Some Thoughts on the Virginia Tech Tragedy

In the wake of the tragedy in Blacksburg, Va., it is understandable that people are searching for ways to prevent another such tragedy. Certainly, the student responsible for the attacks should have received psychiatric help. Had he received effective help in time, these events may not have happened.

It's important to note that people with mental illness are more often the victims of violence than they are the perpetrators. In addition, according to Otto Wahl, Ph.D., a professor of psychology and director of the Graduate Institute of Professional Psychology at the University of Hartford: "...mental illness is a poor predictor of violence, ranking well after these factors: youth, male gender, history of violence, and poverty. Aside from people who abuse substances, people with mental illness commit violent acts at the same rate as nonpatients."

Statistics show that many college students experience symptoms of mental illness. It is important that these students seek help for these problems.

One thing that deters students from addressing their psychiatric issues is the stigma associated with being mentally ill. How can we overcome stigma if people automatically associate violence with mental illness? Many students who may be experienceing symptoms of mental illness will decide not to get help because it will make them look unstable.

The vast majority of people who experience psychosis are not violent. In rare instances, individuals experiencing psychotic symptoms will act out violently, but it is a common misunderstanding that being "psychotic" is the same thing as being violent. All psychosis means is that a person has lost touch with reality. WebMD defines psychosis as "an illness that prevents people from being able to distinguish between the real world and the imaginary world. Symptoms include hallucinations (seeing or hearing things that arent't really there), delusion (false beliefs), and irrational thoughts and fears."

While this is certainly a symptom that people should seek professional help for, it does not indicate that a person experiencing psychosis absolutely poses a threat to others' safety. Good people can experience psychotic symptoms. Psychosis is relatively common; tragedies such as the one at Virginia Tech are extremely rare.

Sources:
http://pn.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/36/9/10
Violence and Mental Illness: Media Keeps Myths Alive
By Aaron Levin, Psychiatric News, May 4, 2001
Volume 36 Number 9

http://www.webmd.com/depression/depression-glossary

http://www.healthyminds.org/collegestats.cfm


Posted by Christa Andrade

UPenn Collaborative Responds to Virginia Tech Tragedy

PHILADELPHIA (4/20/07) – In the aftermath of the tragedy in Blacksburg, Va. – in which a student was responsible for 33 deaths, including his own – the UPenn Collaborative on Community Integration is helping colleges and universities better support students who have mental illnesses.

UPenn Collaborative director Mark Salzer, Ph.D., an assistant professor of psychology in psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania, recently completed a survey of college students with mental illnesses that indicates that the stigma associated with mental illness prevents students from seeking help. “Results suggest that lack of knowledge of available mental health services and supports, and fears about discrimination from faculty and other students who might find out about their mental illness, keep college students with mental illnesses from using accommodations,” Salzer said. The study also found that such students are less engaged on college campuses and in the classroom, and feel more alienated from other students and faculty compared to the general student population.

Dr. Salzer concludes that greater support of students with mental illnesses needs to be offered in a more accepting environment, in which having a mental illness is not perceived as a weakness or an indicator of potential violence. “Quality treatment and rehabilitation services are critical for ensuring that students with mental illnesses can successfully live and learn like any other student,” he said.

The UPenn Collaborative is training administrators, faculty and students in such areas as providing – and encouraging students to use – accommodations; getting involved in supported education programs; promoting peer-run campus groups for students with mental illnesses (such as Active Minds on Campus, a Washington-based, student-run mental health awareness, education and advocacy organization); and reducing barriers to students seeking and receiving services. Such barriers include discriminatory policies that require students with mental illnesses to leave campus, and lack of information about available services, as well as stigma and discrimination.

The UPenn Collaborative on Community Integration is the Rehabilitation Research and Training Center (RRTC) (http://www.upennrrtc.org/) for promoting community integration for individuals with psychiatric disabilities. Funded by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research, the UPenn Collaborative is based at the University of Pennsylvania. It is conducted in partnership with the National Mental Health Consumers’ Self-Help Clearinghouse at the Mental Health Association of Southeastern Pennsylvania, and Horizon House, Inc.

Contact: Katy Kaplan, Coordinator, UPenn Collaborative, 215-746-6713, katykap@mail.med.upenn.edu


Posted by the Clearinghouse

National Coalition of People with Psychiatric Histories Responds to Virginia Tech Tragedy

WASHINGTON (4/20/07) – The National Coalition of Mental Health Consumer/Survivor Organizations (http://www.ncmhcso.org/), an organization of people with psychiatric histories, asks that everyone learn from the tragic events at Virginia Tech, in which a student was responsible for 33 deaths, including his own.

"We offer sincere sympathy to the families and friends of those killed and injured, including the family of Cho Seung Hui, as well as the entire Virginia Tech community," said Lauren Spiro, the Coalition’s director of public policy. “We urge everyone to think compassionately about how to better engage people who are isolated, severely distressed, fearful and/or confused.”

“Let’s turn this crisis into an opportunity to understand more about mental health and create a more healthy and peaceful community,” said Coalition member Can Truong. The Coalition endorses this approach and the importance of supporting one another, and promotes peer-run mental health education, awareness and advocacy organizations such as Active Minds on Campus (http://www.activemindsoncampus.org/).

The Coalition also applauds Mental Health America for urging the public to avoid diagnosing others or engaging in “profiling” of groups such as those who appear to be foreign-born or people with psychiatric diagnoses.

“Reacting with judgment and labeling, fueled by the media, perpetuates misinformation and is a disservice to us all,” said Spiro. According to Jeffrey Swanson, Ph.D., an author of a study of violence and mental illness published in the American Journal of Public Health in September 2002, “Violent crimes committed by psychiatric patients become big headlines and reinforce the social stigma and rejection felt by many individuals who suffer from mental illness. But our findings suggest that serious violence is the rare exception among all people with psychiatric disorders. The public perception that people who are mentally ill are typically violent is unfounded.” In fact, research shows that people with psychiatric disabilities are far more likely to be victims than perpetrators of violent crime.

Given what has been reported about Cho’s abuse by bullies, the role of trauma in the tragedy should be understood. “Ninety percent of persons receiving services in public mental health systems have been exposed to trauma,” said Coalition member Mary Blake, a trauma survivor and a consultant to the National Center for Trauma-Informed Care. “Services must be sensitive to the fact of trauma in people’s lives.”

The National Coalition of Mental Health Consumer/Survivor Organizations works to ensure that people who have experienced severe emotional distress have a major voice in the development and implementation of health care, mental health, and social policies at the state and national levels. The Coalition advocates for mental health policies that promote full participation and integration in the community and end discrimination.

“This tragedy is a reminder of the fragility of our humanity and the importance of reaching out with compassion to each other, especially those in distress,” said Spiro.

Contact: Lauren Spiro, NCMHCSO director of public policy, 703-862-6512


Posted by the Clearinghouse

SAMHSA Launches Web Resources to Assist in Wake of Virginia Tech Tragedy

SAMHSA is making available several Web-based resources to assist in the aftermath of the tragic shootings at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University:

+ Understanding Mental Illness - After the Virginia Tech Tragedy (http://www.samhsa.gov/MentalHealth/understanding_Mentalllness.aspx) - a collection of resources and informational materials to build better public understanding about mental health problems. This includes fact sheets on the facts and myths of mental illnesses - including issues of violence, information on SAMHSA's National Anti-Stigma Campaign targeting young adults with the theme of "What a Difference a Friend Makes," real stories of people in recovery from mental illnesses, training materials to develop mentally healthy schools, and much more.

+ Coping with Traumatic Events (http://www.samhsa.gov/trauma/index.aspx) - a series of resources on how to respond to a traumatic event, including materials for responders/health professionals, students, schools, adults and families.

Posted by Clearinghouse

More Guns Mean More Suicides

Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health have found that suicide rates among children, women and men of all ages are higher in states where more households have guns. “We found that where there are more guns, there are more suicides,” according to the lead author of the study, which appears in the April 2007 edition of The Journal of Trauma. In the 15 states with the highest levels of household gun ownership, twice as many people committed suicide as in the six states with the lowest levels, even though the population in both research groups was about the same. The press release adds, “The association between firearm ownership and suicide was due to higher gun-related suicides; non-gun-related suicide rates were not significantly associated with rates of firearm ownership.” If this research promotes gun control, that’s great. But is anyone surprised by these results?

Source: http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/press-releases/2007-releases/press04102007.html


Posted by Susan Rogers

Illinois Is Considering Broadening Its Commitment Law

What’s going on in Illinois – an attempt to loosen the commitment laws to make it easier to lock people up – reminds me of what philosopher and poet George Santayana famously said: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

In 1987, when Pennsylvania legislators were pondering a similar change in the Commonwealth’s commitment law, they had the benefit of history in the testimony of Professor Mary L. Durham of the University of Washington. She and a co-author had done a five-year study, funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, of a 1979 revision in Washington’s Involuntary Treatment Act. The revision had made it easier to commit people by changing the standard to include anyone who “manifests severe deterioration in routine functioning evidenced by repeated and escalating loss of cognitive or volitional control over his or her actions and is not receiving such care as is essential for his or her health or safety.”

The results were disastrous. According to Durham’s written testimony, “Broadening involuntary commitment laws did NOT protect the community from dangerous people, it did NOT solve problems of homelessness, it WASTED previous resources and it created a dependency on the involuntary commitment system that brought people back to it again and again” (original emphasis). At least partly as a result of Durham’s testimony – which was also quoted in an editorial in the Philadelphia Inquirer, thanks to our providing them with it – cooler heads prevailed, and the attempt to broaden the commitment laws was defeated.

Although Durham’s testimony is 20 years old, it still seems relevant. If you would like to receive a copy, please e-mail me at srogers@mhasp.org and provide your fax number or U.S. Postal Service address.

Source: “Mental care reform eyed: Plan may aid those who don’t know they need it,” Chicago Tribune, 4/8/07
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0704070306apr08,1,1877531,print.story?coll=chi-newslocal-hed&ctrack=2&cset=true


Posted by Susan Rogers

Is Depression Over-diagnosed?

Can you tell the difference between clinical depression and “the blues”? According to a study of more than 8,000 adults that has just been published in The Archives of General Psychiatry, about 25 percent of those who seem depressed are just dealing with real-life troubles, such as divorce, losing their job, or blowing their nest egg at the track. Yet they are misdiagnosed as having clinical depression – and, no doubt, treated with medications.

I’ve been both “appropriately” sad in my life and have also had what is called “clinical depression,” and I can tell the difference. I think moving away from medicalizing normal human emotions is a great trend!


Posted by Susan Rogers

Source: “Many Diagnoses of Depression May Be Misguided,” New York Times, 4/3/07
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/03/health/psychology/03depr.html?ref=health