One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and how we can prevent it..

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One, or in recent times, a few, have flown over the cuckoo's nest and unfortunately the results have been much more devastating than the 1975 american film...

Thankfully, times have changed greatly since the day of Nurse Ratched, but it is still an issue that the mentally ill are not receiving adequate and appropriate care. The failure of professionals and the public to identify those that have become "cuckoo" has had vile repercussions up to and including murder and mass shootings. 

Hotly debated, how do we stop mass/school shootings? CNN reports this list of ten:
1. Strengthen Gun Laws
2. Keep Gun Regulation the Same or Relax Them
3. Arm the Schools
4. Improve School Security
5. Cut Down on Violence in the Media
6. Improve Mental Healthcare
7. Think About the Families, Not the Shooter
8. Focus on Parenting
9. Bolster Kids Social Skills
10. Watch Out for One Another
,more information can be found here. 

While the solution is likely a concoction of these bullets, one thing is for sure: people need better access to and treatment from mental health providers. In life, there are many factors which can flick the switch on anti-social disorders, factors which can not be prevented by "proper parenting" or "social skill development". Identifying key indications and properly dealing with them could mean life or death for a child, an adult, or even a family.

The Washington Post reports in June that Congress's focus has now begun to shift from revising gun laws to reforming mental health programs. This is great, but it is only the beginning, the beginning to a process that should have started decades ago.

"It's not about what’s in their hand; it’s about what’s in their mind," Rep. Tim Murphy (R-Pa.), a practicing psychologist and chairman of the Energy and Commerce subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations said during a recent interview. "If guns caused mental illness, then we would treat that; mental illness needs to be treated, and it is not."

more information regarding this article can be found here.

Research at Mother Jones has produced this map to pinpoint mass shootings and spree killings from 1982 to 2013. (hover over the dots to learn more)


According to this well put together info-graphic by the Security Degree Hub, a whopping 65 of the 67 mass shooters in the past 30 years had a mental illness. How many more until we establish a connection and take appropriate measures to expedite action?

In a recent post by ThinkProgress, a road-block to revision is brought to light:

"Days after a gunman killed 20 children and six teachers at an elementary school in Sandy Hook, Conn., President Barack Obama issued a challenge to congressional leaders to create a bill that would reform the national mental health care system. Nearly two years later, the legislation has yet to reach the Oval Office."

As an issue with such media coverage and public discussion, where is the action?


If you want to join the fight for better mental healthcare you can start in a number of ways:
1. Sign this petition fighting for the US Federal government to increase the availability of mental health services NOW!

2. Donate to a Mental Health Research Group for example NAMI. Proper and progressive treatments require proper and progressive research.

3. And most importantly, if you see something say something. It does not take a professional (sometimes) to identify something is wrong with someone. sometimes just reaching out to a friend or family member is all they need to start their recovery process, many mass shootings have been triggered by trivial influences (August 20, 1982 - In Miami, 51-year-old history teacher Carl Robert Brown, angry about a repair bill and armed with a shotgun, kills eight people at a machine shop. He flees by bicycle, but is shot in the back by a witness who pursued him. He was on leave from school for psychological treatment. source)