The preliminary hearing this week for James Eagan Holmes, the alleged shooter who murdered 12 and injured 58 during a July 20, 2012, rampage in an Aurora, Colorado movie theater, is once again raising questions about the insanity defense.
I suspect that the public often doesn’t understand a key point in insanity cases. The determining factor is not whether a person has a mental disorder or even the severity of his illness. It is whether his mental illness prevented him from being able to tell the difference between right and wrong.

Here’s my view on why that’s a poor standard.

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My good friend, Sam Ormes, turned 80 this week! He is an amazing guy. Happy Birthday Sam!

One of the benefits of being a journalist is that you get to meet fascinating people and Sam Ormes is one of the most colorful and delightful that I’ve met. 

While doing research inside the Miami Dade County jail for my book about mental illness, I happened on a tiny cubicle that was crammed with electronic gizmos. I thought that Sam might have been a hoarder because nearly every inch of the space was taken-up by television equipment, cameras, video tapes and stage props, including a rubber chicken hanging on a rope from the ceiling.

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Dr. Leonard Aschenbrand

The right medication proved to be the foundation that my son needed to begin his road to recovery. But as I have written before, it took much more than a pill to help him get his life back on track. A good friend of mine, Sam Ormes, (click his name to read a blog about Sam) recently introduced me to someone who illustrates that point of view.

Dr. Leonard Aschenbrand’s  first serious bout with depression came while he was completing his fourth year of medical school. He became so sick that he was hospitalized for a week. After he was discharged, he returned to his studies,  passed all of his classes and began an internship at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York City. Again, there were difficult days when he felt deeply depressed, but he managed to plow through them.

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I published this blog — OUTPOURING OF FRUSTRATION, WHAT’S NEXT? — the first time on January 24th, 2011 and was struck when reading it this week by how little has changed. Although it has been two years, I could have taken the date off this blog and published it as if it were new. It was written after I appeared on CNN’s State of the Union news show. I was a guest with my friend, Fred Frese, because of the January 8th, 2011 murders in Tucson, Arizona.

This week, I have received several emails from frustrated readers who want to do something, but don’t know what to do. Reader Joseph Meyer offered this suggestion on my Facebook page:

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It’s the time of the year when news organizations broadcast and publish lists from 2012. The July movie shooting in Aurora, Colorado, that left twelve dead and 58 wounded, and the December killings at the Sandy Hook Elementary school that claimed the lives 20 children and six adults, are on every Top Ten 2012 Story List.

On NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday, President Barack Obama promised to put his “full weight” behind legislation aimed at preventing gun violence. One of his top priorities, he said, will be pushing for increased background checks and bans on assault weapons and high-capacity bullet  magazines.

“It is not enough for us to say, `This is too hard so we’re not going to try,’” Obama said.

Sadly, there was little mention on the news show about the need for meaningful mental health reform. A cynic might conclude that the only change that seems in the works is further stigmatizing of persons with mental illness by targeting them in background checks.

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I first posted this blog in April 2011 after being asked about spirituality and mental health. Since it was posted, I have learned that several National Alliance on Mental Illness chapters have reached out to religious organizations to promote local educational and recovery programs or have helped spawn groups that address the spiritual needs of persons with mental disorders.

A weekend conference in Boulder, Colorado, led to the creation of the Interfaith Network on Mental Illness.   After Gunnar Christiansen’s son developed a mental illness in college, Gunnar got involved in the NAMI chapter in Orange County, California. A member of the Trinity United Presbyterian Church in Santa Ana, Gunnar asked why NAMI wasn’t reaching out to religious groups. That question eventually led to the creation of NAMI Faith.Net, an organization that links mental health advocates with religious groups.

What’s happening in your community when it comes to mental health and religious organizations? Is there a tie between spirituality and recovery? Is this an issue that your local minister should address?

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