Rising Hegemon
A few minutes of NBC News seemed to raise questions about Jared Lee Loughner's parents...oh, nothing really factual...just the usual "how could they not know he'd do this?" sort of thing.
I've never had children (in large part because I wouldn't want to be around someone so like me), but I was once a 22-year old boy -- and though not disturbed on the Loughner-scale by any means -- my parents did not know much about me at all. And I, like most 22-year olds, liked it that way.
3 comments:
i didn't live w/ my mom, and i bet she knew more than enough. paternal unit? i guess he didn't care.
the same thing is true for parents of mentally ill kids that is true for parents of kids that are well... the belief that nothing bad is going to happen...
most teenagers are unpredictable, moody, combative, ect. most of this is a combination of things...hormonal changes, power struggles with their parents/authority figures and just trying to figure out who the hell they are and how they fit in -- or don't...
how do you tell if the normal teenage condition is a "phase" that will pass or is something more serious? Most parents are too busy to really pay attention to subtle signs that something has changed... there isn't a tag that appears that says "I need help, my brain's not working." And there isn't much help out in the public to help educate parents or the public what kinds of things to look for, because there isn't funding for that and because the signs of mental illness can be very subtle and happen very slowly... most people wouldn't notice the day to day changes.. it's a cumulative effect... unless the person has a psychotic break.
and different mental disorders have very different symptoms...
what we have is a completely inadequate health care system, and a worse mental health care system.
and there is the stigma associated with mental illness... no one wants to admit they have a problem, or that there's something wrong with one of their family...
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