Gun Violence and Mental Illness

I've seen a lot of impassioned posts on social media since the El Paso and Dayton tragedies decrying the notion that mass murderers are mentally ill. The argument is that mental illness does not cause this behavior and to suggest that it does unfairly and unnecessarily stigmatizes those with mental health diagnoses.

I disagree, but first let me show you a post I recently liked on Facebook.

So why would I "like" a post if I disagree with its premise? Ms. Campoamor has a point. I know many people who struggle with their mental health (more people who struggle than who don't struggle, in fact), and I do not believe any one of those people would commit a massacre. 

However, to say that many if not all of these shooters are/were not mentally ill is just as illogical as saying "Guns don't kill; people kill." True, your average anxious, depressed, eating disordered, bipolar self harming man or woman will not commit violence in his or her lifetime does not mean that the people who do aren't mentally ill. The common cold and terminal cancer are both illnesses, but they are not the same illnesses and do not have the same outcomes.  Yet, they are still both sicknesses.

Adam Lanza, the Sandy Hook monster, was according to Dr. Harold Schwartz, chief psychiatrist at Hartford Hospital’s Institute of Living who investigated him after the tragedy, “'completely untreated in the years before the shooting' for psychiatric and physical ailments like anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder, and was also deprived of recommended services and drugs...also...undiagnosed anorexia could have affected his mental state..he showed signs of 'severe and deteriorating internalized mental health problems.'"

It is true, people we know with OCD, anxiety, and/or anorexia do not become mass shooters, there is no doubt, according to Dr. Schwartz that "It’s not that his mental illness was a predisposing factor in this tragedy...it was his untreated mental illness that was a predisposing factor.”

In efforts to bring attention to the scourge of toxic masculinity, white supremacy, and gun proliferation we cannot ignore the role mental health plays in these tragedies just because it does not suit our narrative or our own identities. This line of thinking parallels NRA talking points that they have hundreds of thousands of members who own assault rifles who do not commit mass shootings.

After these tragedies, which are becoming more and more frequent, people come together to support the victims and communities. We need to come together to find ways to prevent gun violence. Let's not take anything off the plate, including a focus on improving access to mental health care, so that we can feel at ease attending a festival, going to Walmart, and teaching in our classrooms.

Source for the the information on Adam Lanza.