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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... people polled) is failure of the mental health system to identify individuals who are a danger to others (Saad 2013). Another survey found that 80% of Americans support laws to prevent individuals with mental illness from purchasing ...
... individuals ages 15–24 in the United States were 42.7 times higher. • Firearm suicide rates in the United States were 5.8 times higher. • Unintentional firearm death rates in the United States were 5.5 times ... people with mental illness as.
... those few individuals, with or without mental illness, who go on to commit mass shootings does not exist. Moreover, the development of such a profile is unlikely (Swanson 2011). Because mass shootings are relatively uncommon events ...
... Individuals of course have a responsibility to behave in ways that promote their own health and safety and those of ... mental illness revolve through the mental health and criminal justice systems without receiving the social support ...
... mental illness are not practical goals and are not likely to be achieved ... individuals' lives can at times create dilemmas for physicians and other ... mental illness. FIREARM VIOLENCE AND MENTAL ILLNESS: DEFINING THE PROBLEMS In Part.
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 | |