When there is a mass shooting, people want to identify a likely cause and often end up blaming mental illness—but it’s more complicated than that. The spring Cultural Impact Conference at The Chicago School of Professional Psychology (TCSPP) on May 17, 2019, addressed this problematic pairing. Keynote speakers and workshop leaders told the story of how practitioners can shed light on the fact that while gun violence and mental illness may be related, they’re probably not as closely tied as the media and the public believe.
The Cultural Impact Conference highlighted the importance of finding a way to see the perpetrator of any violent act as a whole person, to expand the scope of the narrative.
Here are three takeaways:
1. Trauma-informed care can help create a healthier conversation between all parties involved and affected by gun violence.
“Gun violence is a public health crisis, not a mental health situation,” said keynote speaker Jaleel Abdul-Adil, Ph.D., who laid the framework for the day.
Changing public perception extends to the doctor-patient relationship, as well. The stigma of mental illness and violence can create barriers in treatment that those in the field can work to address. Dr. Abdul-Adil discussed the importance of trauma-informed care as those in the psychology field move forward in treating those who carry out gun violence, and those that are touched by it.
“We should be asking, ‘What happened to you?’ Not, ‘What’s wrong with you?’” Dr. Abdul-Adil explains.
Through trauma-informed care, professionals in the field have the chance to see the larger picture and hopefully challenge the perception of mental illness always being to blame. This shift in understanding offers a compassionate stepping stone to discuss how the shooter got to where they are currently.
2. Those who are affected by mental illness are 10 times more likely to experience a violent crime than to cause one.
Kate Mahoney, LCSW, the executive director of the Naomi Ruth Cohen Institute for Mental Health Education at TCSPP, pointed out that most Americans are under the impression that shooters suffer from some sort of mental illness.
However, the narrative that exists in the media to explain gun violence does not adequately represent those who actually experience mental illness. Only three to five percent of violent acts can be attributed to those with serious mental illness.
This is reflected in policy, as well. The story that is propagated about how the mentally ill are responsible for gun violence rather than need protection from it, shows up in policy that ranges from gun control to mental health care. Mahoney goes on to say, “Stigma shapes public policy—so how people think affects how we spend money.”
With gun violence and mental health, the implications of a quick assumption and limited perspective shortchange the real solution to deeper issues, like protecting the mentally ill from harm.
- There are no quick, easy, fool-proof ways to identify a potential shooter.
Nancy Zarse, Psy.D., a professor in TCSPP’s Forensic Psychology Department, spoke about the importance of violence risk assessment and threat management.
What she did not provide was a checklist for how to find a shooter, because there is not one. In her workshop, Dr. Zarse discussed how there are no quick, easy, fast answers to profile someone—instead, the focus should be on understanding, assessing, and managing risk to avoid mass casualty events. Sharing her experience working with the FBI and in the prison system as a psychologist and expert in threat assessment, she spoke about the necessity of building a Threat Assessment Team in businesses, schools, government offices, etc.
In a world of, “If you see something, say something,” the application of this practice has no limits but needs to be based on known facts and behaviors, processed by experts. This is why a trained Threat Assessment Team can be invaluable in preventing future tragedies.
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