WHAT CAN WE DO? : WE MUST LEARN TO UNDERSTAND MENTAL ILLNESS FIVE STAR LIFT Edition

We have to remember we are dealing with children who have severe mental illness. Living with severe mental illness is horribly compromising and terribly painful. These young people will focus only on the one thing they believe will release the pressure, not the consequences of their actions. Adults...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inSt. Louis post-dispatch
Main Author Behrman, Gary
Format Newspaper Article
LanguageEnglish
Published St. Louis, Mo Pulitzer, Inc 08.03.2001
Subjects
At risk youth
Mental disorders
School violence
St Louis Missouri
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Summary:We have to remember we are dealing with children who have severe mental illness. Living with severe mental illness is horribly compromising and terribly painful. These young people will focus only on the one thing they believe will release the pressure, not the consequences of their actions. Adults do this frequently, granted in less destructive and horrific ways. "Escaping" into gambling, shopping, sex, alcohol, drugs, all can be releases from emotional pain. Compulsive behaviors temporarily release the valve, but self- discipline or someone else may be needed to defuse the situation and keep compulsive behaviors from becoming utterly destructive. All of us feel pressure, feel a need to escape, to do something to ease the emotional pain that may be the result of childhood trauma, mental illness or something else. We look for a numbing experience. Initially it works, and we don't feel the pain any more. Eventually, it quits working. But we become convinced that more of the substance or intensifying the behavior will give us relief. This is the pattern of violence.
ISSN:1930-9600