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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Liza H. Gold, Robert I. Simon. firearm laws refer to people with mental illness as “mental defectives” (Gun Control Act of 1968, 18 U.S.C. § 922[d][4]) and bar some of them from gun ownership in the mistaken belief that this makes us ...
... firearms (Krouse 2012). Per capita firearm ownership in the United States now exceeds one (W.J. Krouse, personal communication, February 2015). Ownership of guns is reported in 34% of homes, and many households own more than one firearm ...
... gun ownership and stranger firearm homicide rates (Siegel et al. 2014). As observed by Appelbaum (2013), even if all violence, not just gun violence, accounted for by mental disorders could somehow be eliminated, 90%–97% of violent ...
... firearm regulation reform. This political dynamic played out publicly after ... owners” (National Rifle Association Institute for Legislative Action 2014) ... firearm violence are not, as some believe, attempts on the part of the medical ...
... firearms, and access to mental health treatment. We also have chosen not to address the psychological issues related to gun ownership—neither those issues associated with individuals nor those associated with advocacy groups. Finally ...
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 | |