is susan smith a victim of christian hypocrisy and the barbaric state of mental health care in this country?

Question

No doubt of her guilt but there were many exigent circumstances that while ignored in her case have helped other women in similar circumstances...rape by a trusted family member( christian pillar of community of a stepfather?)and cries for help that were ignored or downplayed...
what is the true state of mental health care in this country and why is the need for it soo stigmatized that people cannot seek help for fear of social repercussions

Answer 1

"what is the true state of mental health care in this country and why is the need for it soo stigmatized that people cannot seek help for fear of social repercussions?"

From one person to the next, from family to family, from group to group, you will find varying impressions and "social norms" as to how the mental health care recipients are viewed.

True, there are groups out there who find it hard to trust veins of thought apart from their own experience. Families have histories or either using mental health care, or of Not using mental health care.
Some families keep their problems to themselves. And, just as we see people among us who "haven't been to a Dr. in years"or "Don't trust Dr.s and hospitals", there are also segments of our population who do not understand or trust the use of mental health care. Broad is the sentiment that a person can "straighten-up their behavior" or "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" or simply "give it to God" when facing troubles - depression - inabilities to function or to reason. Our parents were raised before mental health was commonly available. They were raised to "take care of their own" and to "not talk to strangers about personal or family business". Mental health care simply was for those who were "crazy". And along comes the Baby Boomers, with them come new terms that were only whispered the generation before. Domestic Violence really wasn't talked about or identified publicly as a problem until the '70's or later. PTSD was a new category for anyone who had not been in a War. Depression was simply a sadness. Suicide was nearly unheard of. Alcoholics were called Drunks and it was something they did to themselves, and not a "disease" Homosexuality and all the other variations were considered a mental illness and certainly never spoken of in polite public.
In our parents' generation, and even into our own, if a child was of low intelligence, or deformed there were no school provisions to educate those children. It was not until the '60s that children with these sorts of problems came to public schools (a child in my class had flunked kindergarten 5 times, but there was no other class for him to go to) Churches were the one place people could go to find someone who would recognize that they had some sort of problem, and be prayed for. At the quilting bees the women would talk sharing what had helped them through tough times.

Going to the Dr. in the 60's and complaining of feeling "down" the Dr stood there and asked if the woman had dirty dishes sitting at home in her sink. He thought she should just go home and get the dishes washed and then she'd feel better. In the 70's treatment of choice for depression was longterm hospitalization with electric shock treatments - resulting in personality changes and lost memory. The first divorces I was aware of were in the late 60's, early 70's.

The 80's and 90's were years when use of medications were considered to treat depression in a more broad sense. When every one seemed to know someone who had been to a Counselor or Psychologist for some emotional or behavioral problem. Rare it was to be going to a psychiatrist in our community. There must be something seriously wrong that would be noticeable to others around you if you needed psychiatric care.

2000 came and many people use the mental health care system. And yet there is still a vast number of untreated peole in out communities who sit in our jails, rather than the psychiatrist's office. They don't know why they do the things that they do to land them in jail. They can't control their behavior. They self-medicate with drugs and alcohol, and the behavior gets out of control.........but they wouldn't be caught dead in a mental health clinic. " It ain't cool, man" say the young fellows with their pants hanging off their butt and tattoos and piercings wherever on their body.
Yes, it is the 2000's now. And sex has found its way to the common man and woman, no marriage needed. No children wanted. Rather kill them instead, and go back to "play" some more. Decades before these were criminal offenses.

Social repercussions have become less and less, but they are still with us. We have come to trust strangers with out problems, we have disconnected from our family roots.
Who is out there who genuinely believe there even is a right and a wrong any more?

Our society recognizes today that we have mentally ill among us. And we are still at the starting stages of recognizing and accepting treatment. And it still takes some major guts to walk into the mental health clinic. After all the mentally ill person couldn't be me, it must be the other guy, and I sure wouldn't want to associate with him.

Answer 2

If Smith had a mental illness and lived in Texas, she would be where Andrea Yates is right now - at a state hospital until she would no longer be dangerous to herself or to others - just like John Hinckley.

Because Susan Smith did not have a mental illness and consciously killed her children, she's serving her time in prison accordingly.

{EDIT} After all, Andrea Yates did not go on national TV crying and begging for the murderer of her children to be brought to justice - Susan Smith knew what she was doing all along.

Answer 3

Sorry I do not buy it.. Susan Smith made the choice to murder her innocent, beautiful, helpless little children. She wanted to rid them to be with a man who did not want children.
Susan had choices, she is not the victim here. Mental health care is for people who want to get better and overcome their problems. There is no social repercussions for people who use the system in efforts to improve the quality of their lives and stabilize them.
Many people have been abused, and are not crazy or suffer mental health illnesses.
Susan Smith is a psychopath... She is where she belongs. It is not OK to place blame on the mental health system.... people have choices, She chose to kill her own precious children.