Longevity logo

Mental Health an Mass Shootings

Opinion piece

By Ashlyn TurnerPublished 3 years ago 5 min read
Like

This essay was submitted as an assessment for my highschool English class in 2019. The task details were to "write an opinion piece on an issue arising from one of the short stories studied".

Throughout the past 5 years, there have been an unthinkable amount of mass shootings around the world, with many occurring in schools. In America alone, there have been a heartbreaking 305 school mass shootings with the death toll exceeding over 13,500; and this isn't even including the amount of injuries. These numbers make you wonder what it takes for a person to execute such a horrific act and what leads them to make this decision beforehand. After the recent shooting in Toronto, Canada, it sparked the question as to why a person could suddenly become a relentless killer. What drove them to have such motives? What was their mind frame going into this? It is clear that after these horrendous events it doesn't take long for people to conclude that mental illness may have played the major role in the murders. For a topic that is still poorly understood, the blame cannot be solely placed on those with mental health problems. This is no excuse for the perpetrator, however there are more factors associated with shootings without having to worsen the mental illness stigma.

It's hard to argue that mental illness did not play a role in the killer's motive, although the shooter's mental state is only one of the several factors involved. Drugs, alcohol, an individual's history of violence, family problems, revenge, video games, domestic violence, hatred/anger, disdain for men/women or even the more disturbing side, being, fame and attention. These are a selection of reasoning's as to why humans commit such crimes. Influences like these are the ingredients to making a monster, however what happens when the shooter takes their own life after their remorseless spree? What was their motive? Within the many school mass shootings, this has been the case. A person, usually a teenager, emotionlessly shoot their peers, then themselves for a selfish purpose that will never be known. School shootings are influenced by multiple complex factors, many of which are clearly misunderstood. However, the public and the media typically assume that the perpetrator has a mental illness, and that the same illness is the cause of these highly violent acts. Some mass shooters are found to have a history of psychiatric illness, although no reliable research has suggested that a majority of perpetrators are primarily influenced by serious mental problems as opposed to, for example, psychological turmoil flowing from other sources.

There is a simple and relatively easy solution to preventing mass shootings, nonetheless there is one man who refuses to see it. Talking about President Donald Trump and the non-existent gun laws in America in a whole new topic and blurs the discussion at hand. Although, Trump briefly voiced his opinion, on Twitter, about the 2018 Florida high school shooting that occurred in February. "So many signs that the Florida shooter was mentally disturbed, even expelled from school for bad and erratic behaviour. Neighbours and classmates knew he was a big problem. Must always report such instances to authorities, again and again." Trump not only twisted the situation to put the blame on those who knew the shooter, but the actions of the student were in deed reported. And what did they do? Absolutely nothing as 17 students and teachers dies due to the lack of action.

In televised address at the White House, Trump pledged his administration would help "tackle the difficult issue of mental health" and said the issue of improving safety in schools would be top priority during a meeting the same month as the shooting. It was no surprise that the word 'gun' was not mentioned a single time. What actions have the government taken? Because since the Florida shooting on February 14th, there have been 5 more cases where a student has turned a gun on another peer, resulting in death.

Politicians has predictably started pointing to mental health as the culprit for the mass shootings throughout history. Society generally trusts these people, in which goes to show as the majority of adults in the USA believe that people with mental illnesses are more likely to be violent than those without (American Psychiatric Association Public Opinion Poll). I believe that no mental illness, on its own, makes a person want to go in a relentless rampage and start killing a ton of innocent people.

According to experts - people who have been studying the topic for multiple years- there is no generally applicable casual link between mental illness and mass shootings. Jeffery Swanson, a professor of psychiatry and behavioural sciences at Duke University School of Medicine stated: "We all want life to be safe and predictable and to make sense. The normal reaction is to want an oversimplified master explanation so you can put it in a bow and say 'Ah it's mental illness'." Society and the media are quick to blame mental health problems for acts of horrific violence as it is our way of feeling safe and moulding the incident into something that isn't too out of the ordinary. In other words, an excuse.

From the beginning of the year to May, there have already been 23 school shootings (In American) where someone was hurt or killed. That averages out to more than one shooting a week. Despite that fact, it is still clearly not enough to change the gun laws. Mental illness can not be the excuse for a murderer who made the conscious decision to shoot up a school. As there's still a lot we don't understand about massing shootings, we need to invest in research to develop evidence-based solution. In the meantime, the media should stop glorifying this violence. This misconception that mental illness created mass shooters adds to the already blown out of proportion stigma that is associated with mental health problems.

The comment I received from my teacher on this was "To improve, aim to offer a tone that is more conducive in opinion articles - conversational rather than ranty"

mental health
Like

About the Creator

Reader insights

Be the first to share your insights about this piece.

How does it work?

Add your insights

Comments

There are no comments for this story

Be the first to respond and start the conversation.

Sign in to comment

    Find us on social media

    Miscellaneous links

    • Explore
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Use
    • Support

    © 2024 Creatd, Inc. All Rights Reserved.