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BROADER PROBLEM
“Mental health is a community responsibility” is a good article (July 3). The topic deserves deeper examination, but not necessarily as a promotion for a tax increase. The problem is not unique to any community. It’s possible that better or more complete solutions require attention from broader society as well as the local community.
John Levalley
Via Facebook.com/illinoistimes
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MEDICATION NOT ALWAYS THE ANSWER
While it would be difficult to disagree with the importance of improving mental health, the methods used to achieve this improvement need evaluation. In a book just published several months ago, Laura Delano discusses her struggles with psychiatric medications. She is related to FDR and attended Harvard. The title of her book is Unshrunk: A Story of Psychiatric Treatment Resistance.
Beginning at age 13, she was on as many as 19 drugs – not all at one time – for 14 years, but only became mentally healthy after she weaned herself off all her medications. Most psychiatric drugs are only tested for several months, but then taken for years with severe side effects that often result in permanent disability.
Dan Punzak
Springfield
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CHANGE THE CONDITIONS
It’s good to see the front line coming together to address these mental health issues. But to solve it, we have to clearly understand it. Half the problem is the common belief that effective resources exist. Springfield is resource rich, but at present, ill-equipped.
Mental health symptoms are a sign that your mental faculties are in working order. The brain is doing what it is supposed to do. It’s the “check engine” light that signals something needs attention. An elderly person who feels forgotten may be diagnosed with depression, but the real issue is isolation. The doctor will prescribe a pill, but there is nothing wrong with them. A bullied child might be medicated or put in counseling, but it doesn’t change the fact that the kid is being bullied. Medication doesn’t correct the issue, it masks it, to help people cope with the issue. People are not supposed to cope with what needs to be changed.
The mental health crisis can’t be solved internally, on an individual level. The problem isn’t people, it’s conditions. Between 2000 and 2018, suicides increased 37%, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Suicide rates are increasing the most among people of color. Suicide is the mental and emotional shutdown of the human body – we have to change conditions. It is counterproductive to suggest more mental health resources or medication.
Kendra Barlow-Johnson
Springfield
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CONGRATS TO YOUNG REPORTER
When I read, in a recent IT, a story about assistance being available to persons facing eviction, by Jon Noll, I assumed it was written, as is usually the case, by someone with lots of experience in writing (“Thousands facing eviction get free legal assistance,” June 19). To my surprise, the writer was only a high school student. Now I see, in last week’s IT, an equally well-written story, also by Jon, about Henry Stephens, a Springfield civil rights activist (“Remembering Henry Stephens, Springfield civil rights activist,” July 3). Â
My congratulations to Jon, for his extremely well-written and well-researched stories, at such an early age!
Dick McLane
Springfield
This article appears in Getting right with Native Americans.
