No One Factor Explains it All: The Danger of Labeling People
It’s natural to ask “why” when horrendous acts of violence occur like the recent shootings in Newtown, Connecticut and this past Saturday’s shooting in Aurora, Colorado. As of now, little is known about the mental status of the most recent perpetrator, but no doubt speculations will surface quickly as they did in Adam Lanza’s case. We all want to know why violent acts happen and what we can do to prevent them. It would be fortuitous if a particular category or label could be the culprit and we could identify those at risk for committing such violent acts. In reality, most of these rare and devastating events are the result of a complex web of factors. No one factor explains it all. Blaming a single group harms not only the members of that group, but also the community’s interest in truly understanding and preventing violence.
Various media outlets and policy makers attribute violence to mental illness without the statistics to back up their accusations. Here are some trusted facts reported by Dr. Zeke Emanuel, former White House advisor for health policy. Less than 4% of violent crimes involve people with serious mental illness (like Schizophrenia or Bipolar Disorder). Individuals who have a serious mental illness, which is about 5% of the population, are far more likely to injure themselves or to commit suicide. Epidemiologist, David Mandell, adds that the rate of mental illness doesn’t vary much among industrialized countries, but the rate of gun violence does. “I think the overwhelming difference,” he says, “is access to firearms.”
Autism and Asperger Syndrome, developmental disorders rather than mental illnesses, have also received much media attention and have been blamed for Lanza’s behavior. The fact is, those on the autism spectrum are far more likely to be victims than perpetrators of violence. Individuals on the autism spectrum have neurobiological differences that can make it more challenging to read social cues and to understand another person’s perspective, but it is a myth that they lack empathy. They tend to be very honest and rule-based, and to fundamentally understand the difference between right and wrong. That said, no label – whether being a neurotypical (or “normal”) member of society, or being autistic – definitively determines if you will become a “good” or “bad” person. Even if Lanza was on the autism spectrum, another individual on the autism spectrum is no more likely to commit a violent act than an individual without a developmental disorder.
Fatherlessness is a factor that has received little media attention despite being the largest predictor of many unfortunate outcomes, including violence. According to studies, children from fatherless homes are more likely to be poor, become involved in drug and alcohol abuse, drop out of school, and suffer from health and emotional problems. Boys are more likely to become involved in crime, and girls are more likely to become pregnant as teens. Lanza and many other perpetrators of violence lacked a male parental figure. That doesn’t mean, however, that we should target, stereotype, or fear all children who grow up fatherless.
According to the Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress, “It does not help children to have them fear groups of people who fall into any specific demographic categories. Doing so only leads to discrimination, stigma, and victimization of people who also are struggling to cope with these events. More importantly, help your children understand that adults, including government authorities work hard to identify and stop dangerous events before they even happen.” Remind your children how safe they are and teach them not to stigmatize or overgeneralize.
Dr. Jaime Black is a licensed psychologist practicing in Westchester and New York City. In addition to providing general mental health services, Jaime works with individuals of all ages on the autism spectrum, doing psychotherapy, conducting evaluations, and facilitating social skills groups. Visit www.spectrumservicesnyc.com, e-mail JaimeBlackPsyD@gmail.com or call (914)712-8208.
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