Political Quotes

“While the Senate argues about gun issues and talking about what is in the hands of those perpetrators who commit heinous crimes, I want to talk about America's shameful secret that people don't want to be talking about, and that is our willful ignoring of dealing with mental illness. We have to start talking about not what is in people's hands, but what is in their hearts and minds. Approximately 5 percent of individuals with schizophrenia will die by suicide during their lifetime, a rate 50-fold greater than the general population. Keep in mind now suicide has overtaken all other areas of accidental deaths. It is now the leading cause of death by injury, about 38,000 per year. We understand that mental disorders are brain disorders with specific systems that are rooted in abnormal patterns of brain activity. Many of those with psychosis show up between ages 14 and 25 when there are changes occurring in the branching and pruning of brain cells. Yet, there is a delay between the first episode of psychosis and the onset of treatment with an average of 110 weeks before someone gets care. There are 100,000 young Americans who will have a first episode of psychosis this year and will join over 2 million others with schizophrenia. Look at this: one-sixth of murderers in prison are mentally ill. Here are some other quick facts. The number of murders in the U.S. in 2011 committed with rifles: 323.…”