Newtown Shooting and Mental Illness Correlation

[Hamsterliciousness]

I'm not a person who is going to try and downplay the fact that school shootings are a horrible thing. I'm, also, not going to deny that there needs to be better gun control in the United States (seeing that 2/3 of the guns used in school shootings were obtained legally).

What I am, however, is p*ssed over the sudden jump to the media saying that a "personality disorder" is to blame.

In the past 10 years (or more) there has been a very large amount of "connections" to mental illness and these tragedies. Most people believe that "no one in their right minds" will do something like this (and I agree), and they MUST be mentally ill.

Now, the "connection" that they "must" be mentally ill, is something that drives me nuts. How many people around you are mentally ill? Even if it's just depression? According to the media, then those people are ticking time bombs. Feel offended yet? No? According to the media (and society at large), they're abnormal and shouldn't talk about their problems. They. Should. Just. Keep. Quiet.

As someone with a actual personality disorder, I'm not going to tell you that it's something that should be ignored or stay quiet about. It's something that needs to be talked about and treated. It's not something that should be taboo. I'm here to tell you that all mental illness needs treating.

Many people with mental illness fear what people around them are going to say about them, or treat them. They fear that they'll lose friends and family because they're not plastering a smile on their face, or they're hearing voices, or even seeing things.

WE NEED TO SPEAK OUT ABOUT MENTAL ILLNESS.

Anyways, getting back to my original point. Not all events like this are caused by people with mental health issues. Some people have just been pushed to the edge (I cite bullying as a major one, such as Columbine).  

[Meline Moon]

I agree, metal illness is not the main cause of someone becoming a shooter. I think it is caused by not being able to cope with life problems. Instead of getting help or talking about their problems, these people decide to cause mass destruction. I am not sure how we can fix this problem though. Tougher gun laws or banning guns will not help with this issue. Possible shooters can just switch to an easier method of killing (like bombs, poison) if guns are too hard to come by.  

[Lady_Whitetree]

Uhm... I have bipolar, I don't think about killing people. Punching walls, maybe, but killing is a big no for me...