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| Could lithium have helped Adam Lanza? Or maybe just good psychiatric care available to all? The mother of "I am Adam Lanza's mother" got her child help but only after her blog went viral. |
Sunday morning, headed to church
On the Shoreway, I was listening to
The TED Radio Hour and heard an
NPR staff reporter, Jessica, interview
Liza Long, a single mother of
Four in Boise, Idaho, whose blog
Post the day of the Newtown massacre
Was titled, “I am Adam Lanza’s
Mother,” which went viral and
Has been read by millions. She
Of course was not Adam Lanza’s
Mother but went on to write
Her middle school age son Eric
Walton, suffered periodic rages
So like those reported of Adam
Lanza, she cried out for help.
Despite numerous referrals his
Problems evaded diagnosis and
Cure. She told how many times
His rage threatened her life,
That of her children, and Eric’s
Itself. When school counselors
Were of no avail, he was placed
In juvenile detention four times
Again without relief. Physicians
Diagnosed widely and prescribed
All manner of drugs, but nothing
Worked. She scoured the thousands
Of emails for hopeful news and
Found one person responding to
Her blog who kept trying for her
Attention. This person led her
To Dr. Demitri Papalos of the
Juvenile Bipolar Research
Foundation in New York
Who made the right
Diagnosis and administered
The effective medicine. Since
That time Eric reports he has
Had no rages of the sort that
Interrupted his and his family’s
Life so many times for so many
Years. He has blossomed in the
Intervening years, has given a
TED talk urging people not
To give up hope for those with
Mental illness. This experience
(And I urge you to hear it—link
Below) so moved me in that it
Presented a clear way to help
Others, like Eric, who could
Possibly be saved from becoming
Mass murderers. I had a similar
Story with one of my children
Whose plunges into depression
Eventuated to his suicide. We also
Had run the gamut of social workers,
Counselors, psychologists,
Psychiatrists, during his
School years. I remember writing
An article in 1958 for my high
School newspaper reporting
Successes doctors were having
With all sorts of psychotic
Disorders. I stressed the cures
Came more by chemicals than
Traditional talk therapy. To some it
Meant the end of those thrillers
Based disorders of the patient
Undergoing some childhood
Trauma which explained everything
(The Rosebud phenomenon), which
Still occurs for many. But
Chemistry presented new hope
Of a way out of the wilderness.
If lithium would have kept my
Son from hanging himself,
I’d have been in the forefront
Hollering for it. Whether it
Would have helped Adam Lanza
No one will know--might help
The next Adam Lanza.
*http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/04/24/475461959/how-talking-openly-against-stigma-helped-a-mother-and-son-cope-with-bipolar-diso
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