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 with serious mental illness are stigmatized as being the perpetrators of these types of crimes, and this has resulted in efforts to keep guns out of the hands of individuals ... serious mental illness who use firearms to kill strangers ...
... those whose lives are shattered by gun violence cannot be overstated. Media coverage of mass shootings typically ... individuals with serious mental illness are violent and dangerous, especially if they have access to firearms. Such ...
... serious mental illness; the most significant of these factors is substance abuse (Elbogen and Johnson 2009; Swanson et al. 2013, 2015; Van Dorn et al. 2012). Moreover, when individuals with serious mental illness become violent, those ...
... individuals with serious mental illness are in effect denied care because they are unable to navigate a bureaucratic labyrinth that even individuals without mental illness find confusing and difficult. As a result, many people with serious ...
... individuals with serious mental illness are at elevated risk of committing violence (Choe et al. 2008), and some mass shootings have been committed by psychotic individuals. Nevertheless, links between serious mental illness and ...
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 | |