he was going to do. <\/p>\n Then the article said every single thing except what was glaringly obvious. Jared Laughtner had a severe mental illness that impaired his judgement and led to this terrible event. As I was reading the articles, [ Read More ]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2120"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2120"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2120\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11757,"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2120\/revisions\/11757"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a> <\/p>\n<\/p>\n