Mass Shootings Tell Nothing About Great People with Mental Illness

For years I've written Guest Columns for the Doylestown-PA based Intelligencer. My new contact for the Intell told me it's okay to write a 600-word story in response to the Parkland School shootings. My article below was never published. Here it is.

MASS SHOOTINGS TELL NOTHING ABOUT GREAT PEOPLE WITH MENTAL ILLNESS

We continue to be throttled by reports of school killings. They are not new. Massacres were perpetrated in Colonial America. Effective gun control, mandated by Congress, may not happen in our lifetime. The NRA (National Rifle Association) gives generous donations to many members of Congress. President Trump, with a flourish of his pen, could lead the effort, but it’s not on his agenda.   

We, at New Directions, the support group I founded for folks with depression, bipolar disorder and their loved ones, commend the brave high school students  who speak out on behalf of our government who turn deaf ears to this unending problem.  

And rallies are planned all over the country to advocate for gun control. “Never again” is their motto. 

Remember Gabby Giffords? This Arizona Congresswoman was holding a Q and A session in a parking lot near Tucson in 2011. A man in his mid-twenties attempted to kill her and began shooting into the crowd with a 9mm pistol with a 33-round magazine. He killed six and injured 13. He is currently serving a life sentence. 

Giffords, now 47, has had years of rehab. This is what an assassin’s bullet does to a vibrant, intelligent woman: she’s had a tracheotomy, a surgeon repaired a damaged eye socket, she had cranioplasty surgery to replace part of her skull that had been removed to permit her brain to swell after the gunshot to her head. 

She is a fighter and will continue to fight for gun control. View her website at www.Giffords.org, “The Courage to Fight Gun Violence.”    

It takes an extraordinary amount of courage to live with a mental illness. We, at New Directions, founded in 1986, advocate for medication and talk therapy. Still, we often feel like “guinea pigs,” as we don’t know which meds will work or not. 

Talk therapy changes neurons in the brain quicker than medication. 

Our talented people move forward.

They’ve performed onstage in a theater in Center City, led meetings at AA groups, won prestigious awards for photography and short stories. Some folks do their work even if they’re on kidney dialysis. The drug lithium may destroy the kidneys and careful monitoring is required. 

I am one of those people whose kidneys failed due to taking lithium. I found a match in my daughter Sarah Lynn, seven years ago. You only need one working kidney to survive. We joke that my kidney misses her. 

These are our brave heroes. 

Famous poets, such as Robert Lowell, often have mental illness. Our poets may not be famous but they sure are good!  Linda wins poetry awards from Montgomery County Community College. Donna writes heart-wrenching poetry that has been widely published.

Sadly, we do lose people to suicide, such is the terrible anguish of depression. As Donna wrote in one of her poems, “Climbed into your brain / chemical imbalance like mine / I feel your torture / I feel your panic / medications aren’t always the answer.”

If someone is suicidal, he or she must talk about it. Get the thoughts out. We set up a call team, phoning or visiting the person until the “suicidal urge” is gone.

Helen, as compassionate a person as you’ll find, runs our Daytime Meetings. 

“She’s better than any therapist,” her group says. She’s been through the illness many a time and always comes out with a smile.  

We fight mental illness every single day of the year. We’re ordinary people. 

Prejudice against us is so strong we dare not tell others lest we be harshly judged.  

Cheer us on! We’re just like you. Ordinary, but extraordinary. 

Ruth Z. Deming, MGPGP

Founder/Director  

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