MENTAL disorder or illness is a common thread in berserk shooting sprees.
This disturbing truth has often been overlooked.
Studies have shown it is not just high-capacity magazines or defenceless victims but a failure to link firearms access to mental health information that has often led to such chilling madness as
the Tucson (Arizona), Sandy Hook (Connecticut) and many similar gun-related massacres in the US.
In the latest shooting incident at the Washington DC Naval Yard, a troubled naval reservist killed 12 people before turning the gun on himself. US law enforcement officials said the gunman had been treated for mental health issues, including paranoia and sleep disorder.
This and other incidents of the same horrific nature are an eerie reminder of the tragic shooting in Kuantan last week where a lance corporal killed his wife and his father-in-law with his .38 revolver before taking his own life.
Police are not discounting the possibility that the shooter could have been driven over the edge by mental health problems and work-related stress even though he had no mental illness and disciplinary record while in the force.
To prevent the recurrence of wanton shootings, involving police personnel, social activists have called for the setting up of a special counselling or psychology unit at all police contingent headquarters in the country to help the rank and file handle the stress and pressure of their demanding work.
Presently, each police contingent has its own religious and counselling division to address disciplinary issues but treating mental health problems is not included in the scope of service.
Work-related tensions which can affect most people, including police personnel, should not be taken lightly because when left to their own devices, they often turned out to be dangerous and tragic. The importance of appointing mental healthcare specialists to deal with stress issues in the force should never be under-estimated. And, moreover, in the interest of the public, stringent health tests during recruitment should be made mandatory as mental problems could be hereditary.
Mental disorder or illness — which is defined as a condition that disrupts a person’s thinking, feeling, mood, ability to relate to others and daily functioning, often resulting in a diminished capacity for coping with the ordinary demands of life — can affect people of any age, race, religion or income but may not be the direct result of personal weakness, lack of character or poor upbringing.
Not all people who commit an offence have psychological problems albeit those who do often go without any prior care. Many were not diagnosed until they did something horribly wrong.
It is, thus, vital to understand the link between offending and mental health issues in order to develop intervention and identification measures to help those most at risk of mental health issues and criminal offence behaviours.
According to psychologists, mental disorder or illness is a double-edged sword, often challenging those affected not only with disability but also with unjust social stigma which denies them opportunities to work, live independently and pursue other goals. There is clearly a need to explore the causes of such stigmatising attitudes, including media images and a culture that does not respect people with mental illnesses.
Indeed, most people who are mentally ill shun treatment for fear of being ridiculed as a nut case or cuckoo. The shame and dejection from hurtful comments such as he’s been sent to the Seventh Mile before or he is crazy because we saw him at the psychiatrist’s clinic are usually enough to make a recovering patient discontinue treatment – often with painful consequences.
Despite the cruel taunts, families with mentally ill members can take heart that with the great strides medical science has made, mental illnesses are now treatable. Patients can experience relief from their symptoms by actively participating in an individual treatment plan.
The key is nipping the problem in the bud. Full recovery is possible with early diagnosis and early treatment. That is the good news.