9 thoughts on “It’s Time For A Serious Conversation”

1. RE: “Seratonin Single Re-Uptake Inhibitor”
   it is more often referred to as:
   serotonin-specific re-uptake inhibitor
   or
   selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitor

2. Doh.

   You’re right.

   Will fix.

3. Has it been verified that the killer has any mental health (MH) diagnosis? So far I heard autistic, personality disorder, Aspberger’s , no mental health issues, and his mother was worried that he might have some.

   I’ve heard so much incorrect information that I don’t think anyone with a rational mind could think of having a “conversation”: Enter, Joe Biden.

   Many of these medications are very helpful. However, side effects aside, they are very slow acting and can take weeks to become useful. Also, one side effect of some depressions is extreme lethargy and lack of motivation.

   Going back on meds can be a dangerous time for a person with a violent MH issue. As the meds build up, so does their motivation. However, the build-up may not have helped them mentally. So, they finally get the motivation to kill themselves, others, or hopefully only the sachristy of a church.

   “She went back on her meds last week” is not always a comforting statement to a first responder.

4. Say, what’s Governor JimBeam on these days?

   Jus’ sayin’

5. Any news reporting of these incidents should include the meds the shooter was on, how long he was on them, and if they were acquired “legally” – just as they report the caliber of the guns used and the number of bullets.

   Of course, we don’t want to report on someone’s mental health – that would be an invasion of privacy and would unfairly stigmatize the vast majority of those who use these drugs without being a threat to anyone. We certainly wouldn’t want to stigmatize large groups of unthreatening people, would we?

6. NW: reporting on any mental health/rX issues would likely violate HIPAA, so that’s another reason we will never hear about them unless they get illegally leaked.

7. Joe, re: your 5:46, Clayton Cramer says Business Insider reported on December 18th (I know, double hearsay, best I can do) that Shooter was prescribed Fanapt (iloperiodne) which is generally prescribed for schizophrenia.

   Huffington Post reported yesterday a family friend said (there’s that double hearsay again) Mom was petitioning the court to have Shooter committed, which made him angry. HuffPo updates that report today to say the New York Daily Post says another friend of Mom says she did take Shooter to a shrink but was not planning a committment. A whole raft of sites claim Shooter’s childhood friend says Shooter put up a website of Satan worship.

   Nobody knows nuthin for sure and it’s all rumor, innuendo and hearsay.

8. Thank you Nate.

   That’s the problem. There is still no concrete information, but everyone knows he was mentally ill.

   The media coverage of this tragedy should raise more questions about the first amendment that it should the second. Six hour into the event we all knew that:

   The suspect was the killer’s older brother. Mom was a beloved teacher who lived close to the school and the killer was allowed into the school based on his mother’s employment there. Mom was found killed in the school. The killer’s father was found murdered in NJ. The killer had all types of mental illnesses.

   There are probably more, but I got all this from the mainstream media while waiting in a hospital with a sick friend. After all, the first amendment was written back when the media only consisted of the town busy body with a primative mechanical printing press and a circulation of all those within walking distance.

   It is common sense that we now need government oversight to prevent innocent people from being falsely accused of crimes, grief caused by the incorrect reporting of the deaths of innocent people, libel/slander by the accusation of incorrect, but stigmatizing, mental health problems and lifestyles.

   Modern media can can target millions of subscribers in seconds with anything it chooses to send. It is far too easy for just anyone to claim journalistic credentials and engage in mass disinformation. Clearly now is the time for the government to enact common sense restrictions on those who abuse the first amendment.

   If it saves just one reader …

   The fact that the usual suspects are so eager to rapidly engage in all types of “remedies” is further proof that they are far more interested in the cure (draconian firearms restrictions) than they are in the “illness” (specific causes of this horrific event). Pretty solid evidence that the dead children and teachers are secondary to the long hoped-for goals of the anti-firearms lobby.

   Perhaps Nancy Pelosi could name Cindy Sheehan as the official intermediary between the victims and the government?

9. It comes to mind that if we actually did some finding out what causes depression–it seems to correlate pretty well with broken families and dehumanizing institutions like public schools–we might be able to greatly reduce the fallout of SSRIs and/or depression without finding out which came first, no?

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