My response to the paper on a huge article about the status of the mentally ill in Arizona

I feel I am a good person to blog about this subject since I have been certified disabled for mental illness for over 15 years. My mental illness deepened into physical illness going by the mystery name of chronic fatigue syndrome which does not exist for many doctors, especially those who treat the poor. My bouts of chronic fatigue were regarded as mental by some, but I only received sporadic and very limited recognition of it as a crippling conditon.
I have lived in subsidized housing for nearly 25 years now, currently at the Westward Ho for half of this period which is housing more and more people certified as mentally ill. (The fellow shown above in the picture is also well enough to live in subsidized housing which calls for some lucidity.)
My conclusion is that it is time for Arizona to go public in finding new ways to help the mentally ill, which would be by recognizing the fact that only a more healthy society can help those among us who are 'certified.' There is an aspect of mental illness to every addiction, alcoholism, smoking, drug addiction, and food addiction. The talking cure is better achieved by the society as a whole, which is not apt to be recognized by the professionals. The professionals need to form better relationships with the public who are so affected when a mentally ill person goes amok. You need to do more articles about what neighbors, family, and friends can do when they see incipient signs of a meltdown.
I see them all the time in here and we residents have learned to respond to a meltdown to protect ourselves. Newspaper writers and other concerned officials of Arizona need to acknowledge that it takes everybody to keep our society healthy.
This article is too similar to all others written about mental illness providers, expecting so much from so few with budgets that are squeezed even tighter.
It is time to get more creative and inventive about recruiting the public to get involved. They are anyway, clear to their necks. Most people have mentally ill relatives, friends, neighbors they watch out for and the more aware they are of their problems the better job they can do to protect themselves from someone's violence.
This subject has been so neglected, I could write a book, the subject of acting like the public counts, their thoughts, their impout and support. This harkens back to when professionals did not want ordinary people to do any thinking on this subject, but now that these very professionals are so beleagured and overworked while at the same time so much is expected of them, I think they might be ready to stop putting down efforts the non professionals make to deal with the same problems.
In fact, I trust ordinary people more than professionals, because the arrogance is missing that actually disabled me in a mental hospital. I already had chronic fatigue from stress and they decided I needed electric shock therapy which I told them might kill me. Do you think they listened? My chronic fatigue kicked in after 5 terrible days of stress in a psych ward setting and I had what they called a catotonic seizure which was undoubtedly the only thing that kept me from being electric shocked. That was also chronic fatigue, folks, which can kill you if you are put under too much stress when it activates.
I came out of that psych ward partially disabled, never to be the same again. I was in much worse shape when I left than when I went in, and the reason that led to my getting in there in the first place was because I had decided to surface some serious molesting that took place in my childhood I could never talk about!
Professionals make mistakes as they did in my case, because they did not understand that I had chronic fatigue. So we should recognize that psychiatrists and psychologists may also have their limitations, so common sense should be our guide!
Most people understand what that is, so when will newspapers stop bending over backwards to exalt the professionals when they write about mental illness, instead of acknowledging they are only human, may be doing the best they can, but that it takes everyone to make a more mentally healthy world. Everyone!
That means parents, relatives, neighbors, everyone who is apt to be involved with or affected by the mentally ill. Everyone is so afraid to give the common person any importance at all. I have tried to get books published to give me more authority, but have so far failed.
Well, out there, common people avert crisises all the time by using common sense, good character, caring, and other valuable attributes of quite a number of our citizens!

Gerry Hitt
The above letter will be reprinted in my blog on AZ Central called G4Life. (see blog list)
I will also show a video I made this morning on the same subject when it is uploaded.
I also want to call your attention to a new entry called Vista Home in my sister Ann's blog, KanyonlandKing (see blog list) which echoes what I have said here. Thank you sister, that is a touching poem. She also posted an excellent photo of our hometown, Boulder, Utah.
My sister Linda's poetry reading video fimed in the patio got two 5 star ratings! So she is a hit. I think she read her poems very well on some significant subject matter (Twisted Sisters). See my youtube channel on blog list. Over 100 people have watched her now.
P.S. Later in the day: my sister Margie who writes the blog "Marge" (see blog list) responded from years and years of nursing experience, including some years working in the Arizona State Mental, with some observations about the topic of mental illness. Thanks so much sister Margie, who is coping with chronic pain in her lower back down to her foot, thank you for responding. I know all my sisters have much to offer the public with their experiences and thinking. I hope the blogging world will accept them and be their friends. Once I get them integrated I will be back to reading all of you some of whom I have neglected on my blog list, but I am aware and will see you soon.