With the media and public’s focus on Jared Loughner’s mental state, there has been an interest in the link between violent crimes and mental health.
The Tucson shooting has put many on edge and heightened fears, especially among Arizonans. It doesn’t help that multiple gun bills have been proposed around the same time as the shooting, including bills that would allow students and faculty to carry guns on a university campus.
Although some laws are attempting to give more freedom to use guns, there are also more restrictive laws to prevent certain people with mental disorders from purchasing guns in some states because of fear of violent crimes. In some cases this is necessary, but at the same time, one has to wonder where the line is drawn. For example, would someone with depression or anxiety not be allowed to buy a gun, or is it only people with schizophrenia, borderline personality disorder and “severe” cases of mental illness? In many states these laws haven’t been set or enforced, which some argue could contribute to these tragic events involving guns. A USA Today/ Gallup poll on what or who should be blamed for the Tucson shooting found that “55 percent of respondents said they placed a 'great deal' of blame on mental health system failures; 43 percent said they placed a 'great deal' of blame on easy access to guns.”
At the college level there is also concern. The New York Times ran an article recently about the limits of colleges when dealing with students who have severe mental illness. It seems that at least some colleges are limited, at least in their thinking. Many officials think it’s enough to tell students where they can go if they have psychological issues, but what they don’t understand is how difficult seeking help can be with a mental disorder, especially after a person is already turned away and referred somewhere else. There is no follow-up with the student in many cases, and there is a lack of care and responsibility toward those students, yet surprise when tragic events like suicide and mass shootings happen.
There needs to be a balance between responsibility toward students and an understanding that not all students with mental disorders will be a threat. Despite the focus on mental illness and a connection with violence, multiple studies have shown that mental illness does not equate violence. For example, in a February 2009 study, researchers found that “people with mental illness alone are no more likely than anyone else to commit acts of violence … but mental illness combined with substance abuse or dependence elevates the risk for future violence.” The same goes for bipolar disorder specifically. One study found that “the over-representation of individuals with bipolar disorder in violent crime statistics is almost entirely attributable to concurrent substance abuse.” The same conclusion was made in a study on people with schizophrenia. Unfortunately, many programs that could help with the seemingly more serious threat of substance abuse have been cut at least in Arizona and mostly likely other states because of budget issues.
In tragic situations like the Tucson shooting, there is a rush to find an easy explanation for what happened, like assuming that all murderers are insane and have a mental disorder, just because some cases that fit that stereotype are displayed all over the news. It’s easy to assume that no “sane” person would kill another person, but there needs to be a realization that there are no easy answers. Stereotypes have to be looked at, and the wide variety of contrary evidence needs to be acknowledged. Without looking at evidence and inaccurately confirming stereotypes, there is a chance for unwanted stigma to increase, especially in the case of those who have mental disorders.
Read my previous article on the public misconception of the link between violence and mental disorders: https://www.empowher.com/mental-health/content/people-mental-disorders-arent-necessarily-violent
Sources:
http://www.newsweek.com/2011/01/10/jared-lee-loughner-s-mental-state.html
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/arizona-aftermath-more-than-thirty-states-have-failed-to-enact-laws-requiring-mental-health-records-to-be-submitted-to-the-national-gun-background-check-database-114806389.html
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