Hester Prynnecess, beat reporter on Spoutible

1/8

🧵 I really want to comment on the topic of mental illness and the issue of harm to others.

but it’s hard. usually words come so easily to me, but this is such an area of fraught vulnerability. and at the same time — so important to me, I must speak

I have had a life saturated with people who …

10:15 AM - Aug 11, 2023

Hester Prynnecess, beat reporter

@abigailevans

2/8

have struggled with mental illness. bipolar disorder, in particular (which has an enormous comorbity with ADHD, incidentally) runs strongly through my family.

my grandmother, my father, my brother, and one of my children — and to a lesser extent, me. we have all been gifted with the magic and pain

10:17 AM - Aug 11, 2023

Hester Prynnecess, beat reporter

@abigailevans

3/8

and before I say anything else, I want to say this — IT IS A GIFT. explaining the way I think about that aspect is a subject matter for another thread, tho.

but having a child manifest this condition young — “early onset” as they say — is terrifying. You know the mortality rates for bipolar kids?

10:20 AM - Aug 11, 2023

Hester Prynnecess, beat reporter

@abigailevans

4/8

frighteningly high. higher than many childhood cancers. the risk of suicide is obvious. but the OTHER absolutely terrifying risk is from other people who mistake what is going on with someone suffering a crisis.

we have all heard the stories. remember Elijah McClain, that beautiful spirit?

10:23 AM - Aug 11, 2023

Hester Prynnecess, beat reporter

@abigailevans

5/8

when my child was around 5, in my corner of the world, the police were called by a mother to “assist” with her 15 yo who was having a crisis. he wound up barricading himself in his family car, terrified of the cops who had arrived. they shot him dead.

the statistics tell the story.

10:27 AM - Aug 11, 2023

Hester Prynnecess, beat reporter

@abigailevans

6/8

it is mentally ill people who are harmed disproportionately by the world we are in. they are, like other marginalized communities, at much greater risk from law enforcement, they struggle with health care, jobs, housing… the mere presence of a gun in the household increases their mortality risk.

10:30 AM - Aug 11, 2023

Hester Prynnecess, beat reporter

@abigailevans

7/8

so yes, the remarks I saw this morning were shallow, not deeply thought out. they were made, undoubtedly, off the cuff — I’m sure those spouters have been very annoyed by the behaviors of people w mental illness on occasion. they prob don’t mean to be questioning the humanity of people like my child

10:33 AM - Aug 11, 2023

Hester Prynnecess, beat reporter

@abigailevans

8/8

but every single one of those statements makes the world more dangerous for some of the people who are absolutely at the greatest risk in our society.

it’s not JUST a lack of compassion. it’s contributing to a drumbeat of harm.

I hope somehow my jumble of words & emotions makes sense. -end-

10:35 AM - Aug 11, 2023