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It is difficult to empathize with someone who is executing a shooting in a school. The brutality of their crimes is unspeakable. Whether the shooting took place in Columbine, Sandy Hook or Parkland, they traumatized students and communities in the United States.
The psychologist John Van Dreal understands this. He is Director of Security and Risk Management at Salem-Keizer Public Schools in Oregon, a state that has had its share of shootings in schools. In 2014, about sixty kilometers from Salem, where Van Dreal is, a 15-year-old boy killed a student and a teacher at his high school before killing himself.
"Someone is bent over backwards to target and kill children who look like our children, teachers who look like our teachers – and who did it for no other reason than their to hurt, "said Van Dreal. "And it's very personal."
Still, Van Dreal and other psychologists and law enforcement officers spend a lot of time thinking about what that's it. to be one of those school shooters because, they say, this is the key to prevention.
How many shootings in schools
It is difficult to count all shootings and cases of violence in schools, according to the researchers; there is no official count and different organizations differ in their definitions of shootings in schools.
For example, a free-source database constituted by Mother Jones suggests that there were 11 large-scale shootings (where four or more people were killed). died) in schools since the shooting of Columbine High School in Colorado in 1999, and 134 children and adults died in these attacks.
Psychologists and law enforcement agencies analyzed how this kind of multivictic attack was born, because from what they tell us about many other people who are at risk of becoming violent in school and ways we could intervene early, before the anger becomes violent.
At Columbine High School, researchers learned a lot about school shooters. On the one hand, many are themselves students, or alumni, in the schools that they are attacking. A significant majority tends to be teenagers or young adults.
"There is not one thing, [but] maybe twenty different things that unite to put someone on the verge of committing an act of mass violence, "says Peter Langman, clinical psychologist in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and author of two books and several studies on shootings in schools.
Several factors contribute at once
Most shooters Studies show that in these cases they had led a difficult life.
"Teen school shooters, there is no doubt that they struggle and that they have experienced multiple failures in their lives," says Reid Meloy, clinical professor in psychiatry . at the University of California at San Diego
Many are struggling with psychological problems, says Meloy, a forensic psychologist who also consults the FBI.
Studies by the FBI and US Secret Service revealed also found that many shooters [19659014] felt hopeless before the event.
"Whether they were diagnosed or not, or whether or not they are seriously mentally ill, something happens that could [have been] Langman.
But most have never had this treatment.
The Role of Mental Health Problems
Mental health problems do not cause shooting in the classroom, Van Dreal points out. After all, only a very small percentage of children with psychological problems become school shooters
But mental health problems are a risk factor, he says, because they can reduce the ability to manage other stresses. . And studies have shown that most school shooters have led a particularly stressful life
. Many, but not all, have committed childhood traumas such as physical or psychological abuse, and unstable, violent families, such as absent or alcoholic parents or siblings. And most have suffered significant losses.
For example, the defendant in the Parkland, Florida case, who had shot last year had lost his adoptive mother as a result of flu complications a few months before the attack of l & # 39; school. His adoptive father had died when he was a little boy.
Feeling like an outcast at school can also play a role.
these people felt excluded, socially excluded or rejected, "says Van Dreal.Studies show that social rejection at school is associated with higher levels of anxiety, depression, # 39; aggression and antisocial behavior in children
A 2004 study by the US Secret Service and the US Department of Education revealed that nearly three-quarters of school shooters had been victims of violence. bullying or harassment at school.
Marginalized children do not have anchor at school, says Van Dreal. "They have no connection with adults – no one is watching them. Or no one knows who they are. "
And lack of social support at school, says Meloy, is a major risk factor. 19659003]" People who commit this type of Targeted attacks do not feel very good about themselves or in the future, "said Van Dreal." They may wish someone kills them. Or maybe they can kill themselves. "
For example, Dylan Klebold, one of the authors of the shooting at Columbine, was depressed and suicidal two years ago.
"About half of the school shooters I studied committed suicide in their attack," says Langman. "It's often a mixture of severe depression, anguish, and despair that drives them to end their days."
Of course, most people who feel suicidal do not kill others.
So, what makes a small minority of children
Meloy and Van Dreal think it's because these people were fighting alone, either because they were unable to ask for help or that their cries were inaudible when adults
When despair turns into anger and desire for revenge
When someone struggles alone since a moment and that he fails, his despair can turn into anger, say the researchers.
"There is a loss, there is humiliation, there is anger, there are reproaches," says Meloy.
This kind of anger can lead to homicidal thoughts, says Van Dreal.
They start by fantasizing revenge, says Meloy.
"S o fantasy is one where the teenager begins to identify with other people who have become school shooters and have used violence as a means of solving their problem, "he says.
These days, Meloy adds, it's easy for a troubled child. go online and find out how previous shooters planned and executed their attacks.
The easy access to firearms – one of the biggest risk factors – then turns those fantasies into reality.
Psychologists say these attacks can be avoided – they are often weeks or months in planning.
The key to prevention is to spot early behavioral signs indicating that a student is having difficulty, says Langman, as well as to watch for signs indicating that someone might turn to violence. .
Some signs may "So, I stopped being the kid who attended the Boy Scouts, the church and loved his grandmother," says Van Dreal, "and now I want to be that kid with a camouflage that is isolated and attacks people and hurts everyone. "
But sometimes even the professionals who see the placards miss their meaning.
About a year and a half before the attack of Columbine high school students, Dylan Klebold, a talented student, began to enter
He and some friends hacked into the computer system of his school. A few months later, with his friend Eric Harris, he broke into a van and stole equipment. They were arrested at the time and sent to a diversion program – an alternative to imprisonment for juvenile offenders for the first time – that offered advice and required work in the general interest.
Sue Klebold, mother of Dylan and subsequent author of the book The judgment of a mother: living as a result of tragedy told NPR that she was upset and worried to see the sudden change in her son's behavior. She says she asked the diversion counselor if her behavior made sense and she needed a therapist. The counselor asked Dylan, and Dylan replied no
Sue Klebold stated that she had never realized how serious the problem was.
Someone may be, "Klebold told NPR." We all have the responsibility to stop ourselves and think that someone we love can suffer, may be in crisis. "[19659003] Watch out for the pitfalls in finding a solution
The solution, according to Psychologists who study children who become violent should neither expel nor suspend a student such as Dylan – although this that is what happened to him in the fall of 1997, after he hacked the computer system of his school.
evicted "can now get bored, can be isolated at home, can live in a family dysfunctional and can ruminate and think all the time about how he's going to avenge what happened to him. "
Eric Harris, a friend and murderer of Dylan Klebold that day in Columbine, did not seem depressed. He was egocentric, lacked empathy and was subject to anger, according to those who analyzed his diaries and his previous behavior.
While Klebold's diaries were "full of loneliness and depression," according to Langman, Harris's writings were "full of narcissism and rage against people – much contempt."
Harris's scorn it extends to itself. Langman's study on Harris' diary suggests that major surgeries during his early teens to correct a birth condition contributed to his self-hatred.
"I've always hated my appearance," Harris wrote in his diary. "That's where a lot of my hate comes from." In his latest newspaper article, Harris portrays himself as "the weirdest Eric KID"
"Anyone who is considering taking a gun and killing people should be considered a person in crisis," Langman said. . "And that's why it's so important to reach out to that individual and contact him."
Time and time again, psychologists and educators found that it was already early for a young person to benefit from the proper support and supervision . Most researchers are moving away from violence.
Keeping links with these students, listening to them and supporting them, giving them the help they need, can help prevent further attacks and make school safer for all children.
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