Gun Violence and Mental IllnessLiza H. Gold, Robert I. Simon American Psychiatric Pub, 2015 M11 17 - 480 pages Perhaps never before has an objective, evidence-based review of the intersection between gun violence and mental illness been more sorely needed or more timely. Gun Violence and Mental Illness, written by a multidisciplinary roster of authors who are leaders in the fields of mental health, public health, and public policy, is a practical guide to the issues surrounding the relation between firearms deaths and mental illness. Tragic mass shootings that capture headlines reinforce the mistaken beliefs that people with mental illness are violent and responsible for much of the gun violence in the United States. This misconception stigmatizes individuals with mental illness and distracts us from the awareness that approximately 65% of all firearm deaths each year are suicides. This book is an apolitical exploration of the misperceptions and realities that attend gun violence and mental illness. The authors frame both pressing social issues as public health problems subject to a variety of interventions on individual and collective levels, including utilization of a novel perspective: evidence-based interventions focusing on assessments and indicators of dangerousness, with or without indications of mental illness. Reader-friendly, well-structured, and accessible to professional and lay audiences, the book: Reviews the epidemiology of gun violence and its relationship to mental illness, exploring what we know about those who perpetrate mass shootings and school shootings. Examines the current legal provisions for prohibiting access to firearms for those with mental illness and whether these provisions and new mandated reporting interventions are effective or whether they reinforce negative stereotypes associated with mental illness. Discusses the issues raised in accessing mental health treatment in regard to diminished treatment resources, barriers to access, and involuntary commitment. Explores novel interventions for addressing these issues from a multilevel and multidisciplinary public health perspective that does not stigmatize people with mental illness. This includes reviews of suicide risk assessment; increasing treatment engagement; legal, social, and psychiatric means of restricting access to firearms when people are in crisis; and, when appropriate, restoration of firearm rights. Mental health clinicians and trainees will especially appreciate the risk assessment strategies presented here, and mental health, public health, and public policy researchers will find Gun Violence and Mental Illness a thoughtful and thought-provoking volume that eschews sensationalism and embraces serious scholarship. |
From inside the book
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... justice–related homicides; data are from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2015. c2000–2005 data are from Follman et al. 2013, and 2006–2013 data are from Overberg et al. 2015. Homicide occurs at lower rates than suicide but ...
... Justice, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives 2014, p. 744). Nevertheless, use of this term cannot be amended by regulation; federal legislation is required in order to do away with this statutory terminology. Nowhere is ...
... justice systems without receiving the social support and lifesaving treatment they need. We believe we can agree that perspectives that suggest new and potentially effective approaches to reducing gun violence that do not stigmatize ...
... justice system, leading to repeated episodes of incarceration. Pinals discusses interventions to decrease the toll these problems take both on individuals with serious mental illness and on our society. In Chapter 12, Horwitz and ...
... Justice Statistics, 2013 Curry T: NRA chief: if putting armed police in schools is crazy, “then call me crazy.” NBC News, December 23, 2012 Department of Justice, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives: Amended Definition ...
Contents
Firearms and Suicide in the United States | |
Gun Violence Urban Youth and Mental Illness | |
Mass Shootings and Mental Illness | |
School Shootings and Mental Illness | |
Mental Illness and the National Instant Criminal | |
Mental Illness Dangerousness and Involuntary | |