Paranoid schizophrenia and mass shooting
Last edited Tue Sep 17, 2013, 06:48 PM - Edit history (1)
Back in the day, when somebody gunned down a bunch of people he didn't even know our first reaction was "probably paranoid schizophrenia."
Today we have explanations like politics, religion, video games, high fructose corn syrup, SSRIs and a bad economy... but the combo of paranoia and hearing voices, thinking rays are being beamed at you by enemies, etc.. remains a better indicator of likeliness to shoot a bunch of strangers than all that other stuff.
This does not mean that all, or most, or even many persons suffering from paranoid schizophrenia will be mass murderers. Many have no violent tendencies. But the correlation is vastly higher than video games or being muslim or taking SSRIs. That said, things like religion or media play a role in the nature of a sufferer's delusions.
(I do not know if this man was sufering from paranoid schizophrenia, but each new story, new datum, about his mental state is suggestive of psychotic episodes as a given and paranoid schizophrenia as a liklihood. Also, the salient problem is that this man whose mind may have been sick had guns.)
By MATT APUZZO and ADAM GOLDMAN
Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) -- U.S. law enforcement officials are telling The Associated Press that the Navy contractor identified as the gunman in the mass shootings at the Washington Navy Yard had been suffering a host of serious mental issues, including paranoia and a sleep disorder. He also had been hearing voices in his head, the officials said.
Aaron Alexis, 34, had been treated since August by the Veterans Administration for his mental problems, the officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the criminal investigation in the case was continuing. The Navy had not declared him mentally unfit, which would have rescinded a security clearance that Alexis had from his earlier time in the Navy Reserves.
Family members told investigators that Alexis was being treated for his mental issues.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_NAVY_YARD_SHOOTING_GUNMAN_MENTAL_HEALTH?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2013-09-17-08-03-32
= new reply since forum marked as read
Studies suggest that in prisons throughout the Western world 5–10% of those awaiting trial for murder will have a schizophrenic disorder (Table 1⇓
. The true figure for the rates of schizophrenia among homicide offenders is likely to be at the higher end of these estimates, as nearly all the studies have systematic biases that underestimate the level of the association. The study of Taylor & Gunn (1984a,b), which remains one of the most methodologically robust, concluded that 11% of homicide offenders and 9% found guilty of non-fatal violence had schizophrenia. Follow-up studies of large numbers of people with schizophrenia confirm the high levels of violent offending (Soyka et al, 2004; Wallace et al, 2004; Vevera et al, 2005; Swanson et al, 2006).
Conversely, clinicians may never see a patient who has committed a homicide or serious act of interpersonal violence. Up to 10% of homicide offenders may have schizophrenia, but the annual risk that a person with schizophrenia will commit a homicide is in the region of 1 in 10 000 and that of acquiring conviction for violence is 1 in 150 (Wallace et al, 2004). The apparent paradox is because serious violence, and homicide in particular, is far rarer in our community than most realise. The annual homicide rate in the UK is about 1 in 100 000, so even a tenfold increase in risk among those with schizophrenia will not necessarily affect the individual clinician, although it most certainly will affect the community as a whole.
Minor forms of assault in schizophrenia are more common (5–15% per year), but they are often conceptualised by clinicians not as illness-related but as contextual, personality-based or intoxication-driven. The problems created by the antisocial behaviour are further obscured from clinicians because so many who offend are invisible behind prison walls. Schizophrenia is 10 times more common in prisons than would be expected by chance (Fazel & Danesh, 2002). Hopefully, the recent reforms in the UK that take community mental health teams into prisons will bring these lost patients once more to the attention of services.
Nor to pass the secret clearence.
The gun laws need to change. Present mental illness should prohibit anyone from purchasing and owning guns.
I'm sorry, I get it we value our second amendment. I do too. But a person who can not possibly make sound judgements due to their illness, should not be allowed access to firearms.
Will this solve all problems? Most likely not. But its a step towards preventinh at least some of the tragedies. The alternative is do nothing, and mourn more tragedies as Sandy Hook and DC.
