Bashir: Adam Lanza, Mindy McCreedy show need for better mental health

>>> it's time now to clear the air. and as the president has repeatedly said, the debate over gun safety must include a discussion of psychiatric illness . but, unfortunately, of all the ailments common to men and women, mental illness remains one of the most stigmatized, and this may explain why one medic by the name of dr. drew pinsky decided to host a television program he be titled celebrity rehab with dr. drew. the show attempted to follow individuals who would undergo a period of intensive therapy for conditions as wide ranging as drug addiction to anxiety neurosis. sadly, with the news of mindy mccready 's suicide, there have now been five premature deaths in the past two years of individuals who have appeared on dr. pinsky's program. of course, this isn't necessarily a reflection on him, but it does say something about the way mental illness is now being addressed. it seems that we're happy to be voyeurs of reality television , but we're less interested in spending money on the most effective treatment programs and targeting those in need. for example, since the recession of 2008 , individual states have slashed their mental health care budgets by almost $2 billion. with sarah palin 's home state of alaska cutting almost 35% of its provision for psychiatric illness . in fact, 90 million americans live now in areas where the federal government acknowledges a serious shortage of mental health professionals . and so we come to emerging stories about adam lanza, the sick young man who murdered those children and teachers at sandy hook elementary school . according to a couple local newspaper reporters, adam lanza may have been obsessed with previous mass shootings both here and abroad. according to the very latest statistics, about 1 in 4 of the american population is afflicted by one or more mental disorder . and while the overwhelming majority will never express their illness through an episode of gun violence , it's also abundantly clear that if we don't invest in our mental health services , then we're unlikely to pick up on any of those who may be minded to do the unthinkable. what we need to decide as a culture is whether we prefer reality television to real action. of course, providing psychiatric help costs money. but if it meant the difference between your child or mine facing a crazed gunman in a school classroom armed with a semiautomatic assault weapon, i think we'd have to agree that would be a very small price to