Statistics, mental illness, and literature

Today (June 13, 2016), the news was focused on what is being called "the deadliest mass shooting in the United States and the nation's worst terror attack since 9/11, authorities said" (http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/12/us/orlando-nightclub-shooting/). While this is certainly up for debate, especially when considering the loss of Native American lives at Wounded Knee(http://plainshumanities.unl.edu/encyclopedia/doc/egp.war.056) or African Americans during the Tulsa Race Riot (http://tulsahistory.org/learn/online-exhibits/the-tulsa-race-riot/), the fact remains that approximately 50 individuals were killed and another 53 were injured at a dance club in Orlando in a shooting spree by one armed perpetrator. The shooter's ex-wife reported that he was "mentally unstable and mentally ill," noting that he was "bipolar and also had a history with steroids" (http://www.krmg.com/news/news/local/update-orlando-shooters-ex-wife-says-he-was-mental/nrfSn/).


We know that not all individuals who have bipolar disorder are violent. According to Volavka (2013), most are not violent; however, "severe mental illness, particularly schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, does increase violence risk" (p. 26).


As I reflect on the two books I had students read last week (My Friend Dahmer and The Lovely Bones), I am wondering whether either of the perpetrators in those books would have been likely to commit a mass murder like the one that happened yesterday in Florida. My gut says no because both Jeffrey Dahmer and George Harvey were intimate with their victims and seemed to be compelled to commit their crimes without the use of firearms.


In a recent study by the National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime, of 480 cases of serial murder from 1960 to 2006 in the U.S., nearly 13% of the victims were killed by gunshot.

In the next set of books by Wally Lamb, only one deals with a mass murder, The Hour I First Believed, which takes place at Columbine High School during the time that the two perpetrators committed their horrific attacks on innocent students and staff at the school.


It is my hope that with more research on mental illness, and with more emphasis on getting young people who have mental illnesses help before they become violent, we can prevent tragedies like those mentioned above before they happen. I know that literature doesn't change what has already happened, but perhaps it can help us map out what could happen.


Thanks for listening.

I end this blog with an image of the ribbon created in honor of the victims and survivors; these ribbons were worn at the Tony Awards last night. Also, Lin-Manuel Miranda's acceptance speech/sonnet.

"My wife’s the reason anything gets done
She nudges me towards promise by degrees
She is a perfect symphony of one,
Our son is her most beautiful reprise
We chase the melodies that seem to find us
Until they’re finished songs and start to play
When senseless acts of tragedy remind us
That nothing here is promised, not one day
This show is proof that history remembers
We live through times when hate and fear seem stronger
We rise and fall and light from dying embers
Remembrances that hope and love lasts long
And love is love is love is love is love is love is love is love is love
Cannot be killed or swept aside,
I sing Vanessa’s symphony, Eliza tells her story
Now fill the world with music love and pride."


http://www.nytimes.com/video/arts/100000004467857/lin-manuel-mirandas-sonnet.html



Volavka, J. (2013). Violence in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Psychiatria Danubina 25 (1), pp. 24–33.

  

Sherman Alexie is in my head.

Sherman Alexie is in my head.
Even when I am not
Teaching his novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian,
Or reading his poems
Or recommending his short stories,
I find his words
Reverberating in my mind
And connecting my world to his
And to yours.


In "Dangerous Astronomy" Alexie says,
"I wanted to walk outside and praise the stars"
And as I read the words,
I think of the images from
Roots
and hear these words,
as Omoro Kinte named his son Kunte Kinte,
Holding him up to the stars:
"Behold, the only thing greater than yourself."


I am taken back to
Alexie's words in Diary:
"Branch by branch, Rowdy and I climbed toward the top of the tree
to the bottom of the sky"




and Rowdy says, "I've never seen anything so pretty."



And even though that scene
takes place during the day,
My brain makes it night time
and there are stars.


I flash past the brutality of Roots
and the anger of the Rez
and the dark pain of Rowdy
and there are stars.

.

Breaking the Silence: Women with Mental Illness Speak Out

While watching the Today show this morning, I was excited to see a story on women with mental illness, where Kat Kinsman's forthcoming book about living with anxiety was featured.
http://www.today.com/health/hi-anxiety-women-hide-their-mental-illness-out-shame-says-t94606


Likewise, Women's Health Magazine, in honor of Mental Health Awareness month (May 2016), has a series of photographs and stories of women who are living with mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, OCD, anxiety, PTSD, depression, bipolar disorder, and borderline personality disorder. Editor-in-chief Amy Keller Laird says that she her own public relations team was concerned about her disclosing her own struggles with OCD, saying,  "Our public relations folks also initially expressed concern that if I, as the head of this magazine, were to come out publicly about having OCD, I might be seen "differently" in the industry—or be judged by my peers—and that I would have to accept that risk if I moved forward."
http://www.womenshealthmag.com/health/amy-keller-laird-obsessive-compulsive-disorder


The stigma that these women talk about is one of the reasons I start our class with Lori Schiller's book, The Quiet Room.  Lori's choice to share her story about living with schizophrenia was one of great courage.


As I reread Lori's book this summer, I find myself thinking about her life today. Here is a blurb from Schiller (now Lori Jo Baach) in a 2013 newsletter:


"I now work full-time in the mental health field, do motivational speaking, teach CIT (Crisis Intervention Team) training to the police on how to treat the mentally ill, sit on the Board of Directors at South County Mental Health Center, sit on the Jansen Pharmaceutical Mental Health Advisory Board, won the Peer Specialist of the Year Award for the State of Florida in 2009, and have been ac-tively involved with NAMI Palm Beach County including being founder of the "Consumer Coun-cil" (now known as "Peer Council"), P2P mentor, P2P Mentor State Trainer, and Board member. Well known as Lori Schiller, I often hear "You’re the one who wrote that book (The Quiet Room)."  http://namipbc.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Newsletter-The-Voice-2013-June.pdf


Here's a picture of Lori from a 2013 "Breaking the Silence" symposium in Boynton Beach, Florida.

Good Books, Summer 2016 - Here We Go!

I'm excited to be teaching EN 110 Good Books again this summer. I kept the same format as I did last year because students' comments were very positive about the class.


This past winter term, we read Resilience: Two Sisters and a Story of Mental Illness by Jessie Close as our Diversity Common Reader book at NMU. I enjoyed reading the book, hosting a public discussion about mental illness and the book, and attending the talk by Jessie Close on March 21st. The book, and Jessie's talk, reminded me of the power of story - how sharing our stories with each other can help us to heal and to help others to better understand us and the world around us.


That is what Good Books is all about, really. Reading stories and developing a better understanding of ourselves and those we live with around the globe.


Jessie and her sister, Glenn Close, started a nonprofit organization called Bring Change 2 Mind. Their mission is to "end the stigma and discrimination surrounding mental illness."
http://bringchange2mind.org/


That's one of my goals as well: to use literature to help end the stigma of mental illness. In 2014, I published an article in the Language Arts Journal of Michigan about this issue: http://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/lajm/vol30/iss1/6/


Last summer, in New York, I presented on the issue at the International Federation of Teachers of English/Conference on English Education convention as well.
http://commons.nmu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1126&context=facwork_conferencepresentations


I'm looking forward to a wonderful six weeks in Good Books this summer!

Kia Jane :)