News-Press Editorial & Dottie’s Response

Wednesday, April 17th, 2013

The News-Press published Dottie’s mailbag editorial on mental illness today.

Treat mental illnesses

I applaud the recent News-Press editorial on a call to action for mental health funding. We need more focus on early diagnosis and treatment of children with mental disorders. To accomplish this goal, we must first have the funding for these programs.

Mental illness is not going away. We must do a better job of detecting these disorders in children and providing them with the much-needed treatment they require to recover and manage their illness as they grow into adulthood.

Being proactive with early detection and treatment has, for the most part, been ignored in this country. Once our children reach adulthood at age 18, treatment for mental health disorders becomes far more difficult, if not impossible, and tragedies like Sandy Hook will continue.

I’m pleased that Congress is focusing on measures to control gun violence. Severe mentally ill people should not be allowed to purchase guns or have access to them. Untreated mental illness also kills. Combine the two and you have a tragedy waiting to happen.

I’m the mother of an adult bipolar son who took his life at age 40.
Dottie Pacharis, Fort Myers Beach