The Hour I First Believed

Reading Wally Lamb's The Hour I First Believed gave me a realization to how mental illness can effect someone. PTSD or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is very common now a days from the Afghanistan and Iraq Wars. In The Hour I First Believed the characters are effected by PTSD after the Columbine shootings. I have did a lot of research on PTSD, and have a friend who has it after serving in the Iraq war. It deeply effects your mind and changes you as a person. The characters in the book are changed after the tragic event.

Serial Killers

Reading My Friend Dahmer gave me an incredible look at mental illness and psychological problems. The book was such an interesting read, and really showed another side of mental illness. I have did a lot of research on serial killers before, mainly for classes during my high school years. I find it incredibly interesting learning about their behavior. I've watched a few documentaries and movies on Jeffrey Dahmer, but reading My friend Dahmer really opened up my mind about serial killers. Before I did my personal research and read this book I always thought serial killers just were born to kill. However, I learned that it's mostly what happens in their past that shapes how they act in the future. Helping these mentally ill people with their problems before they kill would be extremely hard. It's very hard to determine when these individuals will kill, if they even will at all. A lot of times, serial killers are seen as completely normal from the outside. In today's society and time it's a lot less common to have serial killers than it was during the times when Jeffrey Dahmer was around. There's more medication, therapy, assisted living, etc, to keep these mentally ill people from committing horrible crimes. When I was reading My Friend Dahmer, my perspective of the human condition changed. I think that if Jeffrey's friends would have helped him with his problems, he might not have turned into the serial killer he is most famous for. This can be said about a lot of things in life. Most often after a terrible tragedy, people find themselves feeling like it was their fault for not stepping in and helping before it was too late.

A really good interview on Jeffrey Dahmer :http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aY7nSIl299s

Alcoholism

Reading The Absolute True Diary Of A Part-Time Indian really opened my eyes to the problems alcohol can create in a community. Junior's struggles, as well as his whole community, are problems that are prevelent today in the indian community. Alcohol seems to be a bigger problem in the indian community because of how apart they still are from other races today. http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2011/10/first-alcoholic-drink-at-age-5-reservation-counselor-says-its-happening/ This is just a short article I found online that's really an eye-opener to me. It says that many of the kids have their first drinks around the ages of five to six! The article is about the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, where officials say that eighty to ninety percent of adults are addicted to alcohol. Reflecting back on Junior's problems, you can still see that alcoholism in the indian community is spiraling out of control. The Absolute True Diary Of A Part-Time Indian fits very well into the stories we read. I think that alcoholism is as much of a mental illness as schizophrenia and other mental illnesses. Recently a family member of mine got into drinking heavily again and we had to step in to get him help. I feel like in Junior's case and many other people on reservations don't get help because there's no one to give them the help. My family and I supported our fellow family member and got him the help he needed to battle alcoholism. Reading The Absolute Diary Of A Part-Time Indian really struck home with me.

The Quiet Room, A MUST read

1.)The Quiet room was truly an inspirational book and I'm so glad i got to read it. It first of all showed me that even when you're back is against the wall and everything you can imagine is coming at you, you yourself can overcome anything. Lori Schiller was in such a terrible place in her life that i thought she'd never be able to make it. She really brought to my life the reasons to never give up, and sometimes all it takes is to confront the problem head on. I have had problems in my life, like every one has had and honestly after reading this book you start to appreciate that most problems you can control, in Lori's case she couldn't for years.
2.) First of all, The Quiet Room is written from multiple person's accounts from Lori's experiences. I have never read a book that was written this way, and it seemed to keep my full attention throughout the whole book. It just made the story take on so many emotional levels, that it really captivated me into each person's shoes. Most books in high school I can admit that I spark noted, or simply read too fast to remember anything. But, this book fully took me in and kept me wanting to read whenever i has the chance. Even on these beautiful days I would sit inside and read this book. I can honestly say that I would read this book for pleasure any time. My mother actually started reading the book today!

View on Mental Illness

When i think of mental illness i have to think of Jack Nicholson in the movie The Shining. However, as technology evolves and we begin to learn more about mental illness your views can really change on the subject. Most of the time a person can be labeled "mentally ill" and go completely unnoticed in society. A lot of times you might have a friend or relative that has a form of mental illness and hides it so well you will never know. I recently watched the movie Girl Interrupted with my girlfriend and i can actually say i really enjoyed it. By the end of the movie my mind was so blown about what had taken place we ended up having a twenty minute conversation about the movie. There's also the classic movie The Shining that i mentioned above where Jack Nicholson completely goes insane by the end of the movie. I feel like movies like these really don't accurately portrait someone who is labeled "mentally ill". For instance, our veterans of foreign wars such as the Iraq War and Afghanistan often return home "mentally ill" and try to live normal lives and can't completely adjust. I feel like in the last twelve years since 911, mental illness has been in the news a lot in the form of PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder).

http://www.youtube.com/user/VeteransMTC?v=SqjwV-lsVEs
This is a very interesting video I think you'd enjoy.