GUN VIOLENCE AND MENTAL HEALTH: A Literature Review
Gun violence is a massive problem that is on the minds of Americans across the country. As shootings and deaths from gun violence do not stop, but continue to increase each year, more people wonder why they cannot be stopped and what is to blame. Mental health has been a frequent topic of discussion around gun violence, often blamed as the source of gun violence and the primary cause of mass shootings. Through the findings of psychologists, psychiatrists, and researchers, however, it has been found that mental health is not a significant contributor to gun violence, and that those who do suffer from mental illness are often at greater risk of being the targets of homicide than those without mental illness. The current conversation around causes of gun violence and the best ways to approach solving the problem is not very varied between professionals, but is varied due to a disconnect between the American public and the professional world. Information about the lack of correlation between gun violence and mental illness is not reaching the public, making it hard to come to a solution because of a lack of information.
In the current conversation on gun violence in the U.S., it is important to look at both research and the public opinion and impressions of gun violence. Out of nine sources, all seven of the academic and research-based sources had the same conclusion: that mental health has little correlation with gun violence, and that in some cases the mentally ill are more often targets of gun violence than the non-mentally ill. In Seena Fazel’s piece “The Population Impact of Severe Mental Illness on Violent Crime,” the Interfaith Disability Advocacy Coalition’s compendium “Grounded in Faith: Resources on Mental Health and Gun Violence,” and chapter three of Daniel W. Webster and Jon S. Vernick’s Reducing Gun Violence in America,” the same conclusion was found” gun violence has no correlation to mental or severe mental illness.
Garance Franke-Ruta, in his article in “The Atlantic,” expands this conversation of mental illness and gun violence by bringing to light the fact that over half of Americans have a diagnosable mental illness in their lifetime. This fact makes the gun violence-mental health topic a bit less clear cut. The acknowledgement that mental illness is a spectrum is important to consider. Similarly, the article “Death by Homicide, Suicide, and Other Unnatural Causes in People with Mental Illness” also brings another perspective to the table. Its research has found that those with mental illnesses are at increased risk of death by homicide and unnatural death. Richard A. Friedman and Robert Michels also add an analysis of the professional approach to gun violence in their article “How Should the Psychiatric Profession Respond to the Recent Mass Killings?.” They acknowledge the research of others and that a very low percentage of violence (4%) is caused by those with mental illness. The writers, however, take the conversation further to discuss the public’s disconnect with research. The public is searching for comfort and something to blame in such a desperately awful situation, they say, and the fact that mental illness does not correlate is hard for the public to come to grips with. Each author’s research adds more information to the conversation about how mental illness isn’t correlated with violence and how many more factors are involved in the situation than many believe.
In contrast, the conversation on gun violence in the U.S. public is extremely different. From polls given to the American public, more blame gun violence on mental health than on anything else. There is a lot of misinformation on the topic that does not reflect the research, which makes it harder to implement effective anti-gun violence policies. This public outlook is shown through polls shown on Gallup Politics and analyzed by Aaron Blake in his article “On Gun Violence, Americans Blame Mental Health System over Gun Laws.”
The large schism between the public and professional views on gun violence makes it hard for the conversation to progress further. It is as if the public and professionals are having two separate conversations that each have come to very different conclusions. The next step is to unite these conversations and promote the transfer of information.
Works Cited
Aaron, Blake. "On Gun Violence, Americans Blame Mental Health System over Gun Laws." The Washington Post 20 Sept. 2013: n. pag. Print.
Fazel, Seena M.B.Ch.B., M.R.C.Psych., M.D.; Grann, Martin C.Psych., Ph.D. "The Population Impact of Severe Mental Illness on Violent Crime." The American Journal of Psychiatry (2006): n. pag. Web. 14 Nov. 2013.
Franke-Ruta, Garance. "The Atlantic." The Atlantic. The Atlantic Monthly Group, 19 Sept. 2013. Web. 14 Nov. 2013.
Friedman, Richard A., and Robert Michels. "How Should the Psychiatric Profession Respond to the Recent Mass Killings?" The American Journal of Psychiatry(2013): n. pag. Web. 20 Nov. 2013.
Hiroeh, U.; Appleby, L.; Mortensen, PB.; Dunn, G. "Death by Homicide, Suicide, and Other Unnatural Causes in People with Mental Illness: A Population-based Study."NCBI. U.S. National Library of Medicine, 2001. Web. 15 Nov. 2013.
Interfaith Disability Advocacy Coalition (IDAC). "Grounded in Faith: Resources on Mental Health and Gun Violence." American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) (2013): n. pag. Web. Nov.-Dec. 2013.
Saad, Lydia. "Americans Fault Mental Health System Most for Gun Violence."Americans Fault Mental Health System Most for Gun Violence. N.p., Sept.-Oct. 2013. Web. 19 Nov. 2013.
Webster, Daniel W., and Jon S. Vernick. "Chapter 3." Reducing Gun Violence in America Informing Policy with Evidence and Analysis. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 2013. N. pag. Print.
Gun violence is a massive problem that is on the minds of Americans across the country. As shootings and deaths from gun violence do not stop, but continue to increase each year, more people wonder why they cannot be stopped and what is to blame. Mental health has been a frequent topic of discussion around gun violence, often blamed as the source of gun violence and the primary cause of mass shootings. Through the findings of psychologists, psychiatrists, and researchers, however, it has been found that mental health is not a significant contributor to gun violence, and that those who do suffer from mental illness are often at greater risk of being the targets of homicide than those without mental illness. The current conversation around causes of gun violence and the best ways to approach solving the problem is not very varied between professionals, but is varied due to a disconnect between the American public and the professional world. Information about the lack of correlation between gun violence and mental illness is not reaching the public, making it hard to come to a solution because of a lack of information.
In the current conversation on gun violence in the U.S., it is important to look at both research and the public opinion and impressions of gun violence. Out of nine sources, all seven of the academic and research-based sources had the same conclusion: that mental health has little correlation with gun violence, and that in some cases the mentally ill are more often targets of gun violence than the non-mentally ill. In Seena Fazel’s piece “The Population Impact of Severe Mental Illness on Violent Crime,” the Interfaith Disability Advocacy Coalition’s compendium “Grounded in Faith: Resources on Mental Health and Gun Violence,” and chapter three of Daniel W. Webster and Jon S. Vernick’s Reducing Gun Violence in America,” the same conclusion was found” gun violence has no correlation to mental or severe mental illness.
Garance Franke-Ruta, in his article in “The Atlantic,” expands this conversation of mental illness and gun violence by bringing to light the fact that over half of Americans have a diagnosable mental illness in their lifetime. This fact makes the gun violence-mental health topic a bit less clear cut. The acknowledgement that mental illness is a spectrum is important to consider. Similarly, the article “Death by Homicide, Suicide, and Other Unnatural Causes in People with Mental Illness” also brings another perspective to the table. Its research has found that those with mental illnesses are at increased risk of death by homicide and unnatural death. Richard A. Friedman and Robert Michels also add an analysis of the professional approach to gun violence in their article “How Should the Psychiatric Profession Respond to the Recent Mass Killings?.” They acknowledge the research of others and that a very low percentage of violence (4%) is caused by those with mental illness. The writers, however, take the conversation further to discuss the public’s disconnect with research. The public is searching for comfort and something to blame in such a desperately awful situation, they say, and the fact that mental illness does not correlate is hard for the public to come to grips with. Each author’s research adds more information to the conversation about how mental illness isn’t correlated with violence and how many more factors are involved in the situation than many believe.
In contrast, the conversation on gun violence in the U.S. public is extremely different. From polls given to the American public, more blame gun violence on mental health than on anything else. There is a lot of misinformation on the topic that does not reflect the research, which makes it harder to implement effective anti-gun violence policies. This public outlook is shown through polls shown on Gallup Politics and analyzed by Aaron Blake in his article “On Gun Violence, Americans Blame Mental Health System over Gun Laws.”
The large schism between the public and professional views on gun violence makes it hard for the conversation to progress further. It is as if the public and professionals are having two separate conversations that each have come to very different conclusions. The next step is to unite these conversations and promote the transfer of information.
Works Cited
Aaron, Blake. "On Gun Violence, Americans Blame Mental Health System over Gun Laws." The Washington Post 20 Sept. 2013: n. pag. Print.
Fazel, Seena M.B.Ch.B., M.R.C.Psych., M.D.; Grann, Martin C.Psych., Ph.D. "The Population Impact of Severe Mental Illness on Violent Crime." The American Journal of Psychiatry (2006): n. pag. Web. 14 Nov. 2013.
Franke-Ruta, Garance. "The Atlantic." The Atlantic. The Atlantic Monthly Group, 19 Sept. 2013. Web. 14 Nov. 2013.
Friedman, Richard A., and Robert Michels. "How Should the Psychiatric Profession Respond to the Recent Mass Killings?" The American Journal of Psychiatry(2013): n. pag. Web. 20 Nov. 2013.
Hiroeh, U.; Appleby, L.; Mortensen, PB.; Dunn, G. "Death by Homicide, Suicide, and Other Unnatural Causes in People with Mental Illness: A Population-based Study."NCBI. U.S. National Library of Medicine, 2001. Web. 15 Nov. 2013.
Interfaith Disability Advocacy Coalition (IDAC). "Grounded in Faith: Resources on Mental Health and Gun Violence." American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) (2013): n. pag. Web. Nov.-Dec. 2013.
Saad, Lydia. "Americans Fault Mental Health System Most for Gun Violence."Americans Fault Mental Health System Most for Gun Violence. N.p., Sept.-Oct. 2013. Web. 19 Nov. 2013.
Webster, Daniel W., and Jon S. Vernick. "Chapter 3." Reducing Gun Violence in America Informing Policy with Evidence and Analysis. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 2013. N. pag. Print.