I’m angry. I am so angry that I need to get it out before I can reach out with love and tears to the families of murdered children.
I am angry because I have been saying for years that our country is going about its handling of mental illness in the wrong way. I have just written an article at GoodTherapy.org on that very topic. The new Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders will be coming out in the spring, DSM-5, and, as the reviewers for GoodTherapy said about my article:
“They’ve had five versions, and nearly 20 years since the last one, to get Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders right. And they’ve failed miserably.”
Why Adam Lanza Killed
If you are not up for reading a heavily-researched article on the history of the DSM and why it is junk, here is the synopsis: Labeling people with diagnoses and then pushing pills at them is NOT, I repeat NOT the answer to helping people with emotional difficulties. Adam Lanza did NOT kill people, including his own mother, because he had Asperger’s Syndrome. Like all the other mass murderers, he killed people because
a. he was in terrible, unbearable pain
b. he wanted the world to “know” the degree of pain he was in by giving us that same degree of pain.
Adam Lanza needed something far more potent than pills.
The pharmaceutical industry has been pushing pills and I have been patiently trying to explain why that is not the answer. In short, pills are incapable of taking away the degree of pain that some people, perhaps many people, are in.
When in Pain, Create Meaning
The only way to deal with the degree of pain we are talking about here is creating new meaning from the tatters of our lives and the challenges we face. The only way to deal with that much pain is to learn new skills to get out of the rut. But if I were to pit “meaning” against “skills,” meaning wins. All competent therapists will help people with skills. Many competent therapists will help people with making meaning out of their lives. When people can look at the world in a new way, and because of it, be happy, they don’t need pills.
Medication simply WILL NOT ACCOMPLISH THIS GOAL.
You hit the nail on the head…everyone is searching or meaning in life.. and after disasters – albeit natural or G-d forbid man-made, the best is brought out in mankind even if it is only for a short time. There is a unity, a need to give, to do something for someone other than ourselves. Unfortunately this generation is obsessed with playing violent video games and this person played a LIVE one..maybe its a communal fault that he felt like an outsider???
When people can look at the world in a new way, and because of it, be happy, they don’t need pills…TRUTH, Dr. Deb…I live it
GREAT article…thank you…I will be sharing
Dr. Deb, you are so very right that Pills Are Not The Answer. Many years ago, my daughter suffered from biopolar depression. Her psychiatrist continued to try one “drug cocktail” after another and I watched my beautiful, intelligent, talented, gifted daughter being dumbed down into submission, sleeping up to 18 hours a day while maintaining a 4.0 GPA in college.
No longer able to tolerate what I was learning about the drug side effects and possible long term harm these chemicals were doing to the rest of my daughter’s body, I took it upon myself to learn how depression was handled in China. I used to go to China very very frequently on business so had a perfect opportunity to really dig in and study their healing methods.
I came back and presented a new course of treatment to her and she was willing to try what I suggested as she was very discouraged at the thought of being dependent on medications with horrible side effects for the rest of her life.
I warned her that her M.D. would not endorse or support this treatment as it was my intention to have her weaned off all pharmacological meds. And, Was I Ever Right…Her doc was furious. However, my daughter and I continued on our path to health without drugs. It took about 6 months of acupuncture and daily use of a special light box. Slowly, one by one, she weaned herself off all 6 of her daily meds.
At the six month point, she went back to she her doc who had to admit she had never seen her healthier. I shared with her doctor what we had done and I would bet my last dollar she never shared our successful treatment with one single patient. I also wrote a long email to the Mental Health Association offering to tell anyone who wanted to know more what we had done. We were not contacted by one single person which leads me to believe my message was not shared.
America, WAKE UP!! There is much that can be done to help those who need help and that help does not have to come in a pill bottle.
Thank you, Dr. Deb. I hope your holiday was fabulous! I am glad we are friends.