Perry Kucinich's death should bring attention to the plight of the mentally ill

[cali]

instead of being used as political fodder for a conspiracy theory. Paranoid schizophrenia is a terrible disease. It can and does, shorten lives. We treat the mentally ill with contempt and hate. I knew about Perry's illness prior to his death because I read about him in articles about Dennis, who treated his brother with loving kindness.

Speculating that Perry was murdered to silence Dennis takes the focus off the real shame here; that this country doesn't fund enough research into mental illness and that the stigma is crippling, as are many of the drugs used in treatment.

My deep condolences to Dennis, and my admiration for his love and care of his brother.

[OregonBlue]

1. You are oh so right. Thank you for saying it.

[cali]

3. you are so welcome. The threads about Perry have made me so

sad. It's demonstrates that too few are aware of the devastation of serious mental illness, and are more interested in baseless speculation. Dennis deserves better than that, particularly as he was such a staunch advocate for Perry.

[OregonBlue]

10. Until you experience it, you just can't imagine how very hard it is. My son and his wife are both

mentally ill with 2 small children. I don't sleep much. It's a very scary and hard road for all of us. My prayers go out to Dennis. I'm sure he is devastated.

[Perry Logan]

2. Well said, cali.

[Cooley Hurd]

4. My cousin suffered from PS from the age of 18 until his death at 38...

He died of a heart attack because, due to his illness, he subsisted on little but coffee and cigarettes. I think it's safe to say Perry didn't take proper care of himself, either.

[cali]

5. I'm sorry about your cousin.

It's true that paranoid schizophrenics often have trouble with basic self-care, and there's also the effect of years of drugs. Perry was 53. There's nothing unusual about his dying at that age/

[etherealtruth]

6. In addition to the lack of compassion ...

... for and understanding of the mentally ill. Treatment is expensive ... even if one has health insurance, coverage tends to be spotty with comparatively low yearly and lifetime caps. (never mind that a severely mentally ill adult is unlikely to have a job that provides health insurance).

The mentally ill do not fall through the cracks ....they are pushed through the cracks.

[Double T]

7. So true. Society and governments don't want to deal with or spend money ........

on mental illness resulting in a lot of homeless mentally ill people walking the streets.

[KharmaTrain]

8. I Sure Hope Its Ignorance

I've lived with mental illness in my family ranging from mentally retarded to manic depression to full-blown altzheimers. These are common but privately fought illnesses...when it hits your family, you keep it to yourself. It's that is internalized in very different ways. Some find compassion and make the most of the situation, others run from it. Either way, when it touches your life, it changes it. You never control the situation, it always has the upper hand...you deal with each instance as it comes and hope for the best.

After reading a lot of the comments yesterday, I couldn't help but think that many of those putting on tin foil hats never had to deal with a mentally ill loved one. They were quick to jump to some far-fetched conspiracy rather than look at the very personal side of this issue...not just for Dennis, but for the entire Kucinich family who had to support and cope with Perry for his many tormented years.

Mental illness is still ignored as it scares people. When you see a loved one wither in front of your eyes, it rattles you to the core. When you encounter someone who looks different or talks funny or walks strange, it's so easy to look away...outta sight, outta mind.

[cali]

9. Thanks, KT

for putting it in a personal context.

[Smarmie Doofus]

13. Excellent post and what a sentence:

>>When you see a loved one wither in front of your eyes, it rattles you to the core.>>


It does indeed.

[FloridaJudy]

17. Thank you.

I, too, have a seriously mentally-ill family member. It's terrifying. You just hold your breath, expecting that at any time you could be called by the police or by the morgue that they've just picked him up. People who haven't been through it don't understand.

It's a cruel trick of nature, but years of Republican rule haven't made it any easier. It started with Reagan emptying the Mental Hospitals, and then failing to provide community support for the former inhabitants, and ended with turning complete control of the Health Care system over to the Medical Insurance Industry. Often mental illness isn't covered, even if you could get insurance for those who need it most. And publicly funded programs are being cut more and more.

My heart goes out to Dennis and his family. I've always admired him. Knowing that he treated a mentally-ill brother with kindness makes me admire him even more.

[Deja Q]

11. K&R

Especially the stigma; and the variety of people who overlook it... and the others that cater to it. And the latter can be found in the most interesting of places too...

[graywarrior]

12. .

:thumbsup:

[cali]

14. kick

for obvious reasons.

[Vinca]

15. It should bring attention to the plight of the mentally ill, but it won't.

They are among the forgotten people - especially by the current administration.

[HughMoran]

16. Thanks for putting some perspective back into this unfortunate death

Although the speculation was inevitable, that doesn't mean that I didn't also find it disgusting :puke:

[eridani]

18. The former chair of WA state Health Care for All was the only psychiatrist in the state--

--who would take Medicaid patients. The reimbursement was so poor that she gave up her car and moved closer to her work. Eventually, she could not afford to pay for her own health insurance, so she moved to New Zealand, which was very happy to pay for the health care of a very good psychiatrist.

[mdmc]

20. the brain drain

once again

[Freddie Stubbs]

19. Do we even know that his paranoid schizophrenia was a factor in his death?

Is it possible that he died of some other natural causes?

[Samurai_Writer]

21. Wonderful post

My sister suffered from schizophrenia from the age of 21 to when she died this past summer at the age of 43. She died of respiratory failure brought on by morbid obesity (caused by side effects of the meds she was on) and surgical complications.

She was one of the 'lucky' ones, as she had family to care for her, instead of leaving her homeless. What a wasted life, though. She was a talented poet, and an extremely intelligent who was getting a degree in occupational therapy when she was crippled with this disease.

My heart goes out to Dennis Kucinich and everyone who deals with having mentally ill family members.

[Glimmer of Hope]

23. I am sorry. I see a lot of homeless in DC who are PS and it breaks my heart that

they don't receive the medical attention they need.

[bobbolink]

25. Do you know that for a fact?

[mdmc]

22. kicking

rip:kick:

[Peace 2008]

24. Did we ever hear the cause of death?

People don't just drop dead of mental illness, the autopsy still should have found a cause of death?