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Post by Admin on Oct 9, 2017 12:33:12 GMT -4
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Post by Kunal Patel on Oct 9, 2017 19:05:21 GMT -4
This article used several studies to reference the motives behind the various mass shootings that have taken place in America over the recent years. Contrary to my initial thoughts about the convicted murderers, the article actually states that the majority of these killers are not sufferers of "mental illness." This depends on how you define mental illness., because anyone that commits such a crime., regardless of definition., is in fact mentally ill in every sense of the word. However, looking at the common factors that these people share, including social isolation, and negative perceptions of those people around them, I think the article makes a good point in that these people tend to magnify those times in which they were wronged, and never blame themselves. The stat at the end is pertinent in that those that purchase firearms with some type of criminal history are more likely to commit further acts of violence. Good read 👍🏾
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NVu
New Member
Posts: 3
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Post by NVu on Oct 11, 2017 12:26:24 GMT -4
While I disagreed with a few aspects of the article, I support the intention of shifting the narrative away from placing the blame on mental health, because by doing so, we are contributing to an already negative perception of mental health. Schizophrenia, depression, bipolar disorder, etc.– these mental disorders have been shamed and tabooed over time and across countless cultures. I come from a culture in which mental health is not commonly acknowledged: The body can get sick, but the mind – that is something that you should be able to control. It’s time for us as a society to accept that we all play a role in how mental health is portrayed. When great tragedies happen, society’s anger and hurt pushes us to find reason, to search for a scape goat. Mental health always takes the fall. To label someone as “crazy” is easier than accepting the fact that the average guy next door was just angry, because for some reason, we think that we couldn’t have possibly stopped a “crazy” person. “They were just like that” – and maybe that was the case with some of the tragedies that have occurred in the past, but that shouldn’t stop us from trying to recognize those who need help. We need to try and remove the stigma around mental health. As a society, we should give people the comfort, support, and reassurance that they won’t be chastised for seeking help. The “crazy” guy next door - maybe all it took was one counseling session, one prescription, one “how are you” that could have taken the trajectories of these events in another direction. Everyone deserves to live a fulfilling life – not just with a healthy body, but a healthy mind as well.
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Post by Soren Estvold on Oct 11, 2017 14:39:24 GMT -4
Great article! As seen in the article, gun violence or even violence in general is much less likely to boil down to mental illness. While screening of mental illness might pick out the few of those that are more prone to mass violence; it is not the best solution to this problem. The solution this to problem lies within gun control. The common denominator between all of these mass violence instances was guns. The solution to this problem thus lies in better control of firearms. This is not a far fetched idea. Many nations have proven this point by regulating what types of firearms that public as access to (Australia, Switzerland, Great Britain). The results of these gun control measures have drastically limited the mass casualty incidences in these countries; and has been proven to hold for decades.
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Post by Krupa P. on Oct 11, 2017 19:40:59 GMT -4
I am in partial agreement with this article regarding its statement that better mental health will not stop mass shootings. Yes it will not stop ALL mass shootings, but I do believe better mental health is a necessary preventive measure to thwart future incidents. Stephen Paddock's girlfriend in her statement to the FBI stated that he would scream in bed all night and that he may have been in "mental anguish." I feel that as a society, we need to work towards removing the stigma towards mental illness and encourage those around us that need help to get help. Had Mr. Paddocks girlfriend encouraged him to seek help or had notified other people about his bizarre behavior at night, he may have been able to get help that may have prevented this incident. According to this article, some studies claim that 15% of assailants had a psych disorder while others claim that 23% of mass killers are mentally ill. Although poor mental health and its link to mass shootings is difficult to quantify, I feel that even a slight reduction in those percentages if attributed to better mental health equals success.
Another issue we need to work on is gun laws. Why did he have 47 guns? Also, he had modified his guns with a "bump stock" which turned his guns from semi automatic into an automatic. I believe we need to ban such devices from being sold to the public. Another change that needs to be made is that any person with a history of violence should be prevented from owning firearms. The article stated that 23 states have restricted it but I believe all states need to follow that rule.
I feel that many factors contribute to such incidences of violence....and working to improve each factor is necessary to improve outcome. Great article!
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Post by Jonathan Phang on Oct 13, 2017 14:20:58 GMT -4
What the crux of the article is trying to get at is that mass killings (specifically mass shootings) are usually not linked to mental illness, and I would tend to agree with this statement. Intuitively, it actually makes quite a bit of sense. As demonstrated in the Las Vegas shooting, mass shootings require extensive, deliberate, thoughtful, and logical planning – from the acquiring of multiple automatic weapons as to avoid the need to reload, to choosing a strategic vantage point, to remaining inconspicuous among the community, etc. This combination of planning and executing a well-thought out plan, along with remaining unsuspected by social peers, would likely be much more difficult to successfully pull off by someone with a mental illness, such as schizophrenia. Also, instances where those with mental illnesses commit murders seem to trend more on the side of single murders rather than mass murders, at least from the stories I’ve read. Take the example of the schizophrenic Canadian man who beheaded a stranger on a Greyhound bus back in 2008. This man heard voices in his head telling him to perform this random beheading on the spot, rather than executing a carefully elaborated plan to murder everyone on the bus, such as planting a bomb. Additionally, in this particular case, “Canadian authorities don’t view him as a significant threat to the public,” (https://www.rt.com/news/377065-canada-murderer-schizophrenic-freed/) which is also supported by the Atlantic article, which claims that the connection between mental illness and mass shootings is weak. Just because something is so incomprehensible to the majority of us (e.g. massacring a large group of people), we can’t automatically attribute this to the scapegoat of mental illness. But of course like everything else, there are always exceptions. There are those with mental illness that can in fact commit and have the potential to commit mass killings. It would be ignorant to completely dismiss the importance of providing mental health services to such people. The tricky part is finding the balance where we are able to help the greatest amount of people without over-expending our available resources. When it really comes down to it though, I believe the problem of mass shootings really boils down to gun control. As someone not from America, it’s extremely difficult for me to comprehend the country’s obsession with guns – love of guns seems to surpass freedom of speech, proper health care, a functional economy, etc. for a lot of people here. Maybe it’s just engrained into American culture and is too late to change at this point? But that’s a debate for another time.
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Post by Kathryne Holmes on Oct 14, 2017 16:31:34 GMT -4
This article was an interesting read, as it downplayed the role of mental health issues in relation to mass murderers. Many of the research claimed that only a small percentage of the mass shootings were accomplished by people who do not suffer from mental illness. They state that the most common traits between the individuals who commit serious acts of violence are being male, history of sexual assault and binge drinking. As many know, sexual assault and abuse at a young age develops into PTSD, anxiety, depression as well as other types of mental disorders throughout life. Binge drinking is also considered as an important criteria for alcohol use disorder, the most prevalent mental health disorders in the US. I feel much of the research used in this article, categorized mental health disorder in limited groups (mainly bipolar, MDD and schizophrenia) but it is clear there are many other types of mental health disorder that are not being considered when evaluating mass murderers. However, it is mentioned, by Michael Sone, forensic psychiatrist, that one fifth of these individuals do in fact suffer from serious mental illness, while the others suffered from some type of antisocial or personality disorder. No matter which research you would like to put more emphasis on, it is clear that more, and not less, needs to be done in terms of mental health awareness, diagnosis and therapy for individuals who raise even only a few red flags so that we may hopefully prevent even one more horrific tragedy.
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Post by Kristen Richard on Oct 15, 2017 19:56:17 GMT -4
This article states that the connection between mental illness and mass shootings is weak because little violence is caused by mentally ill people. It states that violence would go down by only 4% if we were able to cure mental illnesses such as MDD, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia. There also seem to be many other reviews published stating that a person who has addiction, alcohol use disorder, or history of childhood abuse, and who is of the male sex all are more likely to commit serious crimes of violence. I feel that regardless and effort should be made to cure mental illness and even if the percentage of people with mental illness that cause these tragedies in society is low it would be beneficial. A life is a life regardless. I also feel that perhaps another criteria of mental illness should be examined because the article seems to only care about labeling the assailants with mental illness with a psychotic disorder, schizophrenia, or bipolar disorder. Personally, I do not think that mass shootings and killings are performed by people in a healthy mental state and although they may not have the features necessary to label them with a mental illness, another category may exist in the future. It also seems like there is varying and unreliable data on the correlation between mental illness and mass killings. As a society we tend to stigmatize those with mental illness making it less likely for them to get help and thus prevent crimes that occur due to uncontrolled mental health. We should work towards ending this image and perception because people with these problems deserve just as much care and empathy as those with any other medical condition.
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Post by Lois Olumuyiwa on Oct 18, 2017 15:17:08 GMT -4
I very much agree with this article in the light that people responsible for mass shootings aren't usually mentally ill. Soo many times, the media has used mental illness, in my opinion, to excuse these people from taking responsibility for their actions and it's 1. Unfair to the families of victims when they're told not to blame the shooter because it wasn't their fault, and 2. to the mentally ill people who are already stigmatized. True, better mental health care will help a few mentally ill people who might have violent tendencies but as far as prevention of mass shooting goes,it's just not enough and gun control will, in my opinion, do a better job at that. Good read however.
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Post by Geetha Vyas on Oct 20, 2017 9:45:05 GMT -4
It's interesting to see that the percentages of mass shootings associated with mental illness are far lower than I expected, considering how the media uses mental health as the excuse. I have to disagree about better mental health care won't stop mass shootings. Getting mental health care will help people deal with their frustrations and prevent horrible events, I believe. The problem, like the article states, is that people don't seek the help they need when life gets overwhelming and the idea of blaming the world and seeking revenge begins. They don't seek help because they believe their thinking is justifiable and because of the unfortunate stigma that exists regarding mental health. The article implies that mass shootings are done by mentally stable people, which I disagree with. If shooters don't have the logic to even question the idea of a mass shooting than I certainly believe that they are mentally unstable. Just entertaining the idea of it is generally considered to be homicidal ideation and if they sought help for their problems in the first place, they'd be involuntarily hospitalized. There needs to be a way to decrease the stigma of mental health and encourage more to seek help for their mentality. I personally think a thorough background check and an extensive psychiatric evaluation should be performed before anyone can purchase firearms, as well as bimonthly check-ups to ensure mental health is sound. The statistics may show that a small percentage of people who have mood disorders, schizophrenic etc. commit these sort of heinous crimes, BUT to state that those who commit these crimes are mentally sound is also wrong because no sound person would commit these crimes. This was a very interesting and eye-opening article.
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Sheena Isaac-Soberanis
Guest
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Post by Sheena Isaac-Soberanis on Oct 20, 2017 15:26:19 GMT -4
Mass shootings is something that has become more common in recent times but nobody has a clear understanding as to why they keep happening. One side is calling for tighter gun control and the other side is calling for better screening protocols to rule out mental illness. Taking a look from the mental illness side many people assume that the mass shooters have some type of mental illness that contributed to them committing their outrageous actions. There have been studies to refute these claims however in my opinion since litter is known of mental illness and since it is a taboo topic in today's society is it the easy scapegoat to blame these actions on. How I see it if something is poorly understood and is a topic that nobody really wants to discuss or bring up it is easy to blame things on that topic because we cannot prove nor refute so it will forever be in a worldwide spiral. Mental health is becoming the scapegoat for which it is easy to blame anything that we as society deem unacceptable behavior, however I agree with the article in saying there is no reason to think that mental illness and mass shootings or murders are related. I personally believe that people who break the law either through these mass shootings or any other crime may have something wrong but that does not automatically mean mental illness but it can also have something to do with moral compromise. Also I agree with how the article points out the we as a society need to look for other reason as to why these events are and keep occurring. This article was a good educational piece that more students and health care workers should read.
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Post by michaelkouandjio on Oct 23, 2017 22:43:37 GMT -4
Interesting article but it seems to me that the author was trying to minimize the effects that mental illnesses have in gun violence. ALL of the studies mentioned in this article tend to downplay the role of mental illness in mass shootings. The author should have mentioned studies that link mental illness to mass shootings so that the reader would have an unbiased and a more balanced set of information before making a decision on how they feel about the issue. But regardless of the percentage of gun violence and mass shootings that could be attributed to mental illness (even if it's a small percentage of them) it is important that we have gun law reforms that would target mental ill patients, especially those who are prone to violence. Mental illness is only part of the puzzle though. It would take more than that to reduce the amount of gun deaths in this country. But it is important not to decrease the value of mental health vis-a-vis mass shootings. We have to understand that keeping a gun away from a mentally ill person is not only protecting the public from that person, but is also protecting that person from him/herself. It is not a stigmatization issue, it's a matter of life or death.
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Post by Eleazar Briones on Oct 24, 2017 20:36:57 GMT -4
We should be careful in the medical community not to be too defensive when it comes to the connection made between mental health and mass shootings. It may be wrong for us to take a defensive stance on this issue when many victims that we could be treating have that belief or opinion. To be advocates for our patients’ recovery, we must first take their side (if only for the brief conversation). Many have been affected by mass shootings and as heated as discussions on gun control or mental health can be, I don’t believe we are doing ourselves any favors by saying that some of the shooters did not have mental health diagnoses or highlighting shared characteristics between shooters such as substance abuse or other problems that our patients may currently be struggling with. We should make every effort not to engage patients in discussions that would alienate them, but rather learn ways to remain objective and share in their belief to gain their trust and advocate for their recovery.
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Post by Premalatha Babu on Oct 25, 2017 14:43:10 GMT -4
After a shooting, when things have settled down and the initial panic/shock have subsided, our minds begin to look for explanations as to what may have caused such a tragedy. Unfortunately, a common explanation as to why a tragedy occurs involves the offender being mentally unstable. It is very important to understand that mental illness does not play a huge role in gun violence in the U.S. A large number of people with mental illness are not violent and only a small percent of patients with schizophrenia, bipolar or depression partake in violent behaviors. Even though mental illnesses are partially attributed to high profile shootings, mental illness alone is not a risk factor for violence. Our society speculates upon a killer’s mental status, even when there isn’t any evidence that they are living with such a disorder. Majority of the times in the news, we read or hear that investigators are unsure if the perpetrator had a history of mental illness. It has become very evident that mental illness is becoming extremely linked to gun violence in our society that people find it necessary for mental illness when it is not there. Shootings surprisingly tend to cause people to think about getting better mental health screenings for having guns or in general. Although this would be a good thing, better care towards mental health is technically not enough to prevent violence.
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Post by Onesmus Maina on Oct 25, 2017 15:04:14 GMT -4
This was a nice article to read. Mental Illness has always popped up as a trending topic in the media when incidents of mass shootings have occurred. Despite the misrepresentation of mental illness that the media sometime portrays in relation to mass shootings, there could be an advantage or positive aspect in the discussion. Creating awareness and having the public engaged in the discussion on mental illness is an arguably positive aspect. Our primary role should be to advocate for all the patients, whether they are shooters associated with the mass shootings or not, and address any mental illness problems they might be having. A lot of focus is applied towards the shooters and the argument on there mental health status with little or nothing said about the effect that these mass shootings have on the mental health of the survivors and their families. We (medical community) ought to bring up, to the forefront, the effects that these mass shootings bring to victims that are survivors, the families affected and the general public as a whole.
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