The mother of the James Holmes, who killed 12 people in a Colorado movie theater in 2012, has spoken to the media about the importance of mental health. She has condemned her son’s demeanor, in the context of the Mental Health Awareness Month. The mass murderer has been hospitalized after several suicide attempts in jail.
Arlene Holmes has referred to her son as a “happy and friendly” child, who used to invite friends home. However, his conduct started changing when he was a 12-year-old teenager. “I noticed that he was sadder than a child should be,” Holmes told KGTV.
At 28 years old, James Holmes has demonstrated signs of psychopathy. His mother said that people should not try to solve mental health problems by themselves, as she and her son tried to do.
“If I don’t deliver this message, I do dishonor the victims, because I think given this opportunity to speak to you, and I need to be brave and take the risk of criticism and go ahead and tell people: this is what he was like,” said Holmes.
Holmes’ mother described the mass shooting as “horrible” and a “tragedy that cannot be erased”. On July 20, 2012, James Holmes killed 12 people and injured 70, after firing at people inside a Century 16 movie theater in Aurora Colorado.
“I can’t erase the day. But, I wish I could. And the way that I want to honor their injuries and their distress is to try and prevent something this bad from happening again,” said Holmes.
One out of five adults in the United States suffers from mental illness
Mental Illness refers to disorders that generally alter the mood. Lamar Alexander from the Senate Committee on Health said that just 40 percent of adults with mental illness in the country have received a proper diagnosis.
Scientists suggest that mental illness is linked to an increased risk of developing chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, asthma, epilepsy and cancer, said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Mental disorders are among the most costly conditions in the country, generating costs of $57.5 billion in 2006, said the American Psychological Association. During 2015, there were an estimated 45.1 million Americans with any type of mental illness.
Depression is the most recurrent form of mental illness in the nation
Depression is one the most common mental disorders in the country, said the National Institute of Mental Health. Nationwide registers from 2014 determine that around 15.7 million adults in the United States had at least a major depressive episode during that year.
6.7 percent of all adult population may have a depressive event every year. People from ages 15 to 44 are the most affected by this disorder, which is more prevalent in women than men, said the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH).
Anxiety disorder is the second most common type of mental illness in the country. It affects 40 million Americans who are 18 years and older. It is usually linked to depressive disorders or substance abuse, added the NIMH.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) opens a puppy lab to de-stress students
A graduate student in the Harvard-MIT Program has opened a new lab for puppy petting in the MIT campus. Stephanie Ku said that canines can help students to smile, de-stress and reduce their anxiety levels. She made a proposal to the MindHandHeart Innovation Fund.
After receiving funds, she proceeded to establish the new space and called the dog-owner community to obtain training certifications through Dog B.O.N.E.S Therapy Dogs, said the MIT in a press release issued May 4.
Ku said she expects the therapy dog model will impulse the development of “meaningful relationships between humans and canines alike”. May is a month full of exams and end-of-year events in the MIT. Ku’s initiative wants to help students feel better.
Source: ABC News
We need to become better at spotting mental illness, and not only implore the mentally ill to come forward. Sometimes the mental illnesses that afflict these people prevent them from coming forward for treatment, which can come with disastrous consequences to themselves and others.
And we need to become better at treating these mental illnesses themselves. Depression is not the only mental illness, and the many other mental profile of lower profile often fail to respond well to treatment.The treatments for them available are often woefully ineffective, and still prevalent in psychiatric practice is a hodgepodge of non evidence-based therapies. More research must be directed to these other mental conditions and new treatment avenues must be explored.