Thread by @AlanMyattPhD

1/ @RepDLamborn @SenBennetCO @SenCoryGardner #gunsense #MentalHealth In light of the epic failure of Law Enforcement and our mental health system in #Parkland Florida, I want to comment on our mental health system. My wife is a psychiatric nurse practioner who has worked

2/ extensively with medicaid, as well as private insurance and military patients; the whole gamut. The system is fundamentally dysfunctional in a way that it promotes the kind negligence resulting in the tragedy at Parkland H.S. @RepDLamborn @SenBennetCO @SenCoryGardner #gunsense

3/ Medicaid only pays for 15 min for a psychiatrist or nurse practitioner to see a patient. In order to survive financially, it becomes necessary for a provider to see 25 or so patients per day, in an assembly line fashion. @RepDLamborn @SenBennetCO @SenCoryGardner #gunsense

4/ The result is mental health care is superficial, in many cases, though the providers are doing their best. When in patient hospitalization is needed, this same attitude carries over -"treat 'em and street 'em". Evaluations @RepDLamborn @SenBennetCO @SenCoryGardner #gunsense

5/ are often superficial, with usually 3 days, perhaps up to 7, of in-patient treatment before they are back on the streets to deal with whatever problems they have. The notion of long term treatment and care is not an option @RepDLamborn @SenBennetCO @SenCoryGardner #gunsense

6/ for most patients, and the financial realities don't allow for it. Insurance companies follow the gov's lead in payments and time limitations, leading to a de facto rationing of care that lets many slip thru the cracks. @RepDLamborn @SenBennetCO @SenCoryGardner #gunsense

7/ Now we have a backlash against psychiatic care, blaming these shootings on the medications prescribed. However, these meds are designed to restore normal brain function and are literal life savers for millions of people. @RepDLamborn @SenBennetCO @SenCoryGardner #gunsense

8/ That so many of these kids are on these meds is not an indication that they cause violence, but that someone in the system has noticed their problems and attempted to intervene. However, simply throwing meds at the problem @RepDLamborn @SenBennetCO @SenCoryGardner #gunsense

9/ is never sufficient. Prolonged therapy and in-depth care is needed to help them deal with their problems in a peaceful way, as well as to see which meds actually help (they vary with different individuals). Yet, Federal @RepDLamborn @SenBennetCO @SenCoryGardner #gunsense

10/ government rules virutally guarantee that many of these difficult cases are not going to get adequate treatment. This is the problem that must be faced. Our mental health system is woefully inadequate. It is imperative @RepDLamborn @SenBennetCO @SenCoryGardner #gunsense

11/ serious reform occur, beginning with providing more than a superficial 15 min visit to treat psychiatric issues. Providers are both physically and mentally exhausted attempting to see 25 patients per day, as well as @RepDLamborn @SenBennetCO @SenCoryGardner #gunsense

12/ being reprimanded by employers for taking too much time with patients. Meanwhile, patients constantly complain that their doctors don't really listen to them. They just write a prescription and send them off so they @RepDLamborn @SenBennetCO @SenCoryGardner #gunsense

13/ can see the next patient. Our society ignores this elephant in the living room, and instead blames the guns for what is obviously a breakdown in our society that is both mental and spiritual. No gun law is going to @RepDLamborn @SenBennetCO @SenCoryGardner #gunsense

14/ resolve this. Indeed, it will only further alienate people like myself, who view it as a trampling on our 2nd Amendment rights, while the real issues are being swept under the rug. In this election year, we will be @RepDLamborn @SenBennetCO @SenCoryGardner #gunsense

15/ watching to see what our representatives do. Please don't ignore the crisis of mental health care and the dysfunction created by unrealistic government regulations. Guns have always been with us, yet this didn't use to @RepDLamborn @SenBennetCO @SenCoryGardner #gunsense

16/ happen. Just as the previous "assault rifle" bad did not prevent Columbine, a new ban will do nothing to prevent the next mass killing in one of our schools. What will help is identifying and treating those at risk. At the @RepDLamborn @SenBennetCO @SenCoryGardner #gunsense

17/ present we have failed and now 17 more of our best are dead. It's time for Congress to act. We are watching. We will vote. @RepDLamborn @SenBennetCO @SenCoryGardner #gunsense