They get days of press coverage and we have to look at their pictures on the TV and in the magazines. Doesn’t something seem off about them? If you’re like me, that was your first impression of mass murderers. And, it turns out that your first impressions were right.
According to new research, the vast majority of mass murderers have severe and untreated mental health problems. Those findings come from a study that looked at mass murderers in the United States over the last 35 years. The proportions are staggering. Equally staggering are the political manipulations that delay treatment.
The murderer at Sandy Hook Elementary School was in the process of losing his legal rights and becoming a ward of his parents because of his severe mental health problems. The murderer at the Tucson supermarket was probably a borderline schizophrenic.. and his mom knew it. The murderer who attacked a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder.
The murderer who attacked Virginia Tech was a paranoid schizophrenic. The murderer at the Washington, DC Navy Yard was hearing voices and believed the government was sending him secret messages that only he could hear. The murderer at Parkland, Florida had been reassigned to six different schools in the last three years and was recommended for involuntary treatment in a residential facility because of his violent threats.
Those anecdotes are mostly from memory, and while the pattern seems obvious, a number of anecdotes is not the same as real data.
Fortunately, someone did the hard work to give us real information. Records of mass murderers since 1985 showed that they all had signs and symptoms of some severe and untreated mental health problems, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, delusional disorder, personality disorders and substance related problems.
Republican Senators proposed an increase in mental health funding after the shocking mass murder at Sandy Hook, Connecticut. Democrats controlled the US Senate at that time and killed the increase. But that isn’t unusual since politicians often want a political issue to remain in play rather than solve it.
They prefer to use the problem to collect political donations while attempting to lay the problem at their political opponents. If you doubt me, then please consider that we’ve had mass murder blamed on everything from global warming to guns.
If we want to be safer then we’re going to have to fund mental health treatment. Rather than use the mentally ill to force an agenda, they should be working not only to fund it but remove the stigma of treatment. In the meantime, we should expect more of the same; the same horrible murders and the same horrible politicians making excuses.
Real solutions are hard and complicated, while political posturing is easy and simple. Since the news media won’t do it for us, we’ll have to see through the political craziness on our own.
Source: Crazy Murders, Insane Politicians and Frustrated Voters by Rob Morse, Daily Clash h
