Murder and Mental Illness

Murder is associated in the public mind with brain illnesses, particularly schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and PTSD. David Hogg, anti-gun activist and mass shooting survivor has a lot to say about the topic: “If you believe it’s mental illness, call your reps and ask that they fund mental h[ealth] programs in our schools and communities. I don’t agree it’s mental illness that causes these shootings But we do need more funding for mental health programs to reduce the growing rate of suicide.”

Hogg has said that systemic poverty, race, and hatred are bigger motivators of mass shootings than mental illness. He also notes, “I do think it’s important to note the shooter at my high school had tons of mental health stuff. From my understanding, … there were school psychologists, there were therapists, there were all these different things involved. And I don’t think one more therapist would have made the difference for him. We need to put our politics aside, and get something done.”

The assassination attempt on former President Trump has stirred up the debate again. The assumption that mental illness is the cause of public acts of violence persists. The usual suspects include bullying, psychotropic medication, and social isolation. There have also been a lot of conspiracy theories and blame tossed around. It was Democrats. It was a “false flag” operation. It was staged. It was a foreign plot. The injury was minor. The injury almost took his life. (There may well be more I haven’t heard.)

I fully expect the mental illness hue and cry to start. In fact, it’s already begun. There have been reports that Thomas Crooks sought information on major depressive disorder and was bullied at school. (He was 20 years old when he fired at Trump. Apparently, he committed no violence while at school.) I stress that these are not facts. They have only been reported in the media and tempered by the term “allegedly.”

Personally, I don’t accept such reports at face value. Media reports in the aftermath of a shooting have so often turned out to be unwarranted, misguided, or premature. I prefer to wait for more reliable, less heated reporting that comes from official sources who have actual knowledge of the situation.

I will say that major depressive disorder is a disorder that leads to violence against oneself rather than others. Even if the Crooks did have it (not proven), it seems unlikely that it was a factor in the incident. Depression more often results in suicidal ideation or attempted or completed suicide than in homicide. That he might have been seeking “suicide by cop” is even more unsupported so far and probably unknowable.

It may be true that Crooks had a mental illness, but we don’t know that yet — if we ever will — and there are other possible explanations for his actions, including garden-variety hatred, violent extremism, and political motivation.

What I do think we know is that mental illness will once again be assumed to be the cause by both the public at large and the media. They may even find some psychological “experts” who never met Crooks and never treated him to expound on his diagnosis or motivation in media interviews. That’s usually the course these things follow. Lilliana Mason, a political scientist at Johns Hopkins University, said today, “It sounds like he was relatively isolated and troubled, sad and looking for attention.”

I also firmly believe that this incident will make no difference whatsoever in the debate on gun control. And if mental illness is the cause, it will be acknowledged as a Bad Thing but will not result in any initiative that would provide funding for better care of those with SMI. A massive tut-tut and a hearty shrug are about all I expect.

I’d love to be proved wrong.