Mass Killings and Mental Illness

MASS KILLINGS AND MENTAL ILLNESS 3

MassKillings and Mental Illness

MassKillings and Mental Illness

TheColumbine shooting is one of the crime incidents that sent shockwavesto many people across the country considering the fact that it wascarried out by teenagers. The incident was not just a usual crime,from a psychological perspective. Both culprits, Klebold and Harrisexuded some serious signs of depression and anger a few months beforethey carried out the heinous act. Both of them had aggressivebehavior, and they were ever comfortable in school since theybelieved everybody hated them. As a matter of fact, Klebold hadexpressed suicidal thoughts earlier, through his writings that werefound after his demise. Harris was a seamlessly disturbed person, andhis mental condition made him express his views how he hated theworld. He had also been previously rejected by the U.S. Marine Corpssince he was using the psychiatrist medication, an incident that madehim bitter. Being under depression, they both believed that the masskilling would bring them fame and they started preparing for it inearnest.

Themost profound solution to the mass shooting in schools would be foundthrough improving the mental health care of students. The schoolshooting has occasionally been attributed to depression and mentalproblems. Therefore it critical to offer a comprehensive mentalhealth care to the children early enough when such a condition startsmanifesting itself. They should be provided with proper guidance toensure that they don`t start exhibiting uncouth behaviors that couldlead to serious issues such as what happened in Columbine. Creatingawareness is not enough unless the affected individuals are givenproper medication to counter mental challenges before they get toirredeemable levels. Furthermore, people who exhibit aggressivebehaviors should be treated with empathy and love to enable themovercome such situation.

References

Scott,C. L. (2012). Forensicpsychiatry.Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier.