"Research has found that a diagnosis of major mental illness alone is not a predictor of violence. The severity of a person’s illness, their past history of violence, substance abuse and criminality are the more important concerns, yet the crime is often linked to the diagnosis of mental illness itself. " *
OK...I'm right on board with saying that this Arizona shooter has to be "crazy"...
BUT now radio/tv talkers (is this an attempt by the radio hosts being accused of the violence inciting rhetoric to shift focus off of themselves?) are blaming the senseless massacre on "Us".
Everyone. You, me, teachers, neighbors, strangers... We all should have seen the guy was crazy and...what?...made a citizen's commitment to a mental institution? Let's be real, if we start willy-nilly locking up every guy with extreme political leanings, uncommon reading habits (Mein Kampf, Communist Manifesto) or who's been described (as this killer was) as a “political radical” a “loner” and “obsessed with the 2012 prophecies"...well, we might as well start putting a trace on the radio phone lines and send out the Talk Radio Police to lock 'em all up.
(...we obviously CAN NOT predict this behavior based on eccentric or bizarre behavior alone)
A Media Guide for Reporting on Mental Illness
is available at http://www.mentalhealthreporting.org/
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