The Price of Silence: A Mom's Perspective on Mental Illness
Liza Long
Language: English
Pages: 304
ISBN: 0147516404
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
The author of “I Am Adam Lanza’s Mother” speaks out about mental illness
Like most of the nation, Liza Long spent December 14, 2012, mourning the victims of the Newtown shooting. As the mother of a child with a mental illness, however, she also wondered: “What if my son does that someday?”
The emotional response she posted on her blog went viral, putting Long at the center of a passionate controversy. Now, she takes the next step. Powerful and shocking, The Price of Silence looks at how society stigmatizes mental illness—including in children—and the devastating societal cost. In the wake of repeated acts of mass violence, Long points the way forward.
parents, and brave children. Instead, we mourn at innocent victims’ funerals, wring our hands, talk about passing gun laws, and do nothing about mental illness. When I lost my health insurance, I couldn’t get a policy that covered Michael’s mental health. And even when mental illness is covered, it’s often at different rates than so-called physical illness. The Affordable Care Act of 2010 addresses ongoing issues of parity and promises to bring mental health costs in line with physical care. But
flash fiction. And these things work for me (most of the time). But these things do not work for my son. They do not work for millions of other children and families. My fear about Allen Frances’s view (and before him Thomas Szasz, who denied the existence of mental illness altogether) is the same fear I have about religion: that we tell people it’s their duty to be well, to be sane, to be normal. If they aren’t, if they can’t be, then it’s some personal failing on their part, something within
program also provides training specific to students with special needs and mental health issues and encourages teachers to build relationships with local community mental health resources. At Brisbane’s school, there was very little opportunity for proactive planning. Teachers were left to fend for themselves in the classroom. “The administration is literally firefighting all day long,” she said. “Imagine running a school where there is no cafeteria lunch or not enough for all your students,
children with mental health issues to treatment, but this shift will require a change in thinking: instead of waiting for a crisis and calling the police, people will have to recognize the signs before someone starts to destabilize. “That moment when we see someone destabilize, crisis intervention is important,” Raney said. “But the majority of people don’t want to act out or destabilize. How do we find the balance point? How do we apply services that are effective for those who do need them, and
never have to give up custody to secure crucially needed mental health services for a child,” the website states. “Parents forced to make this devastating choice are victims of an irrational and wholly inadequate system of insurance coverage.” The center advocates for federal, state, and local policy shifts that will provide wraparound care to children and families. Wraparound care describes all the ancillary services children like Issy Stapleton or my son Michael need to remain with their