Post-Newtown: Has America finally learned its lesson?

...& was it the right lesson?

Even if you have been living under a rock for the past week, you have probably still heard about the tragic event took place in Newtown, CT last Friday. Even more assuredly, you have witnessed the transformation of even your most politically apathetic friends and family into passionate activists either for or against gun control. Undoubtedly, the recently expired ban on assault weapons needs to be reinstated, but almost all sane American's can agree on that so my question is:

Is there a broader concern in our culture that, as a society, we are neglecting?

Of course there is! When was the last time that our media fixated their cameras on the real cause of our social problems? Their interest in capturing hard-hitting and attention-grabbing headlines has always limited the quality of our information, and the coverage of the Newtown tragedy is no exception. The mention of this issue is included in most reports as a sidebar to the main issue of gun control, but I wholeheartedly disagree. By now, you have hopefully predicted that the issue at which I am hinting is the handling of mental illness in America, and I'm equally hopeful that you are aware that this subject is highly taboo in our culture. But, in essence, mental illness IS our culture. Culture and mental health are so intimately intertwined that one should not appear in textbooks without adequate mentioning of the other. Consider this:

"Cultural and social factors contribute to the causation of mental illness, yet that contribution varies by disorder. Mental illness is considered the product of a complex interaction among biological, psychological, social, and cultural factors. The role of any of these major factors can be stronger or weaker depending on the specific disorder."--http://www.nmha.org

So it isn't a far stretch from this statement to understand how lower-income and social minorities suffer from mental health issues at a higher rate than do the higher-income groups or the social majority. This issue is as much a human rights issue as it is a health one. We have to stop avoiding the issues that make us feel guilty as a society. Let's be honest, we have all overheard the stereotypical behavior of certain homeless people wherein they emphatically declare their opinions about some obscure topic to their hallucinations, and I admit that I, too, have been guilty of laughing at their strange ramblings. Yet, this is the root of our cultural error. We have allowed the capitalist ideals of self-sufficiency and "bootstrap"-style self-improvement to permeate into all aspects of our culture.

We laugh at our fellow man's mental illness as if they have somehow failed at achieving their American dream. But the real irony there is that we never allowed them to have dreams at all. Research has shown that certain genetic attributes are turned on in the presence of extreme environmental stress. You or I could have the same gene in our DNA, lying dormant in anticipation of the event that will activate it. If thats the case the what is the difference between us and the man talking to himself on the street corner? (hint: that's a rhetorical question)..

Now, there are just as many disorders that afflict all socioeconomic groups equally, and these are the disorders that are usually biologically determined at the point of conception. Yet, we are so quick to blame the parents/caregivers for not raising the child "properly." By now, I have made it clear that the source of mental illness is often a topic for which NO ONE has the complete answer given science's current level of understanding. You or I are just as likely as was Nancy Lanza (the mother of the CT shooter) to bear a child that suffers from a disorder like the one Adam Lanza (the CT shooter) suffered from. This is not a question of "who is to blame", this is a question of "what can we do about it now?"

And, yes, we could place the blame on the Lanza family for having guns in their home, but the danger of guns isn't going to go away with a legal prohibition. We can restrict access to assault weapons, but even that has the potential to result in dangerous & unregulated black markets. What we can do is to begin accepting a certain level of responsibility as a society for the Newtown massacre. A few options:

Increasing government funding to clinical research of mental illness treatments
Pursuing legislation that will require courses be taught on proper mental healthcare in our public schools
Decriminalize & distigmatize the label of having a disorder in personality, mood, or thought
Requiring that ALL insurance plans include mental health providers in their coverage
Starting public awareness campaigns in the media which recommend that everyone begin seeing a therapist twice a year as part of a well-rounded health plan

These are just a few options that could help to fuel positive change in how our country helps the mentally ill. It's the only real way to stop events like the Newtown massacre from happening in an era when guns already permeate the very fabric of our society.