Christian School Shooting

[Jo]

there are horror stories out there about psych wards in the past where rogue staff members shocked mentally ill patients just for the sick intertainment value of watching them go through the contortions that a cerebral electric shock causes..... . i don;t know if those stories are true or not... but i have seen archived video of patients being shocked under what was considered proper methods and reasons..... and all i can say is i am so very thankful my doctor was against that and spared me from it......

alashanee,

You are a brave, fearless woman. You have found a doctor that is helping you through deep waters. I admire you.

I guess schizophrenia has, perhaps, different spectrums just as autism does. I think you and I are talking about a 2-sided coin. My mother was in the other 50% and struggled with a severe mental illness.

I wanted to address the electroshock therapy issue because I know it is controversial.

I love listening to Ted Talks. I found the one attached and wanted to share it because there are people who are helped by electroshock therapy. It is not as barbaric as it used to be. Perhaps, it is only used in rare instances when nothing else has worked.

My main message to "Internet Land" is that if someone you know is having delusions, paranoia, and is out of control, it is NOT a character flaw. The person cannot just "pull themselves up by their bootstraps." It is not the person's fault, and they may have suffered abuse, but they may not have. They may be rich. They may be poor. Mental illness is not a respecter of persons.

I observe many groups having successful fundraising events, but schizophrenia is not exactly an illness that people want to think about, let alone carry signs in front of Congress demanding more research, etc., yet, people need to educate themselves on the topic for all the reasons that I mentioned previously.

The weather where I am has been beautiful. I want to enjoy it. Yesterday, I saw children chasing bubbles. May you all have those type of experiences today and in the future.

P.S. I'm a HAC grad. My photo is on the same page as a very young Jack Schaap in the 1978 or 1979 yearbook.

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[aleshanee]

Aleshanee,

What I said all those years ago, is a sad example of how powerful the tongue is. One can shoot an arrow and it never returns. I can't take back what I said. I can't "un" say it.

I recoil in horror at having hurt your feelings and can only say I'm sorry. That was 17 (or so) years ago and you still have not forgotten it (as you shouldn't). Words are sharper than any two edged sword and the tongue can do so much damage in a split second.

If I could take it back and start over with you, I would.

While I don't intend to post here often, as the occasional forum member, I very well may pop in from time to time to give my two cents on this or that and so, I want to tell you what a wonderful example you are to others facing misfortune.

I was very wrong and unkind.

With remorse,

Gringo

P.S I don't know Jo. The only Jo that I know does not live in Texas.

thank you gringo.... that means a lot to me... and it is very much appreciated.... i know that over the years many of my remarks to you... and also what i said to others telling about that incident,.. were also unkind... ...and i apologize to you as well... ....i think we can start over here... and i do forgive you... . i pray you will forgive me too........ aloha and God bless you... . ...aleshanee...

 

[Baptist Renegade]

thank you gringo.... that means a lot to me... and it is very much appreciated.... i know that over the years many of my remarks to you... and also what i said to others telling about that incident,.. were also unkind... ...and i apologize to you as well... ....i think we can start over here... and i do forgive you... . i pray you will forgive me too........ aloha and God bless you... . ...aleshanee...

I think I'm about to cry! I believe we are about to have revival on the FFF!!!

 

[Gringo]

thank you gringo.... that means a lot to me... and it is very much appreciated.... i know that over the years many of my remarks to you... and also what i said to others telling about that incident,.. were also unkind... ...and i apologize to you as well... ....i think we can start over here... and i do forgive you... . i pray you will forgive me too........ aloha and God bless you... . ...aleshanee...

I've been in a meeting all afternoon across town (think Atlanta traffic). What a wonderful message to come home to. Thank you, Aleshanee. I've got some tissues somewhere for me and Baptist Renegade. This means alot to me.

 

[aleshanee]

alashanee,

You are a brave, fearless woman. You have found a doctor that is helping you through deep waters. I admire you.

I guess schizophrenia has, perhaps, different spectrums just as autism does. I think you and I are talking about a 2-sided coin. My mother was in the other 50% and struggled with a severe mental illness.

I wanted to address the electroshock therapy issue because I know it is controversial.

I love listening to Ted Talks. I found the one attached and wanted to share it because there are people who are helped by electroshock therapy. It is not as barbaric as it used to be. Perhaps, it is only used in rare instances when nothing else has worked.

My main message to "Internet Land" is that if someone you know is having delusions, paranoia, and is out of control, it is NOT a character flaw. The person cannot just "pull themselves up by their bootstraps." It is not the person's fault, and they may have suffered abuse, but they may not have. They may be rich. They may be poor. Mental illness is not a respecter of persons.

I observe many groups having successful fundraising events, but schizophrenia is not exactly an illness that people want to think about, let alone carry signs in front of Congress demanding more research, etc., yet, people need to educate themselves on the topic for all the reasons that I mentioned previously.

The weather where I am has been beautiful. I want to enjoy it. Yesterday, I saw children chasing bubbles. May you all have those type of experiences today and in the future.

P.S. I'm a HAC grad. My photo is on the same page as a very young Jack Schaap in the 1978 or 1979 yearbook.

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thank you.... .i guess i;m brave with some things.... .but not everything.... certainly not e.c.t. ..... but i am blessed to have a very good doctor.... she is mostly retired now and only kept a small handful of regular patients.... i feel fortunate to be one of them..... but if she quit working completely... or i should probably say when she is no longer able to practice... i might not feel so fortunate then.... all the doctors i have regardless of the specialty are female.... ..i refuse to see any male doctor... ....but hopefully by that time things will change.. ..new classes graduate every year with some really good medical grads.... ..i will be relying heavily on both my sister and my current dr.. (if she is able)... to make a recommendation.....

i was fortunate in my life to find myself in the midst of people who knew a thing or 2 about what critical trauma does to people.... especially very young people.... and they also knew something about how to deal with it.... we were also in a very good church at the time..... ..but most are not so fortunate... ... i don;t have all the answers... i only know what worked in my case... or at least what has worked so far..... i don;t wonder anymore when it will end because it might not ever... not in this lifetime anyway....

i still have a lot of thoughts on how and why there is such a negative stigma surrounding schizophrenia... and how it prevents people from both seeking and accepting treatment.... .some of it has to do with schizophrenia getting the blame for things when other issues and other types of mental health problems are the culprit... it is definitely a seriously misunderstood illness... .. but i don;t have time to work on it tonight ... and will have to work on it for another post in the near future....

also... just to let you know i was not able to access wordpress...it;s among a dozen or so sites... including facebook -twitter- instagram etc.... that are blocked on our computer internet system. ..

 

[aleshanee]

I've been in a meeting all afternoon across town (think Atlanta traffic). What a wonderful message to come home to. Thank you, Aleshanee. I've got some tissues somewhere for me and Baptist Renegade. This means alot to me.

you;re welcome.... and no worries.... i seldom ever am able to answer posts quickly... . part of it being at least 6 time zones away from the east coast... and also keeping really weird hours on top of that... ....

 

[aleshanee]

alashanee,

You are a brave, fearless woman. You have found a doctor that is helping you through deep waters. I admire you.

I guess schizophrenia has, perhaps, different spectrums just as autism does. I think you and I are talking about a 2-sided coin. My mother was in the other 50% and struggled with a severe mental illness.

I wanted to address the electroshock therapy issue because I know it is controversial.

I love listening to Ted Talks. I found the one attached and wanted to share it because there are people who are helped by electroshock therapy. It is not as barbaric as it used to be. Perhaps, it is only used in rare instances when nothing else has worked.

My main message to "Internet Land" is that if someone you know is having delusions, paranoia, and is out of control, it is NOT a character flaw. The person cannot just "pull themselves up by their bootstraps." It is not the person's fault, and they may have suffered abuse, but they may not have. They may be rich. They may be poor. Mental illness is not a respecter of persons.

I observe many groups having successful fundraising events, but schizophrenia is not exactly an illness that people want to think about, let alone carry signs in front of Congress demanding more research, etc., yet, people need to educate themselves on the topic for all the reasons that I mentioned previously.

The weather where I am has been beautiful. I want to enjoy it. Yesterday, I saw children chasing bubbles. May you all have those type of experiences today and in the future.

P.S. I'm a HAC grad. My photo is on the same page as a very young Jack Schaap in the 1978 or 1979 yearbook.

WordPress.com

wordpress.com

part 2 of 1st message.....


i really appreciate the time and work you put it to write me back on all this.... i studied and looked over as much as i could... but i am still not convinced that schizophrenia played a major part in the nashville school shooting.... or even a majority of other mass shootings.... .. or that electro-convulsive therapy is an acceptable manner in which to treat schizophrenia..... .. in the video by sherwin nuland he talks about severe depression causing him to believe he needed shcok therapy... .. ... and he;s also talking about something that happened almost 50 years ago.... early 1970s... a time when mental health institutions were becoming overloaded with the people who had gone to the limits experimenting with psychodelic drugs in the previous decade.... drugs with a documented history of causing severe and permanent psychosis... . he doesn;t mention if he was a part of that... but i do know that some of the young adult mental illness patients from that era who had used those drugs ..were already resistant to most existing psychotropics due to over exposure during their college years.... .....but even so we are talking about events that happened and treatments that were standard of care half a century ago....

i know e.c.t. done with newer and more refined methods appears to have worked in recent years in some people for mental health problems where other treatments are either not possible or have not worked... ...... but schizophrenia is not listed as one of those problems in any of the literature ... not even in literature that;s published by those doctors who promote e.c.t.... they mention other mental health issues like severe depression, but not schizophrenia.... ....they also mention that even in it;s modern and much safer forms e.c.t. is a treatment of last resort only ...and they even admit they are still not certain how it works... even less certain that it is not causing permanent damage which won;t be evident until much later in life..... such as is already known to be the case with electro-cardioversion of the heart... a much more durable and less sophisticated organ than the brain..... but since that procedure is only done to save a persons life the risk of some cardiac damage is considered worth it.... ....


you are right about the stigma surrounding schizophrenia being a major problem and obstacle to getting people treatment that need it..... and i think i know a major part of the reason.... at least it would be a major reason for me to want to avoid talking about it if i wasn;t already in treatment programs... ..some here might not like reading what i am about to write....

virtually everywhere i go..whether in public or online... people who are completely ignorant of what schizophrenia really is - are constantly making jokes about it..... or else they misuse the term for their own purposes... ....for example.. 2 different people previously associated with this forum have written books with the words schizophrenia or schizophrenic in the titles... ....yet the books they wrote had absolutely nothing to do with the illness itself..... both books were all about fundamentalists and ifb preachers acting in ways that were contradictory to what they preached or taught... and were supposed to believe.. .. describing simple hypocrisy but putting a name on it that implies hearing voices or having multiple personalities. ...

and then another forum member that came in right after i left in 2016... tagged himself with a moniker and an avatar designed to ridicule and mock people with mental illness ...and then went about the forum pretending to be posting from the psych ward and telling stories about what pills they were giving him and other somewhat embarassing things that were supposedly going on there ...... (thing is - - even if he really was mentally ill no patient has access to a computer in a mental health care hospital)......and how many times have you seen someone post about someone else on this forum being "off their meds".. after they had a disagreement?...... ... and that is all on one single forum.... .. imagine how much of that goes on throughout the rest of the internet.... and would any of it encourage a person suffering a mental illness to seek help?

those are just a few instances... but things like that being so prevalent both online and also out in society, cause people who might need to talk about schizophrenia or mental illness for themselves or for a family member.. to keep quiet about it or even be in denial about much needed help...to reject help when offered.. and even to fight back if someone attempts to take them to treatment... .... who wants to be compared to the false analogies or be the butt of those kinds of jokes?... much less risk losing their freedom..... and yes... the movies giving false portrayals of what goes on in the mental health facilities doesn;t help either..... ...no amount of lobbying with signs outside of state houses or congress is going to adress any of that......

imho it;s not a money issue or a matter creating new laws.... it;s a christian education issue... and one which the church would have been able to help with except for one thing - they are still a major part of the problem.... pastors choosing to make jokes and poke fun at the problem rather than deal with the issue in a christ-like manner... those in the ministry even referring to other churches or christians with different beliefs on election or salvation as "funny-mentalists"...... and of course the extreme x-er type churches are still out there writing the whole issue of mental illness off as demon possession or "behavioral".... fact is none of those pastors or churches want people with a mental illness or even a possible mental illness in their midst..... they all want them out of sight and out of mind..... make them somebody elses problem... even when it concerns a child or family member of one of their own congregation..

i have no idea if that has actually been the history of any of the people who committed mass shootings or mass murders..... or if friends and family who claimed those shooters were mentally ill were telling the truth or just trying to cover themselves by washing their hands of perceived responsiblity for them.... but it doesn;t matter..... because even if any of those shooters were mentally ill or even if they were all on medication.... those things alone or even in combinaiton do not excuse them or serve as a reason for the evil they committed.... that evil is on them.... ... ...

but of course in the case of someone inciting someone else to violence.. a case can be made that they are an accomplice to the crime.... but nobody can just talk someone else into committing a crime and put the thought into their head to proceed with it, ...if that thought was not in their head already.... ..... ....strong churches and strong familys.. and strong communities built around strong familys and churches - are the answer to teaching people how to be responsible .... how to treat others with respect... and to not be ashamed to seek help if they need it....and to be open and honest about the kind of help they need..... ..there has been too much shame and ridicule for far too long.....

and then they also need to stop teaching that being saved automatically cures illnesses like this.... or that salvation automatically cures all temptations we might have had a problem with.... if God leaves us with an affliction after we are saved, then we need to learn the reason why - if possible... and use it to His glory... and if we can;t learn the reason why then try to live in a way that His glory can be revealed in us... sometimes the afflicted exist for the purpose of teaching us to have compassion... or simply giving us a chance to show compassion... and make a difference....

 

[Jo]

thank you.... .i guess i;m brave with some things.... .but not everything.... certainly not e.c.t. ..... but i am blessed to have a very good doctor.... she is mostly retired now and only kept a small handful of regular patients.... i feel fortunate to be one of them..... but if she quit working completely... or i should probably say when she is no longer able to practice... i might not feel so fortunate then.... all the doctors i have regardless of the specialty are female.... ..i refuse to see any male doctor... ....but hopefully by that time things will change.. ..new classes graduate every year with some really good medical grads.... ..i will be relying heavily on both my sister and my current dr.. (if she is able)... to make a recommendation.....

i was fortunate in my life to find myself in the midst of people who knew a thing or 2 about what critical trauma does to people.... especially very young people.... and they also knew something about how to deal with it.... we were also in a very good church at the time..... ..but most are not so fortunate... ... i don;t have all the answers... i only know what worked in my case... or at least what has worked so far..... i don;t wonder anymore when it will end because it might not ever... not in this lifetime anyway....

i still have a lot of thoughts on how and why there is such a negative stigma surrounding schizophrenia... and how it prevents people from both seeking and accepting treatment.... .some of it has to do with schizophrenia getting the blame for things when other issues and other types of mental health problems are the culprit... it is definitely a seriously misunderstood illness... .. but i don;t have time to work on it tonight ... and will have to work on it for another post in the near future....

also... just to let you know i was not able to access wordpress...it;s among a dozen or so sites... including facebook -twitter- instagram etc.... that are blocked on our computer internet system. ..

The Quiet

It’s Sunday morning, and it’s finally quiet. My rogue cat has her tummy full and is going through her cleaning ritual. The Boss of Me (“BOM”) has decided to leave me alone f…

runningtowardhappy.wordpress.com