Society must learn about brain illness

I write this letter to implore people living in our community to learn more about brain illness. When far too many people think of mental illness, sadly the first images that come to mind are ones that marginalize and devalue the integrity of our loved ones.

Last fall's rendition of an insane asylum full of demented nurses tending to their scary deranged patients on the show Modern Family is anything but a laughing matter. This show, that otherwise promotes diversity, understanding and inclusiveness, totally missed a golden opportunity to dispel the stigma attached to this devastating illness.

Mental illness is not something that happens to some other family. It affects all walks of society, rich, poor, young and old. All people. Like any other biological illness, it requires proper evaluation, diagnosis, treatment and wraparound services. It also requires education and enlightenment by law enforcement and first responders, so they can recognize and help steer victims of brain illness to a proper care source and not the local jail cell.

Adverse behavioral changes which are the result of a diseased brain are often mistaken for a person's character and they are placed in a jail cell rather than a treatment center where the right diagnosis and medicine can help restore brain function.

Sadly, misjudging those afflicted results is making our number one treatment center in Illinois a prison, rather than a protected well-staffed empathetic treatment center.

Appropriate and necessary resources for our mentally ill are being cut by our newly elected governor, Bruce Rauner. Write Gov. Rauner or your state legislator and ask what they can do to balance the budget without marginalizing the integrity of human beings who are afflicted by an illness that is too often misunderstood.

Louis S. Guagenti

Arlington Heights