There is one characteristic shared by nearly all mass killings that no one ever seems to talk about: the complete lack of a viable exit plan. Occasionally we see some evidence of a perpetrator planning to get away from the initial scene, but this usually represents an attempt to prolong the killing spree as opposed to a realistic effort to escape. The simple truth is that most of these guys do not plan to survive. While there actions are certainly criminal, their motives are unlike those of most other criminals. At their most basic level these acts represent an elaborately planned but nevertheless desperate attempt to force the rest of the world to recognize the pain that these men feel inside.
Now people want to argue about whether this is terrorism or mental illness, as if the two are mutually exclusive. They are not. Anyone who commits suicide and especially those who choose to take innocent people with them, is highly likely to have at least one diagnosable mental disorder. In fact a majority of psychological autopsies reveal multiple, co-morbid disorders. There is no reason to believe that those who claim they are acting to further some religious or political cause are very different from those who simply decide that they hate the world and want to go out, “In a blaze of glory.”
The most recent numbers I’ve seen show that approximately 1 in 5 adults has a mental health condition. Nearly half of them, never receive treatment. Roughly 2/3 of us experience some form of significant childhood adversity. Most of us never get help. More than 96% of the mental health beds that we once had, have been eliminated. Even for those with access to mental health care, the social stigma that surrounds mental illness causes untold millions to deny their illness and avoid treatment.
Some of the greatest advances in public health have come from teaching basic hygiene like washing your hands. There is little doubt that a serious effort to teach mental health hygiene (like coping skills to help reduce stress) could have an enormous positive impact. Of course, any kind of mental health program will cost money, but maybe we could re-allocate some of the money that we spend to blow people up or lock people away in prisons. The bottom line is that we all need to get serious about mental health and we need to make sure that our elected officials know that we’re serious.
