I do have several takes on that viral article you are referencing.

First, because I participated into its propagation, I did it because in my opinion it was opening a discussion about the limitations of the help parents dealing with problematic behaviors are facing.

In my opinion, this is what lead Lisa Long to write this piece.

Second I think that, despite a great content in her piece, it is terribly misnomed, and this is what is leading to confusion and misunderstanding. She is NOT Adam Lanza's mother, because Adam Lanza did not have the condition her son is having, obviously (otherwise his mother, when he was thirteen would have avoided surrounding her with weapons obviously).

This title only helped getting the piece read, and hence become viral.

It ended up disserving her initial intention, as you are pointing out in your blogpost. This is too bad.

I don't believe the purpose of outing her son in this piece is indicative of any bad parenting. There is a lot of anger, of despair, of fear, that has been triggered by Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, and every one needs to DO something. She chose to open up about her worst fears, and she identified - wrongly - her son as a possible killer, because she lives it every time he has a fit, and no-one cares. This is a tragedy at her level.

But again, it has NOTHING to do with the profile of perpetrator of the mass murders at Sandy Hook, nothing.

Had she written that piece with a different title at a different time, noone would have probably read it, and maybe some of the conversations about mental health services would have not been launched. You know, probably, what the situation is in the United States, where besides jail and E.R. they are absolutely no institutional resources, and no service, when you have a loved one affected with problem behaviors you are on your own, and your life is ended: you just care for that loved one, until either one of you dies (or get killed, or both kill each other...).

Or... you find support in the community, and need to ask for help. Which is not an easy task, especially with the stigma attached to "mental illness".

She was in a tough spot, where she is going to get some slackk anyway. But once again, she opened a door to a needed conversation, in my humble opinion (as I always say after having clogged your comments!).

You are not clogging anything, Otir, and I value your opinion on the topic.

I do feel for her, really; I cannot start to imagine what it is to be in her situation, what it is to be threatened by a son in the midst of an outburst of violence, and to be offered nothing—short of a pill before he's sent home, or pressing charges—to help.

And I do agree that things need to change about that.

Nevertheless, the piece implies that kids with mental illnesses that make them violent will become mass murderers; that her own son is a rampage shooter in waiting; and that Adam Lanza was similar to her son. All of which I disagree with, and all of which, in my opinion contribute to perpetuating the stigma against mental illness.

What prompted this post is that many, many of the reactions I have seen to this piece are of the "we need better health care or at least options to prevent wackos like this kid to kills us all in our sleep" variety. Whether or not the author is to blame (I do realize this was never intended to have such a broad audience, and I do understand how this can affect how carefully she worded her piece), I wanted to address these points.

I would have quite preferred a different angle in which she would have called for help not because she's terrified that her son starts killing random people but because she's terrified for his well-being. Which of course is fairly easy to state from the comfort of where I'm sitting.