Mass shootings

[Bengalzona]

(03-22-2018, 01:35 PM)PhilHos Wrote: I was actually going to mention that in all likelihood, most of us, if not all, probably have some form of mental illness (how many of us have a phobia, for example) in my post but decided not to, but doesn't it take a certain kind of mental illness to shoot up a school or a crowded nightclub?

This is the root of the problem. The answer to your question is no. There are quite a few mental and emotional conditions that could lead someone down that path, and in 99.99999% of the cases they don't. What leads someone down that path is a cocktail of conditions and circumstances that combine in a way which is unique in every incident.

Looking for the silver bullet diagnosis that will stop all or most these types of incidents is like looking for the cure for cancer. Which type of cancer? There are thousands of types and some are radically different than others.

A couple of decades ago, there was a study of inmates done at a prison where the brains of violent inmates were compared to non-violent inmates. The study concluded that there was a general difference in their pre-frontal lobes, the area of the brain used for decision-making. Specifically in ventromedial area of the lobe. This came to be known as pre-frontal deficit. Immediately, some people (non-scientists) grabbed onto this as "the cause" of violence. "If we could just scan peoples' brains, we could find the problem people and imprison them before they commit a crime!"

But that wasn't exactly what the research showed. First, it showed a "general" difference in pre-frontal lobes. Not an "all encompasing" difference. Second, the study was limited to inmates only. Further research showed that there are people with the condition living in society who never commit a crime, violent or otherwise. It was just an indicator of a propensity to act a certain way (i.e. risk negligent, impaired decision making, etc.), not an indicator that they would turn to a life of violence and crime (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1737651/ ) .

People want that Silver Bullet or Holy Grail that will automatically make something bad go away. I do to. But it is fantasy. The issues are more complex than that because of the multitude of different factors involved.