After all, there but for the grace of God go any one of us or our loved ones!
If Britney Spears was diagnosed with diabetes requiring ongoing medical treatment, as a community would we not be empathetic to her condition? We would acknowledge how tough it must be for this young girl, her children and her parents to have to go through the tragedy of a debilitating and potentially fatal illness. We do not label those with other medical conditions; why then is it still acceptable in today's society to place hurtful and damaging labels on those struggling with mental health issues? Mental illness has had a stigma attached to it since the middle-ages. We should have moved beyond this by now. Just as insulin stabilizes the condition of diabetes, medical advancement in the treatment of mental illness has made it possible to stabilize those with mental health issues. Many of the world's most talented people, after receiving medical treatment and family support, lead productive and normal lives.
It is incumbent upon us to treat mental illness with the same compassion and dignity that is we give to any other health concern. Just as children can sometimes be cruel to other children, the heartless behavior demonstrated by many people toward those struggling with their mental health begs common decency to speak up for Britney Spears and others like her and their families who silently suffer immensely. They need to know that we sympathize with what they are going through because someday it could very well be someone we know and care about. In fact, probably every person has a family member or friend that has at some time in their life had to deal with a mental or emotional problem. The difference being they could do so privately without the world making fun of them and their circumstance.
Mental illness is the result of a chemical imbalance in a human being. A chemical imbalance much like many medical conditions sometimes has a hereditary element, which can be triggered by stress or hormonal changes such as thyroid hormone deficiency, postpartum depression or menopause. Drug use such as ecstasy, marijuana or other substance abuse can also be a trigger for chemical imbalance in someone's system causing a break. Each break is harder to recover from. The need for hospitalization followed by a commitment to take medication, (sometimes for life), ongoing therapy combined with love and prayers is vital for the person suffering from mental health issues to be able to recover and live a normal life. Just as a diabetic or thyroid hormone deficient person must take their meds every day, and monitor their medication regularly, so must someone diagnosed with a mental health disease or condition. The sooner our society views mental illness in the same way it views parkinsons, cancer and every other illness without a stigma attached but with respect and compassion, the better we are as humankind.
More than half of the eighty thousand (80,000) homeless in Los Angeles, alone, are mentally ill and they are in desperate need of consistent medical treatment and love. Sadly, these fellow human beings are in many ways treated like the lepers of the 21st century. They are the most vulnerable in our society and the most ridiculed, feared and abandoned. For years I have ministered assistance, hope and faith to many homeless people stricken by mental illnesses living on the streets of Los Angeles. On several occasions, at their urgency, I have personally taken these individuals to the hospitals for treatment. Unfortunately, they are usually only cared for overnight and released again to the streets the following day, not yet recovered. Our prisons are full of mentally ill people who committed crimes because they were non-compliant in taking the medicine they need to be healthy and safe.
Britney Spears is fortunate that she has parents and friends who care about her and she has the resources to be treated. It is frustrating for her loved ones because regrettably the laws in America are such that those in her family who want to help her cannot require her to be helped unless she is determined by authorities to be a grave harm to herself or others. The bar is set very high for the police or medical professionals to decide this and take the necessary action to protect and help the ill person. The only way we can assure that our family members can receive the emotional and medical attention they need is to seriously take a look at the limiting laws we now have in place that prevent families from interacting on their behalf. These laws must be changed!
The United States could learn a great deal from Ireland and Belgium when it comes to caring for citizens with mental health issues. Both of these countries are very advanced in their medical treatment and emotional support for families. In fact, Geel Belgium is known to be a community that invites those with mental health issues to live and work with various neighbors to help them recover. In Ireland, there is no stigma for families, quite the contrary, there are family support organizations and medical professionals in every town well prepared to provide the best of care treating every illness and person with dignity.
Interesting to note that the patron saint for mental illness is St. Dymphna in Geel, Belgium; she was an Irish princess who unselfishly cared for those afflicted as if they were her own family members. Maybe if each one of us would think of Britney Spears as our sister or our daughter and keep her in our prayers, we would help convey the love she needs to help find hope and peace. Then she will, with God's help and the support of the community, be treated and educated about the medical options available to enable her to resume being a loving mother to her children.
The media has a special responsibility to educate people about these critical issues facing society, but at the same time it is incumbent upon them to show respect for the individuals suffering amongst us. Maybe the good which can come from Britney's plight will be the awareness of the important need to address mental health in a compassionate and focused way as we do with all other health issues in society.
I don't point this out just to be contrary, but as a reminder that those comforting phrases such as "in our prayers" and "trust in God" refer to primitive, irrational behavior -- behavior that often has horrible consequences, as we see today in the Mideast.
By all means let's be compassionate toward the mentally ill, but let's not join them by embracing harmful myths and beliefs that are simply not connected to reality.
Andrea Yates thought god was telling her to drown her five children. Such delusions, thought to come from the ultimate authority figures, can show themselves in totally unpredictable ways. No one can argue with them as no one can offer anything to challenge what they receive from their chosen authority figure. As the object of their fixation is extreme, the details of their fixation is almost guaranteed to be extreme.
People with mental illness lean far more heavily than the general population to the supernatural for guidance. Religion does not mix well with mental illness. There should be an emphatic effort in dealing with everyone afflicted with mental illness to avoid any connection with religion. For those with mental illness, religion has the potential, indeed the likelihood to be counterproductive or even dangerous.
There. That would provide some privacy.
geesh.