October 3, 2017 welcomes in another beautiful fall day in San Diego. A sadness lingers in the air today ...a sad feeling that is accompanied by a lot of uncertainty and concern for the future of my children, their children and someday their children. I am most bothered by the fact the media and including the people on social media are starting to politicize this horrific act of evil committed by an old man with a psychopathic personality in Las Vegas Sunday evening when he killed at least 58 people.
I don't know when we stopped condemning the people who murder others, but a failure to hold this man personally accountable for his behavior fails society. When a person with a disturbed mind hears that the killer is the oldest man to commit a mass shooting in the United States, and he killed the largest number of people, that confused person can process the act as being heroic in nature. As we listen to people who are supposedly leaders in the community implying that the young people killed were probably Republicans anyway, as if it doesn't matter .... as if that makes it less of an evil act, it can actually encourage a person with mental illness to become a copy cat killer. We have already had one killer trying to kill our Republican representatives this year who were playing on a softball field. He even double checked with a person nearby to make sure they were Republicans before carrying out his attempted murderous act.
We have not just released our mentally ill citizens from the institutions in the United States. We have actually forced them out of the hospitals and locked the doors so they can't get back inside even when families are trying to get help because they recognize a beloved family member needs professional treatment inside a secure environment. The numbers of people today suffering with anxiety have significantly risen as people try to keep up in a fast paced world. Instant communication has had a major impact on stress levels. Most of us have days that we struggle with keeping up with the demands of daily living and especially if we are navigating a career outside the home. When people have children, they, too are forced to get on the fast train of life. With school, homework and after school activities which in many families are just as demanding as their education, the kids have no choice but to get on board. We see little children today who are already beginning to develop anxiety. There is not enough time in the day nor days of the week to meet all of the demands. Family time with nothing to do but decompress from the day is quickly becoming a thing of the past.
And now we have mentally ill people living amongst us who can easily end up living in a state of confusion day after day. They don't fit into the ever changing keep up or lose society. They lose. Too often, their mental illness is left untreated or is sporadically addressed by quick visits to a doctor's office where they leave with a prescription for medication, which may or may not be taken as prescribed. If there are other contributing health problems or psychological issues, it is ignored. People come and go inside the home and the people on the street pass by, and the mentally ill person soon realizes nobody sees him ... or her. When you read about Steven Paddock, look at what you are not seeing. His elderly mother lives in Florida. His brother lives in Florida. His nephews really don't know him. He isn't married. He has a girlfriend or roommate, but she is out there traveling the world all the time. If he has kids, they haven't mentioned it, so I am guessing if he does, he really doesn't have a relationship with them either. His father was on the FBI's most wanted list at one time and is being presented as a bank robber. We are told he is a millionaire, and is an accountant. It is not uncommon for accountants to work alone in offices unless they have additional management assignments. We are also told he is a high roller gambler. Not a lot of talking and interacting with others goes on in a poker game. His brother says they are shocked and never saw any signs that this could happen. Are we really surprised at that? I don't think they have seen much of him for many years now. He sure found a way to be seen and recognized. Didn't he?
Not to be taken with a totally literal meaning, but I have done a lot of training about ignoring the negative behavior and rewarding the positive whenever possible. Why? Well, when working with people with serious behavior disorders, you quickly realize that they will do anything for attention and if negative behavior gets attention, then that is what they will display. In order to change the behavior patterns, over a period of time you transition them into getting attention (rewards) for good behavior while giving bad behavior as little attention as possible. Within six months to a year, you can change a person's thinking which can most often counter years of inappropriate behavior displays.
If Steven Paddock is recognized even indirectly for representing a political position, a mentally ill person who feels isolated from society can look at all of the attention as a way to be noticed too. There are many discussions going on about guns right now, when we should be discussing what we are going to do about our dysfunctional mental health system. How are we going to help families get help when they want it and know a loved one needs it? Too often today, people are told "we can't do anything until he does something." Well, Steven Paddock did something. Now it is our turn to do something about failing the mentally ill citizens of our country.
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