It was in the late afternoon of December 14th, 2012, and thousands of news stations had already projected the harrowing message to millions of television screens across the country: This morning, Adam Lanza of Newton, Connecticut, aged 20, fatally shot twenty children and six adult staff members at Sandy Hook Elementary, and then proceeded to commit suicide. Suddenly, the country exploded.
“How did he get into the building? Why was he able to walk in with an assault rifle? What made him want to murder a bunch of innocent children?” These questions swarmed through news sites, social media, and blogging platforms like bees around their hive. Throughout the week, more evidence was uncovered and questions were answered. The answer to one question in particular managed to leave the country in a cold-sweated shock. “What made him want to murder a bunch of innocent children?” Well, there were signs. And we happened to miss every. single. one.
Shortly after the shooting, a one-hundred and fourteen page report was released on Lanza’s mental health prior to the shooting and revealed that Lanza had been “‘completely untreated in the years before the shooting’ for psychiatric and physical ailments like anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder, and was also deprived of recommended services and drugs.” In short, this means that had Lanza been treated for his mental illness, this tragic shooting might have never occurred. Although, Lanza’s situation was different due to his mother resisting any help that had been suggester for her son.
Despite the cause of his untreated mental health issues were due to the resistance from the school and his mother, Lanza’s deteriorating mental health sparked a nationwide conversation on mental health reform. Prior to the shooting, mental health reform had been brushed off the shoulder’s of the U.S. government time after time after time. In 2011, states such as New York, California, and Illinois cut millions of dollars from their mental health budget. After Connecticut, a needed change was made concerning mental health. Just days after the shooting, President Obama urged Congress to create a bill that would reform the national mental health care system. It took two years for Congress to do anything, but even that wasn’t enough. In 2014, a bill was passed that expanded medicaid for those with mental health issues. It was a small victory, considering that 21 of the states essentially refuse to expand medicaid, which left thousands of people locked out of their health insurance.
Let’s take a few steps back for a moment. Why is mental health reform so important? What’s the big fuss? The coast of psychiatric medicine, therapy, and care, is the highest it has ever been. States cuts toward mental health insurance have been increasing since 2009, not to mention that “Despite the $130 billion bill the federal government pays toward mental health care each year, there is still a shortage of about 100,000 psychiatric beds in the U.S. and some of the largest mental health care facilities in the country are in jails.” This neglect of mental health issues is also destructive to the economy of our country. Untreated mental illnesses in the U.S. cost more than $100 billion a year in lost productivity, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). “Local hospitals and clinics must cope with associated chronic physical diseases. Schools have to open more special education classes. Courts and jails handle a large number of individuals who suffer from untreated mental illnesses. Suicide ranks among the top 15 most common killers in the U.S. (in the top three among young people), and 90 percent of cases can be attributed to mental illness.”
So where does that leave us in 2016? Just a little over a month ago, the House of Representatives passed a bill that takes a leap towards mental health reform, even if it is seemingly a baby step. The bill that was passed is the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act and aims to ‘provide more hospital beds for people dealing with a mental illness who will need short-term hospitalization.’ In terms of reform, this is huge. In terms of mental health reform, it’s a training wheels on a bike.
Fortunately for those who advocate for mental health reform, it seems as though things are looking up. Even though this election is giving many people second thoughts on the future mental health reform of this country, it is important that we remember why we’re fighting, and what we’re fighting for.
