Almost every day, our country sees another mass murder happening through the abuse of gun privileges. Gun laws in the country are a major problem when it comes to this issue, but we still don't fully understand the connections between how shooters think. Is gun violence related to mental illness? Are violent forms of entertainment to blame? What common goal were these shooters trying to achieve? And lastly, is our flawed health care system a contributing factor in this outbreak of violent crimes?
Our understanding of people's mental health in society may be a factor of these crimes. Many of the documented school shooters were reported to be suffering from mental illness or had a mental condition at some time in their life. Some shooters had been showing symptoms of such an illness nearly 2 years before they committed the crime.
Columbine, 1998-
It was April 20th when two students, Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, opened fire on Columbine High School, killing 12 students and 1 teacher. In an investigation into the lives of Dylan and Eric, multiple home videos were found regarding the murder which would follow in 1998.
Dylan was described as polite and shy from a young age. He liked puzzles including building with Lego. He was the child of Susan Klebold, a loving mother who put Dylan to bed with warm hugs and bedtime stories. As he grew up, however, his personality began to change. He became irritable and depressed, committed crimes with his friends, and kept a journal which displayed his descent into depravity. It was not long after this that he murdered 13 people in cold blood.
Many theories suggest Dylan had Schizotypal Personality Disorder and/or Asperger's:
Asperger's is a developmental disorder characterized by significant difficulties in social interaction and non-verbal communication, along with restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior and interests. Asperger's is really a mild autism spectrum disorder but it can have an impact on one's mind, especially when it comes to its anti-social aspect. In Dylan's case, it is entirely possible that a factor which motivated him to commit crime was an inability to interact socially. Another factor which has been confirmed was suicidal behavior. As shown by depictions of journal entries he made, Dylan talked about shooting himself and killing people whom he disliked. It is also possible that such behavior, along with an antisocial personality, may have nudged him into the direction of mass murder.
Schizotypal Personality Disorder (STPD) is identified as the prevalent pattern of intense discomfort, reduced capacity for close relationships, distorted cognition and perceptions, and eccentric behavior. More than half of patients with STPD have had at least one episode of major depressive disorder, and 30-50% of them have had a major depressive disorder when STPD was diagnosed. While it is true that Dylan suffered from extreme depression, this doesn't automatically mean it had caused STPD. We can infer from his journal entries that Dylan may have been showing signs of the "distorted cognition and perceptions" symptom. It is entirely possible that Dylan was suffering from a disorder much like STPD all along.
Eric Harris wasn't much like how Dylan was in his youth. In Peter Langman's book, Why Kids Kill, Langman describes Harris as a hate-filled, raging bigot who would have been the perfect candidate for a mass murderer. What had him surprised, however, was how a nice kid like Dylan with no history of violence, prejudice, or unkindness, could commit one of the worst acts of violence in American history. One theory is that Klebold had unwittingly allowed himself to become Harris' pawn in his great scheme, as a result of the personality dynamics and mental illness that made Klebold vulnerable to being sucked into Harris' grandiose and awful plot.
Sandy Hook, 2012-
On December 14th, Adam Lanza killed his mother before driving to a nearby school, Sandy Hook Elementary, armed with a handgun and a rifle and murdered 26 more people (20 were children while 6 were staff). In the case that followed, authorities learned how Lanza's isolation and descent into insanity pushed him to the extreme of carrying out mass murder.
From an early age, Adam is said to have struggled in social situations. In kindergarten, he was identified as needing an “individual education plan,” as well extra attention both in the classroom and at home. By middle school, Adam was diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome, a form of autism that interferes with social interaction. He found the chaos and noise of students changing classrooms upsetting, and Nancy decided to withdraw him from school. Following Adam’s sophomore year in high school, Nancy again made the decision to withdraw him. From then on, Adam only enjoyed the isolation of his room with covered windows.
Adam also suffered from OCD and sensory integration disorder:
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a common, chronic, and long-lasting disorder in which a person has prevalent uncontrollable, reoccurring thoughts and/or repeating compulsions for a certain task. Adam's urge to commit murder wasn't caused by OCD, however. It was likely that OCD only factored into the compulsive behaviors and dislikings which led him to preferring isolation.
Sensory processing disorder, also referred to as sensory integration dysfunction, is a condition in which the brain has trouble receiving and responding to information that comes in through the senses. This disorder explains a certain quality described of Adam: his lack of much emotion or feeling. While Adam was growing up, his inability to utilize sensorial information may have been what set him up as an outcast among his peers. He may have felt this way especially during middle and high school as shown by his intolerance of the commotion created by students as they moved between classes.
One key idea emerges from this: isolation. Adam's isolation upon withdrawal from school seems to have had an extensive impact on him since, biologically, we are social creatures and a lack of contact for a social creature can change the brain's chemistry and structure in many degenerative ways. Such ways began to show in the form of symptoms including insanity. One example of this comes from Adam's middle school years when he co-authored a paper booklet story about a depraved grandmother who kills people with her cane.
Texas Tower Sniper, 1966-
While this case isn't as recent, it was a major event in history because it emphasized the power of even the smallest of neurological anomalies. On August 1st, Charles Whitman killed 14 people from the 28th floor of the University of Texas tower after killing his mother and wife. However, unlike all the other cases mentioned, Whitman never suffered from any neurological conditions. As a child, he was described as a polite child who seldom lost his temper. Further examination reveals he was extremely intelligent with an IQ score of 139. After killing his wife and mother, he left notes suggesting he truly loved both of them but was oddly compelled to commit such murders. He seemed to have no control over himself. During an autopsy, however, it was discovered that Whitman had a pecan sized tumor, labeled astrocytoma, which exhibited small amounts of necrosis. Forensic investigators have theorized that the tumor pressed against Whitman's amygdala, a part of the brain related to anxiety and fight-or-flight responses. Would Whitman have committed the crime if he never had the tumor? Was it not what changed in Whitman's behavior but the development of a tumor which made him commit mass murder?
One similarity between all of these cases was that the symptoms of their mental impairments came long before they murdered anyone. So why didn't anyone do anything to help them? Mainly because we never realized. As many put it, "we were never aware of what they could do". But why? Why weren't we aware? Isn't it important we should be aware next time? While this is so, there just isn't enough support and awareness out there for mental health care programs. Entities like school counselors exist to help students with their troubles and the students' caregivers fulfill the same purpose. Yet counselors and caregivers cannot help mentally troubled individuals unless they understand that the individual may need such help. It's usually up to the individual themselves or the people around them but it doesn't seem fair since we aren't consciously taking in every action of our peers. It's not fair to the student either since they may already be unable to change their mindset and save themselves from making the wrong choice. While closer entities, such as parents/guardians, should be held accountable for not making the right choices, such as keeping guns within the reach of their children, they can't always be expected to know immediately if the child has a mental issue, one good example for this case being depression.
In conclusion, the mental causes of such shootings are varied. They can be anything from depression and desire to commit suicide, to isolation from the social world. It's not just the fault of controversial gun laws but there is also blame to be placed on our inability to identify those in need of mental health care. Our mental health care system could be to blame since there isn't enough action taken when it comes to this area of focus. Awareness of flaws in today's health care can help to bring about social change. From something as big as a nationwide protest to something as small as giving a lecture or spreading the word, awareness is beneficial in any form. When it comes to a decision, the only thing that matters is that our generation can go to school knowing it's a safe place to be.