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Mental health community responds to Orlando: suicide more likely than mass shootings

By City of Orlando Police Department, via Wikimedia Commons

In the wake of last weekend’s deadly Orlando shooting, investigators are still searching for answers about what drove a 29-year-old man to open fire, ultimately killing 49 people in a gay nightclub.

 

Dr. Josh Thomas - Executive Director of the Delaware Chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness - says that in trying to make sense of the shooting, many naturally move toward speculation.

 

Mental illness also often times enters the discussion when it comes to mass shootings.

 

“It’s unfortunate that a lot of peoples’ minds – due to the stigma associated with mental illness – they sometimes assume that when these situations occur – because it is unfathomable how someone could do this that the assumption is that they had a mental illness and that’s what was driving their behavior," he said.

 

And while it's true that according to NIMH reports suggest that up to 60% of perpetrators of mass shootings in the United States since 1970 displayed symptoms including acute paranoia, delusions, and depression before carrying out their crimes, Thomas adds that individuals living with mental illness are more likely to be victims of a shooting than perpetrators.

 

Less than 3% to 5% of US crimes involve people with mental illness, and the percentages of crimes that involve guns are lower than the national average for persons not diagnosed with mental illness. 

 

They are also more likely to be a danger to themselves than others.

 

Mass shootings and murders dominate the news, but suicides accounted for almost two-thirds - or 21,334 - of the 33,599 gun deaths in the U.S. in 2014; only 10,945 were homicides and mass shootings a much smaller number. 

Thomas also hopes those impacted by the Orlando shooting will seek the necessary mental health help for the grief and trauma that they’ve experienced, including first responders as well as family members and friends of victims.
 

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