Thought for the Day: I had a very busy day yesterday & was unable to post. I am still giving a lot of thought to the issues I raised on Memorial Day Monday: What You Can Do If You Are Angry About the War Raging in Our Streets. If you missed my post please take a look, read, comment, share and take action. If you are tired of watching news reports of shooting rampages and loss of innocent lives in school, colleges, malls & cinemas followed by memorial services of distraught families and friends, it can give you some ideas of what to do.
Today's post is raising additional questions about the alarming rise in violence in our nation. After the fact, as we try to make sense of what has happened, the news media reports profiles of the shooters' lives and mental health histories. Books have been written to look for commonalities between the angry young men committing these horrible crimes. Since the rampages often end in the attackers committing suicide, if they are not killed by the police, much of the analysis is based on a kind of psychological autopsy and comments from teachers, family and friends about their troubles lives. In today's words of wisdom, I raise a different explanation which could lead to a different way of treating the issue and hopefully helping to prevent additional attacks.
"If America came to my office, my diagnosis would be PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). When we focus on the shooters most of whom are dead and cannot be treated, we may be missing the underlying causes and therefore, lose sight of potential preventative treatment options."Read on to see why this hypothesis may help understand the significant rise in violence, depression, suicide and mass attacks...
