What's wrong with our youth? Is it a psychosocial disorder? Is it the parents?

[cheerfulgreek]

Originally Posted by DSTCHAOS

I assume that you're speaking generally when you say "you/we also have to understand." None of what is being typed in this thread is a revelation. So it seems like we're typing in circles and repeating ourselves most of the time.

It doesn't change the fact that all violence is not created or responded to equally in this society. People have an image of the "types of people" that are violent and criminal and the "types of places" that this occurs--even if their assessment is inaccurate. It is this perception that feeds the fears and opinions. Not accurate information. Just another reminder for some people who are on the "what's new with our kids...why are they so violent all of a sudden" kick.



Everything's "part of the problem." But a moderate % of adults (and a smaller % of youth) have some degree of mental illness. Most of these people are functional so they have reasoning and self-regulation capacity. They won't end up criminal or deviant on most regards. So to that end, untreated mental illness has not been found to have a huge impact unless the person is unable to function without medication or counseling services.

This is good. I agree, we are going in circles, but you and a few other members are the only intelligent members who are posting on this thread who can have an intelligent chatting session without calling people names. What you said is really good, but I want to elaborate on the mental illness part.

To me, it just seems like people aren't diagnosed until after something harmful happens. In fact few shooters are diagnosed with mental illnesses before their crimes. Yet many are discovered afterward to be mentally ill. Depression and schizophrenia or one of it's variants are particularly common. Only a small minority of these children are under treatment. A lot of us might expect adults who routinely deal with adolecents, such as school personnel, to be able to spot mental illness. I think it turns out to be exceptionally difficult, largely because problems like clinical depression or schizophrenia may be in their early stages, lacking some of the symptoms that manifest themselves later in life. At the onset of the disease, kids are often aware of how different they are from others and, feeling the stigma that comes with this territory, work hard to conceal their troubles. I think mental illness can be a problem if untreated, but given the number of adolescents who are depressed and suicidal, like you said, I totally don't think mental illness can be or should be viewed as a straightforward predictor of school shootings. A lot of times it's these children that are bullied or teased because they may be nerdy or different. Sometimes these kids are sick and no one knows about it, so they snap. Most of the shootings that occured were by kids who were outcasts, teased or just not accepted by their peers.