By Gloria Dulan-Wilson
My heart goes out to those families in
Sandy Hook, Connecticut who so tragically lost their children and
loved ones at the hands of Adam Lanza. I watched in horror as scene
after scene of police working to get the children safely to their
families elapsed over the television. It's a day many will long
remember as one of the most horrific and tragic in the history of the
US.
I am totally in support of the
President, and the municipalities, clamping down, once and for all on
the use of automatic weapons in domestic situations. It's time they
were taken off the streets. Basically aka47's and other high powered
weapons belong on the battle field. Those in possession of them
should be enlisted in one of our armed forces, sent to the front to
defend our country. That way they can get their rocks off and serve
a useful purpose as well.
Those who are still throwbacks to the
hunter gatherer era of our evolution really only need hunting rifles
to go out in the wild and assuage their primordial needs. Got no
problem with the big bad hunter bringing home the kill, cleaning it,
tanning the skin, putting the head on the wall to show his prowess.
All part of who we evolutionally are. Kool.
But let's not overlook another factor –
one that's been lurking around for centuries. One that's walking
with us, eating at the table with us; going to college classes with
us. One that the parents try to hide or force to stay in the room
when company comes, so they won't say or do something embarrassing.
The child who's just a little bit different. The one who is either a
little angrier, or more withdrawn than the rest of the family. The
one who shrouds himself under a hood, or a towel over his head; or
who sits apart from his siblings. The one you can't talk to, because
they're not really listening to you. They're listening to voices.
I'm talking about the child who
displays the early onset of pre-schizophrenia. He's usually about 19
to 26 years old. You've begun to notice changes in his demeanor, but
you shrug it off as just post adolescence, or generation gap.
However, in the back of your mind, you know there is something
horribly wrong. But, you say, “not my Johnny, or Susie, or Mark!”
He's just going through a phase. He'll be alright. But as the
weeks, months, years, drag on, and the displayed pathology becomes
even more significant, you realize that he's not getting better, he's
getting worse.
What you may be witnessing is a child
descending into the madness of Schizophrenia – from which there
may be no return, without help. Worse yet, there are a subset of
sufferers who may also be suffering from paranoid schizophrenia, and
may be a danger to you, themselves, their peers and their
communities.
It may be what triggered the violence
visited upon a mother who had a stash of guns, and was trying
desperately to relate to a young son who had begun to exhibit odd
behaviors. It may be the explanation behind the Columbine massacres;
or Aurora, or the college in Virginia, or the African student who
wires himself with explosives to end it all. It certainly bears
looking into. We have, for far too long taken a somewhat leave well
enough alone attitude toward our youth, thinking that it's only a
stage we all go through in adolescence. However, there is something
seriously amiss when so many of those young ones become the
instruments of death, and then take their own lives as well.
Not wanting to be an alarmist, not
saying that every kid you see who acts withdrawn ought to have his or
her head examined; but what I am saying is if there are furtive
glances; passive aggressive hostile behavior; if your kid locks
himself in a room, plays the Sterio to the top of its volume so he
can't hear what you're saying; while at the same time yelling
invectives at you – have him at least diagnosed. If you find your
kid sitting in a corner, just rocking back and forth – check it out
– what's up with that. Time to do some parenting.
And, no, there's no guilt trip to be
had here – that is unless you ignore it. Schizophrenia is a sudden
biochemical imbalance in the brain – no on knows why it happens,
but it does. When those voices begin to come, and they're suddenly
not the cute, affectionate, genius you raised; when things are
suddenly dark and evil, and you're all against them – get them some
help.
However, let me also warn you: what I'm
saying sounds simple, but the laws may actually hamper your getting
your child help. If they're over 18 in some states, they have to
consent to being diagnosed. In other states, the age is 21. If they
are over 21 and it's clear they really are out of control, in certain
states, you have to have a sheriff present, witnessing them doing
something in a menacing manner, in order to have them examined. And,
there are no house calls, whereby a psychiatrist can come to the home
to observe the behavior first hand.
Schizophrenia may be cured, or at
least, managed. However, paranoid schizophrenia is far more
difficult to mitigate. And the results of confrontation as the
result of frustration, may prove disastrous.We may never know what sets the shooter
off on his path of destruction in any of these heinous situations –
but it may have been someone who loved them, pleading with them to get
help. It may have been something they saw on TV, or in the movies.
I'm not a psychiatrist or a doctor.
However, one does not need to be to identify abnormal behavior.
There are some commonalities in the presenting syndromes of
schizophrenia. We may need to have them publicized so that people
know what they're looking at when they're in the presence of someone
who is just a little off kilter, but you don't know why. And, by the
way, according to online sources, while the term schizophrenia means
split personality, it's not the true definition of the problem. It
also has no racial boundaries. But, according to statistics, it is
more likely to strike young males between the ages of 19 to 26.
In the 80's Diana Ross did a
made-for-TV movie about a young Black woman, who was studying to be a
doctor, who suddenly became schizophrenic. It was poignant, well
written, and well portrayed. In it, a new medication, chlozapine,
was revealed to be a possible cure for the disease. In the movie,
everything tuned out fine. She regained her life, found a man (that
fine Carl Lumley), and continued with her studies.
In real life, unfortunately, it's not
so simple. If the sufferer won't consent to diagnosis, then there
can be no prescription. No prescription, no cure. The problem is
that many of the laws allow the person who is incapable of making the
decision, to have decision making powers. The book
and film
A Beautiful Mind chronicles the life of John
Forbes Nash, a Nobel
Prize-winning mathematician who was diagnosed with schizophrenia.
His is the exception, not the rule. We now have to look at what laws
there are that may be hampering the medical realm in their assistance
and/or cure of these dangerous mental diseases. And we can't wait
until 2014 when Obamacare kicks in. This has to be done immediately,
if not sooner.
So, yes, get the guns and the gangs off
the streets. Get the kids in Chicago on a program of brotherly and
self-love; have a gun buy-back don't ask, don't tell program. But
above all, recognize that there is something even more sinister
eating away at our youth's psyches, and it may well be paranoid
schizophrenia.
Stay Blessed &
Stay Blessed &
ECLECTICALLY BLACK
Gloria Dulan-Wilson
