Mass Shootings: Maybe What We Need Is a Better Mental-Health Policy

[DonCoquixote]

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/11/jared-loughner-mass-shootings-mental-illness

This is a sobering read that explains itself, but here is a sample:

After another young man unleashed horror inside a Colorado movie theater this July, we set out to track mass shootings in the United States over the last 30 years. We identified and analyzed 61 of them—24 in the last seven years alone.

No less than 80 percent of the perpetrators in these 61 cases obtained their weapons legally. Acute paranoia, delusions, and depression were rampant among them, with at least 35 of the killers committing suicide on or near the scene. (Seven others died in police shootouts they had little hope of surviving, regarded by some experts as "suicide by cop.&quot And according to additional research we completed recently, at least 38 of them displayed signs of mental health problems prior to the killings. (That data is now included in the interactive map linked above.)

[Gregorian]

1. If the quality of our health care were the quality of our military, we'd all be extremely healthy.

What passes as mentally, and physically, healthy in this country is pathetic.

Or even child abuse for that matter. Unless one has been raped or beaten, it isn't considered to have been abused.

Unless one is ill, they are considered to be healthy.

We need new definitions. We need to take a quantum step toward a revamping of how we treat the citizens. Enough money is spent on fear and military. We have the money. We just aren't spending it right. And we aren't lowering the bar for what sick is.

I'm betting most people in this country are walking wounded and ill. They're sick in body and mind.

Let this be the moment in America's history when we finally get serious and begin the new era of health care.

[Kolesar]

2. The real issue is lax firearms regulations in this country

And it is getting worse.

[rDigital]

9. No.

[Fumesucker]

3. Improving the mental health care system would require money, a lot of money

Therefore it's not going to happen, if it can't be fixed with cops and prisons white people have no intention of fixing it.

Cops and prisons, the mental health care system white people don't mind paying for.

[patrice]

4. We need Mental Health parity in all health insurance coverage.

That said, we also need reasonable controls on gun-ownership, because you can't treat "addicts" if they have universal and extremely easy access to whatever they are dependent upon, guns, in this case and the effects of their access to guns more and more and more, at a rate that is always increasing, reduces the probabilities of successful treatment.

[Sparkly]

5. Things we must do aren't mutually exclusive.

Yes, we need to deal differently with mental illness. No doubt about it.

We also need to do something about the exploitation and glorification of violence in our "entertainment."

AND, we need sensible gun control (at the LEAST) as well.

[Jennicut]

6. All three need to be addressed.

Many politicians need to understand that it is not just about guns. It is deeper then that. Most of these mass shooters had deep mental issues. And no one realized it or helped them successfully until it was too late.

[pacalo]

8. Yes to all three, Sparkly.

[Kennah]

7. Very true words, and it points to our fragile and inadequate safety nets

Safety nets can protect those who fall on economic hard times, but medical and mental health hard times can be just as damaging.

Affordable Care Act takes a step towards Universal Healthcare, where healthcare is a right and the safety net covers everyone, but we're probably 10 years or more away from that.

Perhaps mental health will be considered on the road to Universal Healthcare, or so one hopes.

There are probably several dozen states of mental health that amount to something less than legally insane, but which are still the realm of a person in need of serious help. We don't officially and legally make those distinctions.

[ReasonableToo]

10. It's time to fix our priorities -

Are we going to protect 5-yr old kids in schools or a 20 something with violent tendencies?

Yes, I agree, we need a better mental health care system.

We also need to relieve the pressure-cooker that the average citizen is living in. Living wage, paid vacations, sick leave and all that...

[KG]

11. when mentally ill people attempt mass murders with patio furniture, then i'll blame

mental health care in this country.

the problem, as ever, is gun proliferation.

[HiPointDem]

12. it's really amazing how the only things people talk about are more mental health services or

more gun regulation.

are we blind?

[mfcorey1]

13. Recently a man walked into a church in Atlanta where midday prayer service

was being held. He shot and killed the gentleman who was praying. Then he calmly left the sanctuary and proceeded to a mall where he tried to turn himself in but was not believed until law enforcement tracked him down. He was arrested without resistance. There has not been any obvious reason found for the shooting. However, the interesting thing is that he had attempted or had shot someone in the parking lot of another church in another state. He was committed to a prison for the mentally ill. After a while he was released where he promptly relocated to the ATlanta area and did the same thing. Those new associates were unaware of his previous history. He has offered no reason for the murder.

[Gregorian]

14. Our screen is so wide a mesh that we only see the most wildly ill. Military spending to mental healt

Shit, I can't type fast enough for all of these threads.

I see the solution crystal clear.

I will just say this one thing, and then eventually try to create a new thread. Germany has made corporal punishment of children A CRIME.

If we spend the effort on taking care of our mental and physical health, LIKE WE DO OUR MILITARY, then we will have a far safer and happier and more prosperous country.

A finer mesh, a new definition of what comprises "health", and more resources devoted to.