20. In Psychiatric Illness, Families Must Be Our First Responders

http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/12/in-psychiatric-illness-families-must-be-our-first-responders/266628/

In Lloyd Sederer's article, "In Psychiatric Illness, Families Must Be Our First Responders," she discusses about the recent tragic Newtown massacre and some possible changes which should happen. Sederer starts out her article by revealing her opinion about gun control. She states that as a psychiatrist, she feels that those who cause these happenings, the criminals, are most likely to be mentally ill. By having gun control it won't help solve the problem, the measures which must be taken is to find these mentally ill people and possibly cure them. Sederer states that those who are most likely to find them are their families. Family are the first people to find a difference in behavior or character. However, other people, such as doctors, don't sense these change, therefore, don't think it is necessary to cure them. Sederer shows that to avoid cases like the Newtown massacre, people must take action to avoid people with mental illness in becoming a criminal. "Let's involves these families in engineering the most effective systems for involving their early warnings, using their leverage with their loved ones, and capitalizing on their ongoing support of the treatments that, if delivered early and consistently, will reduce the risks for tragic events." She ends her article by revealing that families must be supported and taken seriously so that tragedies won't happen again.

The author's purpose in writing this article is to reveal a new measure which people should take to avoid tragedies, such as the Newtown massacre. She wishes that people may take measurer and precautions, so that no sad occurrences may happen again. Sederer's audience are other psychiatrist or doctors who must watch out for these sick patients and possibly cure them. It could avoid them from becoming criminals. Sederer wishes that people might take action and nothing like the Newtown massacre may happen again.