US shooting raises queries on dealing with mental illness
Fri Apr 20, 12:21 PM
BLACKSBURG, United States (AFP) - The massacre at Virginia Tech has sparked an intense debate over how to deal with mental illness and how best to protect society from people with violent tendencies.
University officials faced a barrage of questions Thursday about why they allowed gunman Cho Seung-Hui to remain in school despite a history of mental problems and stalking.
But while some are calling for a reform of the mental health system and the expulsion of disturbed students, experts say the solution is not that simple.
Strange behavior is not sufficient to force a student into counseling, and even the best practitioners cannot always predict when a patient has become a danger to themselves or to others, experts said.
"There can be signs, but it's not a crime to be odd," said Maggie Olona, head of student counseling at Texas A&M University and president of the Association for University and College Counseling Center Directors.
"There is nothing we can do if someone doesn't give us evidence to act."
Privacy and patient rights laws can also prevent forcible treatment and doctors or university administrators from telling relatives that something is wrong.
"Your hands are really tied unless you feel that there's some sort of imminent danger," said Richard Kadison, chief of mental health services at Harvard University.
The vast majority of people with mental illnesses are not violent and it is hard to predict whether those with violent tendencies will ever carry them out, said Mardi Horowitz, a professor of psychiatry at the University of California San Francisco.
"A number of people have a great deal of hatred permeating their personality, a great deal of inferiority they're trying to convert into a grandiose act and a great deal of envy for anyone who has what they want," Horowitz told AFP.
Civil rights laws prevent the state from institutionalizing people simply because they might be dangerous and people can only be forcibly admitted if there is a concrete threat they could harm someone.
Cho, 23, has been described as a sullen loner by students, teachers and his roommates and his violent writings and intimidating manner raised alarm bells among some of his professors long before he went on a rampage Monday killing 32 persons and himself.
Cho was committed to a mental institution in December 2005 after one of two stalking incidents involving female students but was released the next day for outpatient treatment after he was deemed not to be a danger to others.
"He broke no law that we know of," Chris Flynn of the Cook Counseling Center said at a press conference.
While mass shootings are rare, a large number of students have mental health problems and practitioners say there are not enough resources to help them all.
Nearly 18 percent of college students say they suffer from depression and 12 percent say they suffer from anxiety, according to a recent study by the American College Health Association.
Even more disturbing is that nine percent of college students said they had seriously considered suicide and one percent had tried to kill themselves in the past year.
In addition to safety concerns, administrators have to worry about liability.
More universities have begun forcing suicidal students to withdraw following a 2003 lawsuit by the parents of an MIT student who committed suicide.
But that can also lead to lawsuits: George Washington University recently paid a settlement to a student it suspended after he sought help for depression when he claimed the school violated federal disability laws.
"Everyone's going to be looking at those threshold points, and (ask) 'When do we take more drastic action?'" said Kevin Kruger, associate executive director of the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators.
"It's the classic tension between individual freedom -- the right of every individual to stay on campus -- with the interests of the community."
"My gut (feeling) on this is, we're going to become more likely to want to remove students from the educational environment," Kruger said. _________________ kyranŠ
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