He Did the Unthinkable

The world was shocked and horrified by the actions of severely depressed pilot, Andreas Lubitz, who committed suicide by slamming an airplane filled with passengers into a mountain. As the investigation continues, we learn of his history with mental illness and the note in Lubitz's trash can from his psychiatrist stating he was unfit for work due to his severe depression. Lubitz did the unthinkable, even his doctor must have felt incredulous horror at his actions.

Only a tiny fraction of those with mental illness carry out violent acts. However, approximately 1 in 4 persons in the United States has a diagnosable mental illness in any one given year. This statistic is remarkably consistent across the world. Yet we continue to either ignore mental illness, push it to the back burner of health care, or stigmatize the sufferer, wringing our collective hands when the seriously ill commit the unthinkable, like Lubitz or mass murderer Adam Lanza in Sandy Hook, New Jersey.

As a society, we behave as though we cannot afford to treat mental illness, do not know how to treat it, make it a civil rights or privacy issue, or ignore the problem, hoping it will simply go away. All of these attitudes led to the current state of mental health care - which in too many cases is no care or grossly inadequate care.

In reality, we cannot afford not to treat mental illness.  Most mental illness are chronic diseases, once it develops one is seldom cured, but rather the disease is managed, much like diabetes. We now know that most mental illnesses are diseases of the brain - the brain is mal-functioning, much like many chronic illnesses effecting other organs of the body. Mental illness can be treated and successfully managed. Advances in treatment, especially medications, allow those who suffer with many mental illnesses to live and work successfully - if they continue with  treatment. Lack of compliance with extended treatment is a major issue leading often to the return of symptoms.

Treatment costs money - just as any other chronic illness management requires the expenditure of resources. Research is costly, but research into the causes and effective treatments of complex diseases of the brain is desperately needed.

Fortunately, we are beginning to come out of denial and deal with this pandemic - we have a very long way to go and if we scurry back into our denial, we not only increase the suffering of those afflicted with mental illness and their families, we guarantee yet another mass murder.