Dear Congress: If Mental illness Causes Mass Shootings, Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is

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It’s easy to blame mental illness, but we fail to mention that treatment works and recovery is possible for many.

For mothers of teenagers like me, news about a school shooting never gets any easier. We experience the same dread, the same despair, the same fear that someone will attack our children’s school. In between mass shootings, we drill our children on what they would do. We check on their social media accounts. We try to pretend that there’s some sense of safety in a world that always seems full of random, unpredictable violence.

I’m the mom CNN used to call whenever there was a school shooting. And today, one day after 17 children who are the same age as mine did not come home from school because of another mass shooting, I’m angry. Predictably, politicians have tweeted meaningless “thoughts and prayers.” Also predictably, some Republicans have tried to shift the blame for the latest massacre to the isolated actions of a “mentally disturbed individual.”  

After the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting five years ago, I shared my story of parenting a child with violent behavioral symptoms of a then-undiagnosed mental illness in a viral essay entitled “I Am Adam Lanza’s Mother.” In that essay, I wrote, “It’s easy to talk about guns. But it’s time to talk about mental illness.” 

Now, I’m concerned that we are having the same blame and shame conversation without any meaningful action, as this viral Facebook post shows.  

Today, with the correct diagnosis (bipolar disorder) and treatment that works, my son Eric lives in recovery. In 2016, he even gave a TEDx Boise talk about his experiences.  Eric is a normal high school senior who, like many of the Parkland, Florida students, is planning for college next fall.

Today, I feel that blaming mental illness for an epidemic of violence in the wake of so many mass shootings has become a meaningless trope. If politicians and the National Rifle Association really believe that mental illness causes mass shootings, it’s time to put their money where their mouth is. Here are a few suggestions:

1.       Provide funding for research into treatments and cures, perhaps by donating the millions of dollars that the National Rifle Association gives to their campaigns.  

2.       Continue to support parity for mental and physical health, currently required by the ACA but already under threat in my own state.  

3.       Stop blaming children and their parents for the appalling lack of community mental health services and supports.  

4.       Understand that when treated, people who have mental illness are no more likely to be violent than anyone else. Treatment works and recovery is possible.  

5.       Adopt reasonable and bipartisan gun control measures that focus on suicide prevention, since more than 60% of deaths by gun violence in the U.S. are completed suicides, a tragedy that disproportionately affects the brave men and women who serve in our military.  

Most people can agree that universal background checks and allowing the government to track gun violence statistics (currently prohibited by federal law) are good first steps to better understanding and controlling our nation's clear gun problem.

To be transparent, I live in Idaho, a gun-loving state. I grew up in a family that hunted, and my brothers taught shooting sports at Boy Scout camp. I have enjoyed shooting sports in the past. While I do not personally have guns in my home because of my son’s illness, I know many responsible gun owners, some of whom live in recovery. 

Yes, it’s true: people who have mental illness can be responsible gun owners, which is why mental health advocacy organizations including the National Alliance on Mental Illness believe that “Federal and state gun reporting laws should be based on these identified traits, not mental illness.”   

People who are in treatment for mental illness and are compliant with treatment should not be treated any differently than anyone else. To focus on mental illness as the sole cause of mass shootings is a clear example of the pervasive discrimination and fear in our society. In fact, while it’s true that at least one-third of mass shooters seem to have had an untreated mental illness, a more common predictor of this kind of violence is a history of animal abuse or domestic violence, as is the case with the Florida shooter. Both of these deplorable behaviors are actual crimes, and both of them should require immediate intervention including loss of gun rights.

But mental illness is not—and should not be—a crime.

It’s time to act.  Build the community mental health treatment centers. Fund research into cures. And most importantly, stop blaming by association the millions of good people who live in recovery for the violent actions of a few.

My Obamacare "Nightmare"

How the Affordable Care Act Helps Working Families Like Mine

A few years ago, I woke up one morning and realized that I was miserable. It was becoming increasingly clear that the career I had chosen was not the right fit for my skills. I knew what I really wanted to do: I wanted to teach in the classroom again. But as the breadwinner for my family of six, I felt like I had no choice but to stay with my organization in a job I did not love.

My husband, like many men in his 50s, had lost his job a few months before when his company laid off most of its staff, and despite daily calls and job applications, he had not been able to find anything more than part time work without benefits. In our profession, college instruction, most teachers must work as adjuncts on temporary, at-will contracts without benefits. My husband and I could earn enough to support our family comfortably if we both worked part time as adjuncts, but without the safety net of health insurance, we didn’t dare to take the risk.

I looked at the numbers on my paycheck, hoping for a miracle. My employer offered a good insurance plan, and though I paid 1/3 of each paycheck for my portion of coverage, the employer contribution was twice the amount I paid, meaning the kind of coverage we had through employer-sponsored insurance would be out of reach if I decided to leave my job.

For most of my life, I had been blessed with relatively good health. But now, with 60 hours of work per week (I was salaried, so there was no overtime), plus trying to manage a household of four lively children, I was overwhelmed. I’d put on weight. I was depressed and anxious. It seemed like I caught every cold that came through the office.

I was sacrificing my health for health insurance.

Then someone mentioned the Affordable Care Act.

I surfed to our state’s health exchange and window-shopped plans. In our personal situation, all we needed was catastrophic coverage and wellness care. I was amazed at how affordable the policies were, especially after the tax subsidies.

The next day, I started applying for adjunct teaching positions at my organization. As soon as I had secured one, I put in my notice for my full-time position and transferred to a part-time one. My employer had once offered part-time employees health insurance plans, but with the Affordable Care Act, they no longer needed to do so. I applied for health insurance through the exchange.

The process was relatively easy. I was surprised, though, when my health navigator told me that my children would be placed in our state’s CHIP system, or Medicaid. “We can afford insurance,” I told her. “We don’t need Medicaid.”

She explained to me that I would actually be paying $15 per month per child for Medicaid insurance. In hindsight, it seems somewhat ironic that $15 per month is the amount President Donald Trump thinks health insurance should cost. For the children, we also had a co-pay for all services except wellness visits and immunizations.

It was the best health insurance my children have ever had.

Read that sentence again. Then ask yourself: why wouldn’t the United States want all of its children to have the best health insurance possible?

I know the Affordable Care Act isn’t perfect. But contrary to President Trump’s assertions, it is working—for 22 million people, by the CBO’s estimate. 

If we were having a real, national, bipartisan conversation about health care, one that included all voices and gave enough time to the process to truly consider the ethical as well as the practical implications of healthcare reform, I would support that conversation. If he were really interested in making healthcare more affordable and accessible to everyone, I would support President Trump’s goals.

But I think we all know that’s not what is happening here. Congress certainly knows: they have tried to write their proposed new law to exclude themselves from the damage they will do to Americans like me. 

Could a law be written that got the United States government out of the business of healthcare while also protecting children, seniors, and those living with disabilities and providing a social safety net to working Americans who do not have access to health insurance through their employers? I think it could. But not in six months, and not without bipartisan cooperation.

Much has been written, both good and bad, about the Affordable Care Act. But I think it’s important to remember the positive effects for workers. The Affordable Care Act provides access to health care for working families like mine who cannot access health insurance through their employers. It makes sure that children receive preventative care and screenings. For my family, Obamacare was no nightmare: it was an opportunity to pursue my American dream.