We Need to Investigate These Mass Shootings and Identify the Flaws in Our System

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My parents taught me that the first step in correcting a mistake is investigating what went wrong and then not repeating that error.

Sadly, we are overlooking this rudimentary logic in the wake of the horrific Dec. 14th murders at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.

President Barack Obama moved decisively when he dispatched Vice President Joe Biden to consult with a plethora of experts. However, what happened next was predictable.  Gun control proponents demanded tighter controls. The National Rifle Association circled its wagons. Mental health advocates complained about a lack of funding and community treatment services.

Was anyone surprised?

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A Psychiatrist Speaks About Gun Laws

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Jessie Close’s guest blog yesterday hit a nerve and sparked an email from Dr. Dinah Miller, a Baltimore psychiatrist and founder of SHRINK RAP, one of the most helpful mental health blogs on the Internet.

I want to share Dr. Miller’s email with you. I would encourage you to read the editorial from the Baltimore Sun that follows her note. In it, Dr. Miller points out that most of the legislation being suggested is a knee jerk reaction to the Sandy Hook shootings. There is no evidence that many of the bills being rushed through will accomplish much except further stigmatizing individuals with mental disorders.

Dear Pete,

Please thank Jessie Close for writing about guns and medical records — an issue that all of us need to monitor.  The Newtown massacre ignited legislators to propose many bills which will attempt to keep guns out of the hands of the mentally ill.  In Maryland alone, I believe we have about 40 bills before our General Assembly. I have been writing about the intrusion that mandated reporting may have on doctor-patient confidentiality, and how that may stigmatize patients and discourage them from getting care.

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Jessie Close Speaks Out About Guns and Medical Records

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Jessie Close responding to questions

      My friend, Jessie Close, contacted me Sunday to rant. She’d just watched Meet the Press and was angry.
    Many of you know Jessie because of her tireless advocacy and the blog that she writes weekly for BringChange2Mind, the anti-stigma group founded by award-winning actress Glenn Close.
     Glenn happens to be Jessie’s sister. It was Jessie who got Glenn interested mental illness. Jessie has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and her son, Calen, has schizophrenia.
    I suggested that Jessie turn her rant into words. Fortunately, she agreed and wrote a guest blog for me to share with you.
GUNS AND MEDICAL PRIVACY
By  Jessie Close
     Every time I hear the words, ‘universal back ground check,’ I think I’m missing something. What exactly does that phrase mean?

FROM MY FILES : Sex In The Saddle, A Story From My Past

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This year, I will celebrate my fortieth anniversary as a journalist/author.  Here is a blog that recounts a story from my early days as a reporter in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I hope it makes you smile!

FROM MY FILES: SEX AND THE SADDLE  published April 30, 2010

“Why don’t you reporters simply publish the truth?” a frustrated public official once asked me.

Whenever I hear a question like that, I think about an incident that happened when I was a young reporter at The Tulsa Tribune in Oklahoma and a woman called, asking for my help. She explained that her husband was in prison and that she was being sexually harassed by an assistant warden. He had threatened to have her husband beaten unless she had sex with him.

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TV Interview About Prophet of Death Sparks Memories

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Barn where Lundgren executed the Avery family

A crew from the Discovery network interviewed me last week about my book, Prophet of Death: The Mormom Blood Atonement Killings, which was published in 1991 and is one of my least known books.  It’s about a cult murder in Kirtland, Ohio, that involved a self-proclaimed prophet who broke away from the Reorganized Church of Latter Day Saints and murdered a family of five in an attempt to bring about the end of days and return of Jesus Christ.

Because of what happened to my son, when I think of mental disorders, I focus on bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. But if mental illness was involved in the case of Jeffrey Don Lundgren, it came in the form of anti-social personality disorder, narcissism and grandiosity. Because I am not a psychiatrist, I still don’t know if Lundgren had a mental disorder or was simply a con man. What I do know is that he destroyed and greatly harmed many lives, including his own children’s.

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FROM MY FILES: Movies About Mental Illness You Should See

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Last December 3rd, I wrote a blog recommending the movie,  The Silver Lining Playbook.  So I am thrilled that it’s been nominated for seven major Academy Awards. Several of you sent me emails this week about Robert DeNiro who teared up on the Katie Couric show when discussing his role in the film.  Some Hollywood cynics snipped that DeNiro was trying to win sympathy because he has been nominated for Best Actor in a Supporting Role in the movie.  I felt those attacks were unsupported and cruel, especially after I read that DeNiro’s father, Robert, was believed to have bipolar disorder and suffered from bouts of paralyzing depression. 
I’m happy Hollywood is doing a much better job of portraying mental illnesses. The National Alliance on Mental Illness  recently crowed about HOMELAND and its protagonist, Carrie Mathison, played by actress Claire Danes, who has bipolar disorder.  SAMHSA gave HOMELAND a Voice Award.  
In March 2010, I wrote a blog about another fabulous movie — Lars and the Real Girl.  In my opinion, its message is even better than the one delivered in The Silver Lining Playbook.  

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