In recent months, many Republican politicians in the United States have spread the idea that mass shootings that occur more and more frequently are mental health related.
A statement that according to psychiatrists is false and that only increases the stigma towards the sick.
This prevents us from talking about the serious problem that the United States has with violence.
“This prevents us from talking about the serious problem that the United States has with violence, creates a distraction, and also adds stigma to people with mental health problems,” Héctor Colon-Rivera, a psychiatrist with the American Psychiatric Association, told Efe.
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Thus, instead of talking “about treatments and helping these people”, what is achieved with this type of association is “increasing their fear of speaking out and telling what is happening to them”, he explained.
As it did after the school massacre in Uvalde, where 19 children and two teachers died in 2022, last May the Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbottit did not take long for him to assure, after a mass shooting in a shopping center, that these violent acts are directly related to mental health problems.
“We are working to address anger and violence by going to its root cause, which is addressing the mental health issues behind it,” the governor said in an interview when asked what can be done to end mass shootings. .
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A opinion that have publicly shared figures such as the leader of the Republicans in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, or Texan Senator Ted Cruz.
Gun Violence in the US
According to the organization Gun Violence Archivea non-profit project that tracks gun violence in the United States, so far this year there have been more than 370 mass shootings (Those who end up with four victims, whether dead or wounded, not including the perpetrator of the attack).
“Gun violence is a huge public health problem and mental health is another huge public health problem. The link between them is very weak,” explains Colon-Rivera.
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Fighting against this false association is one of the objectives of the organization The Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence, which in a report published on its website ensures that “it is a common misconception that people living with mental illness are responsible for armed violence.”
Most people with mental illness do not use violence against others
“Actually, most of the people with mental illness do not exercise violence against others (…) and are more likely to be victims than perpetrators of violence”affirms the organization in a report in which it recalls that one in five Americans has a diagnosed mental problem.
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Still, while USA has rates of mental illness similar to other countries, has much higher rates of gun violenceremember the organization.
This false association, points out the organization National Alliance of Mental Illnessis “a punch in the stomach” for people who have mental health problems.
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“The vast majority of people with mental illness are not violent, will never become violent, and mental illness is not responsible in most cases of gun violence,” he says.
According to a report published by the FBI in 2018, which examined the pre-attack behavior of the perpetrators of the deadliest mass shootings between 2000 and 2013, only 25% of them had diagnosed mental health problems.
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In the report, the FBI says there is a “common but erroneous inclination to assume that anyone who commits the act of shooting must be de facto mentally ill.”
situation in Texas
from the organization Texas Gunsense They also advocate putting an end to this false association, its general director tells Efe, Nicole Golden.
“The mental health used too often as scapegoat or as a very simple answer to the problem, when it is not,” he says.
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Texas is one of the most lax states on gun control. and the power of pressure groups is enormous.
“They are very active, they are constantly in the capitol talking to legislators and they have a lot of influence to block our efforts to pass common sense laws,” he explains.
Aware of the deep roots that weapons have in the state, in Texas Gun Sense they are not asking for their prohibition but for a “responsible use and with common sense” and for this reason they promote laws such as the prohibition to purchase assault weapons for those under 21 years of age.
They also ask for the universal background check for gun sales and those known as “red flag laws”which “temporarily separate a person from their firearm,” Golden says.
EFE
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