Mass Shootings and Psychiatric Deinstitutionalization, Here and Abroad

Too often, gun rights advocates point to the flaws of the mental health system as the cause of mass gun violence. Consider President Trump's response to the February 14 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. He said that psychiatric hospitals should be reopened to prevent more carnag...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:American journal of public health (1971) 2019-06, Vol.109 (S3), p.S176-S177
Main Authors: Perera, Isabel M, Sisti, Dominic A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aggression
AJPH s
Casualties
Deinstitutionalization
Deinstitutionalization - statistics & numerical data
Ethics
Fatalities
Firearms
Government
Gun violence
Gun Violence - psychology
Gun Violence - statistics & numerical data
Health Care Facilities/Services
Health Policy
Hospitals
Hospitals, Psychiatric - organization & administration
Hospitals, Psychiatric - statistics & numerical data
Humans
International organizations
Mass murders
Massacre
Mental disorders
Mental Disorders - therapy
Mental Health
Mental health care
Mental institutions
Pagourtzis, Dimitrios
Political factors
Presidents
Psychiatric hospitals
Psychiatry
Public health
Shootings
United States
Violence
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Summary:Too often, gun rights advocates point to the flaws of the mental health system as the cause of mass gun violence. Consider President Trump's response to the February 14 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. He said that psychiatric hospitals should be reopened to prevent more carnage. You know in the old days we had mental institutions, had a lot of them, and you could nab somebody like this."2 Trump was referring to the closure of psychiatric hospitals during deinstitutionalization-the result of ideological, economic, and political factors-which began in the 1960s, peaked in the 1970s and 1980s, and continues today.Is deinstitutionalization to blame for the regularity of mass shootings in America? Deinstitutionalization occurred not only here but also across other highincome democracies. Major international organizations, such as the World Health Organization, have supported the reduction of hospital psychiatry.3 Comparing cross-national data of mass shootings-typically defined as four or more fatalities-with the decline of inpatient psychiatric capacity offers little evidence to support this association.
ISSN:0090-0036
1541-0048
DOI:10.2105/AJPH.2018.304764