In all the talk about mental illness, [View all]

[s-cubed]

we seem to be assuming that better access to mental health care can solve all these problems. NOT TRUE! There are many kinds of mental illnesses that we do not know how to treat, or our treatments are in a very early stage.

I will use depression as an example, as I have suffered with this for years. As I was growing up and into mid-adulthood, it wasn't even discussed. In the 1980's (I think) , we started getting the first really effective drugs and i and many others found a name and a diagnosis for what plagued us.

Fast forward to 2012 . There are a lot more drugs out there, most of which have side effects, and we know more about what causes some depression. But if you go to a psychiatrist for treatment, usually they will keep trying drugs until they find one that works. Even then, after a few years, it may stop working, and no one knows why. So, try something else. In addition, there are people who are not helped by drugs and/or therapy. Even electroshock treatment is not effective.

So, what happens to people who can't be helped, because of finances, no family support, and the lack of mental hospitals. Sometimes they just kill themselves, sometimes they live on the streets or under bridges. We do not take care of them. We are failing them as a society.There are people - including some children -who need to be in a humane mental hospital for their own protection and for the protection of others.

I am not trying to make any assertion about Adam Lanza: I am only saying that it is wrong to assume that there was effective treatMent available for him.