Education Is Key To Help Us Understand Mental Illness
Posted by Sylvia on September 7th, 2007
In my last post, I referenced the name that shook Virginia Tech last Spring - his name was Cho.
There were a lot of things going on with him that, for some reason, was waived off. Even though he was put in contact with the very people who could have helped, they didn’t. It was surprising that they would release him considering that one medical report stated that he remained a threat.
Despite all the warnings, he didn’t receive the help that could have prevented the killings.
I just published an article that you might find interesting.
The article is entitled: “Could Teaching Students About Mental Illness Have Helped Cho, Klebold, Harris And Others?”
It discusses the lack of understanding that we still have about mental illness. It talks about things we can do to prevent such events from happening in the future.
Namely, we need to more thoroughly educate ourselves and others about mental illness so that we are better able to identify when someone needs help.
Click Here to read the article.
For years, education has been important to helping people feel more comfortable with those who suffer with any mental health malady. We’ve come a long way since the 1940s and 1950s when such people were put away in institutions, isolated from the rest of society supposedly to protect us from them.
Fortunately, those days are long gone. Now we need to take it the next step. People need to know what the signs mean and what to do about it – when they are serious and when they are not.
We’re getting there, but cases like Cho show that we still have a long way to go.
To help people learn more about depression and suicide among teens, I’m currently putting the finishing touches on revising my book, “A Guide To Teenage Depression & Suicide” which I wrote back in the late 80s.
When it’s ready, I will announce it’s availability here.
Stay tuned!