"President Obama to highlight mental health six months after Newtown shooting."

cobbland
cobbland Members Posts: 3,768 ✭✭✭✭✭
Obama to highlight mental health six months after Newtown shooting

By Roberta Rampton

WASHINGTON | Mon Jun 3, 2013 10:23am EDT

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Twenty-seven wooden angel figures are seen placed in a wooded area beside a road near the Sandy Hook Elementary School for the victims of a school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut December 16, 2012.

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Actress Glenn Close makes an appearance in the Brady Briefing Room at the White House in Washington June 3, 2013.

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Actress Glenn Close (L) poses with Michigan Senator Debbie Stabenow (C) and White House Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett (R) in the Brady Briefing Room at the White House in Washington June 3, 2013.


(Reuters) - President Barack Obama will highlight the issues faced by Americans with mental health problems at a White House conference on Monday, following his promise to start a "national conversation" on the subject after the shooting deaths of 20 children and six adults at a school last year.

The massacre at the elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut on December 14 raised awareness of mental issues, although little is known about the state of mind of the shooter, 20-year-old Adam Lanza, who committed suicide.

Lanza, who has been described as socially awkward and reclusive, also killed his mother.

"Without us knowing if and what Adam Lanza had, we certainly know that something bad was going on, and that Adam Lanza wasn't getting the attention that he needed," said Harold Koplewicz, president of the Child Mind Institute, a psychiatric treatment and research center in New York City.


The conference at the White House is one of the less controversial milestones for Obama on his politically tough to-do list to address gun violence in America.

His proposals for new restrictions on guns have stalled in Congress, foiled by a tough fight from the powerful National Rifle Association and other groups defending Americans' constitutional rights to own guns.

But there are signs of bipartisan interest in Congress in taking steps to deal with the lack of access for mental health services and a lack of trained professionals in the field, said Koplewicz, whose opinions have been sought out by Republicans on Capitol Hill.

"Sometimes it takes these terrible national tragedies that capture us, that hit us in the pit of our stomach, and we say to ourselves: 'It's a wake-up call. Enough. We just have to do something,'" said Koplewicz, who plans to attend the White House conference.

Monday's event recalls a similar Clinton White House conference held in 1999 after a mass shooting at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado raised concerns about mental health issues.

Koplewicz was at that event too. But he said this time around, awareness efforts will be bolstered by the Affordable Care Act, which will dramatically expand insurance coverage for treatment of mental illnesses, particularly for children.

ONE IN FIVE KIDS

Mental illness is common in America. As many as one in five children suffer from a disorder, the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention has said.

People with mental illnesses statistically are far more likely to be the victims of violence than the perpetrators, and the vast majority of gun violence in America is not linked to people with mental problems.

Treatment for mental illness is most effective when started early, but the White House has said less than half of children with mental problems receive treatment.

At the Monday event, Obama will launch a new website with information about mental illness and treatment, and will announce that the Department of Veterans Affairs will hold mental health summits at its 151 health care centers across the country in coming weeks.

The White House conference will feature several of Obama's cabinet members, Hollywood stars Glenn Close and Bradley Cooper, as well as advocates for mental health issues, practitioners, teachers, faith leaders and representatives from the private sector.


http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/03/us-usa-guns-mentalhealth-idUSBRE9520BN20130603


Meanwhile, in another universe, info that eight administrations would have found useful (Nixon to Obama):
Inner City Children of Trauma:
Urban Violence Traumatic Stress
Response Syndrome (U-VTS) and
Therapists' Responses


parson.jpg
ERWIN RANDOLPH PARSON, Ph.D., A.B.P.P.

What happens to kids who learn as babies to dodge bullets and step over dead corpses on the way to school? -Lois TIMNICK (1989)

VIOLENCE AND TRAUMA IN THE INNER CITY...

Two decades ago, Meets (1970, 1973; Meers & Gordon, 1975) spoke prophetically about the inner city child: "Since traumatization is endemic in the ghetto ... this might produce in the child some equivalent of 'combat fatigue,' i.e., a further overloading of the ego because of the constancy of real dangers' (Meers & Gordon, 1975, p. 586). These socioenvironmentally induced stress reactions in urban children are what I refer to as urban violence traumatic stress response syndrome (U-VTS). Children's stress responses range from normal reactions (in response to an abnormal situation), to mild, moderate, and severe levels of distress and dysfunctions. When these children enter treatment, they present unusual challenges to therapists and often elicit powerful countertransference reactions (CTRs). As of yet, no comprehensive studies exist on the traumatic sequelae of violence associated with "urban firefights" in ethnic minority children who live in the harsh brick and stone jungles of the inner city. Accounts of the experience of urban children have appeared in the media. Timnick (1989), in her Los Angeles Times Magazine article, "Children of Violence," highlighted the images of horror and traumatic effects of inner city-generated violence experienced by children of South Central Los Angeles. She presents the poignant verbal accounts by these children (pp. 6, 8, 10):

Epidemic of Random Violence and Tragedy in the Presence of Children

Bell and Jenkins (1991) reviewed the literature on black children and youths living in violent communities, particularly those in South Central Los Angeles. They indicated that homicide will increase significantly in urban America. Compared to other Western nations, violent crime in the United States has climbed dramatically during the past two decades. Bell and Jenkins also noted that recent surveys found that the United States surpassed other industrialized nations in violent crimes, including homicides. Homicides have increased in black populations, and they are the leading cause of death among black men and women ages 15-34, a 39% increase since 1984. The eyewitnessing of violence among children is also on the increase. Bell, Prothrow-Stith, Smallwood, and Murchison (1986) reported that 44% of murder victims were found in black populations, and that 84% of elementary school children had seen someone physically assaulted. Bell and Jenkins (1991) also reported that in 1982 in Los Angeles County, 10-20% of the 2,000 homicides were witnessed by dependent children, and that in 1986 one-half of the homicides cases were witnessed by 136 children 18 years and under. Dubrow and Garbarino (1989), in a small, uncontrolled sample, noted that "virtually all" of the inner city, ethnic minority children in South Central Los Angeles witnessed a homicide or a shooting of a person by age 5.

http://www.giftfromwithin.org/html/parson.html

Comments

  • cobbland
    cobbland Members Posts: 3,768 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Inner city kids have higher rates of PTSD than combat veterans
    6a00e55005baf388340163055b304a970d-320wi
    May 8, 2012: Youth living in inner cities show a higher prevalence of post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD) than soldiers, according to Howard Spivak M.D., at left, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Division of Violence Prevention, who presented research showing that children are essentially “living in combat zones” at a Congressional briefing held April 27, 2012, in Washington D.C.

    Michael Karpman reported on the briefing sponsored by the Congressional Tri-Caucus and the Prevention Institute’s Urban Networks to Increase Thriving Youth (UNITY) in the blog CitiesSpeak.org for the National League of Cities (NLC).

    Among other findings shared at the briefing were:

    Children’s exposure to violence not only has serious mental health consequences, but is also linked with a range of chronic illnesses, including heart and lung diseases and diabetes. Neuroscientists have found that this type of trauma changes how chromosomes form, hinders brain development, and may shorten a person’s life expectancy by 7-10 years.
    The 2009 National Survey of Children Exposed to Violence – conducted as part of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Defending Childhood Initiative – found that 60% of children were exposed to violence within the previous year.
    Homicide is the second leading cause of death for youth ages 10-24. In many cities, it is the leading cause (e.g., San Francisco).

    ... some cities are making substantial progress in reducing youth violence... by redefining violence as an issue of public health...treating and combating violence as a preventable disease.

    The perception of violence as both a criminal justice issue and a public health epidemic appears to be spreading...

    Twenty cities (including Oakland, Salinas, Richmond, and San Diego) belong to the UNITY City Network and are using the UNITY Road Map as a framework ...for policy and programs....

    Since 2007, thirteen cities in California (Fresno, Los Angeles (San Fernando Valley), Oakland, Oxnard, Richmond, Sacramento, Salinas, San Bernardino, San Francisco, San Diego, San Jose, Santa Rosa, and Stockton) have developed comprehensive gang prevention action plans as part of their participation in the California Cities Gang Prevention Network, an initiative sponsored by NLC and the National Council on Crime and Delinquency (based in Oakland).

    http://californiaschildren.typepad.com/californias-children/2012/05/may-8-2012-youth-living-in-inner-cities-show-a-higher-prevalence-of-post-traumatic-stress-syndrome-ptsd-than-us-soldiers.html#.UayuRpzEmzw
    SURVIVING INNER-CITY WAR ZONES:
    TRAUMA AND RESILIENCY AMONG URBAN YOUTH
    EXPOSED TO COMMUNITY VIOLENCE

    By
    Mark C. Purcell
    A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the California Institute of
    Integral Studies in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
    for the Degree of Doctor of Psychology in Clinical Psychology
    With an emphasis on Child and Family Therapy
    California Institute of Integral Studies
    San Francisco, CA
    2006

    http://www.drmarkpurcell.com/About/Trauma and Resiliency Among Urban Youth (M. Purcell).pdf

    It's 422 pages for those interested.
  • DarcSkies
    DarcSkies Members Posts: 13,791 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited June 2013
    How many mental health conversations were had after the DC Snipers got caught? One? Two Maybe?

    Crackers are just evil. Face it.

    Them crackaz aint going crazy. Them crackas are going cracka.
  • jono
    jono Members Posts: 30,280 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Mental health is a huge problem. The prisons are filled with people who have mental health issues, the streets are crawling with schizophrenics and people with bi-polar disorder.


    Especially the black community where we don't believe in getting physical check ups you know ? aint trying to get a mental one. I come from a family with heavy mental health issues and nobody ever does anything until its damn near too late.


    All that said mental health needed to be addressed over 20yrs ago. They are potentially a public health problem.
  • janklow
    janklow Members, Moderators Posts: 8,613 Regulator
    edited June 2013
    please, he doesn't even care. this is a conversation that's ALWAYS waiting after whatever shooting anti-gun politicians (such as Obama) are working up about, and yet they never want to have it, because it's expensive, complicated ... and might address the issue deeper down. can't waste an opportunity to bash guns on principle.

    EDIT: apparently blackamerica is slapping the "feelings" button while claiming this is a hoax. so i don't even know what the ? that's about.
  • blackamerica
    blackamerica Members Posts: 2,897 ✭✭✭✭✭
    ? was a hoax. Just like 9/11, just like the Batman shooting, just like the Boston bombing. Crisis actors, government lies, media injectin fear into the american public
  • cobbland
    cobbland Members Posts: 3,768 ✭✭✭✭✭
    ? was a hoax. Just like 9/11, just like the Batman shooting, just like the Boston bombing. Crisis actors, government lies, media injectin fear into the american public

    Don't know for sure, but check out this video from December of 2012.

  • jono
    jono Members Posts: 30,280 ✭✭✭✭✭
    How the ? you take something on a scale that big?
  • Dragonmiller
    Dragonmiller Members Posts: 12
    Yes what we are seeing in America... there is need to promote mental health programs for avoiding violence. I think that Obama is doing his job in the state with great responsibility.
  • cainvelasquez
    cainvelasquez Members Posts: 1,156 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited June 2013
    cobbland wrote: »

    Treatment for mental illness is most effective when started early, but the White House has said less than half of children with mental problems receive treatment.


    Early on treatment is the only viable option. You are basically ? if you are an adolescent with mental illness. The time and energy which needs to be invested is unrealistic for the personal and overall economy.
  • janklow
    janklow Members, Moderators Posts: 8,613 Regulator
    I think that Obama is doing his job in the state with great responsibility.
    there doesn't seem to be a lot of evidence for this poorly-worded claim
    Early on treatment is the only viable option. ... The time and energy which needs to be invested is unrealistic for the personal and overall economy.
    which is, sadly, why it remains easier to freak out about guns

  • Swiffness!
    Swiffness! Members Posts: 10,128 ✭✭✭✭✭
    janklow wrote: »
    freak out about guns

    ohhh yes why are those damn liberals so upset about guns. its so WEIRD! What's their beef with guns?

    I mean its not like 4,850 Americans have died from gun violence since Newtown or anything. Its not like 14 kids were accidentally shot this week, aged 3, 4, 4, 5, 5, 10, 12, 13, 13, 14, 16, 16, 17 and 17. Its not like that tally includes a 19 y/o who killed his 13 y/o step-sister on her birthday while handling an AK-47 he forgot was loaded, or a 16 y/o shot by his 15 y/o friend while "playing a zombie game", or a 4 y/o that killed his father after finding a unsecured gun in the friend's home.

    Nooooooooooo the fact that there are approximately 80 gigatons of deadly deadly firearms in this country has no negative societal repercussions whatsoever and every other country ever doesn't have a 2nd Amendment because every other country ever is a Stalinist hellhole like North Korea.
  • ThaNubianGod
    ThaNubianGod Members Posts: 1,862 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Swiffness! wrote: »
    janklow wrote: »
    freak out about guns

    ohhh yes why are those damn liberals so upset about guns. its so WEIRD! What's their beef with guns?

    I mean its not like 4,850 Americans have died from gun violence since Newtown or anything. Its not like 14 kids were accidentally shot this week, aged 3, 4, 4, 5, 5, 10, 12, 13, 13, 14, 16, 16, 17 and 17. Its not like that tally includes a 19 y/o who killed his 13 y/o step-sister on her birthday while handling an AK-47 he forgot was loaded, or a 16 y/o shot by his 15 y/o friend while "playing a zombie game", or a 4 y/o that killed his father after finding a unsecured gun in the friend's home.

    Nooooooooooo the fact that there are approximately 80 gigatons of deadly deadly firearms in this country has no negative societal repercussions whatsoever and every other country ever doesn't have a 2nd Amendment because every other country ever is a Stalinist hellhole like North Korea.

    The drug war & ? gangbangers are the reason for those murders. Tell Obama to end it.
  • janklow
    janklow Members, Moderators Posts: 8,613 Regulator
    Swiffness! wrote: »
    ohhh yes why are those damn liberals so upset about guns. its so WEIRD! What's their beef with guns? I mean its not like 4,850 Americans have died from gun violence since Newtown or anything.
    first off, don't say "gun violence," because that number includes suicides, and i think all of us who are adults wouldn't count suicides in the same way as the rest of this "gun violence." and as for the rest of it... you know what the ACTUAL problems are? the drug war and ? mental healthy coverage. but you know what things are actually DIFFICULT to solve? the drug war and mental health issues.

    so yeah, let's rant about ? GUNS because it's much easier to demonize them and pass a ban or restriction because we're Doing Something than actually addressing what's really ? up society. you're going to tell me that guns have been proliferating for 30 years and violence has been going DOWN for thirty straight years and the problem is the guns?

    but you're right, Obama totally talked about the need for this mental health conversation in ANY context that wasn't about milking Newtown. no, wait, that's right, he demanded Congress pass anti-gun laws while six months later he's going to "launch a new website with information about mental illness and treatment." yeah, that's the exact same level of giving a ? .