The U.S. has been fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan and now soldiers are coming home without adequate supports. I’ve written on this topic before, and I do so here again because I cannot fathom how we allow this to happen. We make soldiers carry the body bags of their dead comrades, and then we make those returning home carry their own baggage of injuries to mind and body filled with unrelenting pain.

There’s been much debate since the Tucson shootings about the mental health of Jared Loughner. Many people want to know, who is to blame for his state of mind – the community or only himself? Also, what new laws governing mental illness and the involuntary detention of individuals should be on the books to prevent this kind of tragedy in the future? But here’s another question: what is our role in people’s mental health?