Mass Murders Are On The Rise - I'm Just Sayin...

I'm Just Sayin...

Mass Murders Are On The Rise

7/28/2012 1:20:01 PM

FBI statistics indicate single victim killings are down by 40 percent since 1980, but mass murders are skyrocketing. Is there an explanation for this disturbing trend of mass murder? What do you think?

Posted by: Dr. Dale Archer | Submit comment | Tell a friend

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10 Comments

Lola

7/28/2012 10:56:22 PM

I link this trend to computer technology in general and video games in particular. It's well known that the military even uses violent video games to train and desensitize recruits. I don't know any young men now in their twenties who never played violent video games. It seems to be an accepted fact of life that most kids get to spend a lot of time doing this. And most video games are violent, some more than others, but even the more innocuous ones still revolve around slaying the enemy or winning some battle. The worst among them are graphically violent. I truly believe that this repetitive violence can and does desensitize a certain number of its viewers. If you practice something for hours on end, every day for a year, that is some pretty heavy conditioning. Not saying a mature healthy rational person can't override any impulses, but really, what drives a person to want to view and take part in this grotesque, bloody violent annihilation, fictional or not? There's something wrong there to begin with. If you start young, as they all seem to, then you grow up thinking it's normal to not be bothered by gore. I personally find even fictional gore repugnant and want nothing to do with it, but there seems to be something innate that makes certain large number of people gravitate to it, and when you think of it in that way, it's not that big a leap over the line.

40 years ago, a 24 year old snapping when his girlfriend dumps him or he loses his job had a much more limited repertoire of acting out he could conceive of. Media continues to serve up twisted violent scenario after scenario for copycats to pursue -- and there's not a homicide detective anywhere who will tell you copycats are not a fact of life.

From my view, desensitization contributes heavily to the morphing trend in violence. While I'm not for censoring necessarily, I think parents need to refuse to let their kids play any violent video games or watch any graphically violent movies. If you can get a kid to 18 without sending the message that gore and violence and rape and torture are entertainment, you've at least not contributed in training them to be unempathetic.

No, it doesn't account for nearly all instances of mass murderers. Paranoia and a hatred for humankind seem to always be present in the "old school" mass murderers. I've heard people work overtime trying to rationalize these violent medias, parents and children/teens alike, but my point is it shouldn't be allowed so young and since it has no value other than babysitting, why sanction it at all?

Maverick

8/2/2012 10:16:39 AM

I saw you on Dr Drew. It is nice to hear a psychiatrist who truly understands mental illness the way you do. I hope the defense for James Holmes has an expert like you who can help keep this guy off of death row and in a hospital where he belongs. I do understand the lynch mob mentality
however anyone who has been touched by mental illness knows that James was not himself when this shooting was committed. On the Dr Drew show Dr Drew was telling people to help prevent this type of event in the future we ned to watch for the sings. This is true but no sign posts were given. Perhaps some bullet points to look out for preferably before a psychotic even
happens. An example from my own experience is my son Jeff. When he was 24 years old and just released from the Air force he moved in with his brother here in San Diego coincidently right across the freeway from the Colorado shooters home. One day my older son Karl called me and asked me if I had talked to Jeff lately? I said yes about a month ago. He said that for about a month he had been acting very strange often staying up all night writing on a yellow legal pad. He said when he talks it does't make much sense. I called Jeff and could tell right away that something was wrong he was speaking rapidly and telling me that he had figured out how to save the world. He told us that the dead presidents were talking to him.I had him wait for us and my wife and I went straight over there put him in the car and drove him to the VA hospital. He wouldn't go in the hospital but after I agreed to take him to the news station so he could spread his word if he went in to the hospital he agreed. He was in the hospital for about a week. DX BP1 with psychotic features. Now while we did intervene when he was in a state of psychosis there were clearly signs that if we understood we might have been able to intervene before the break. About a year before and while still in the Air Force Jeff started to be consumed with tricking out his Honda Civic. He was an E4 and had racked up nearly $30,000 in credit card debt in the process. After finding out about it we put him on a payment plan with the creditors and he promised not to charge anymore debt. 6 months later he had another $30,000 on new credit cards. We just couldn't figure out what his problem was. Clearly he was displaying manic behavior that eventually led to psychosis. Since Jeff was treated early he has surprisingly been quite normal for 6 years now without any manic or psychotic episodes. His only med is 500mgs Depakote. Jeff's biological mother was also Bi Polar and had been in the hospital as well. With mood disorders wether manic or depressed there are lots of signs that can be witnessed allowing intervention well before a psychotic break happens. Excessive spending, sex drive, not sleeping or needing sleep are a few of the manic clues and being withdrawn ,agitated ,angry, despondent are a few of the signs of a depressive episode that may need to be treated. Getting help before a psychotic event happens should be the goal. i myself have MDD with co morbid OCD since I was 17 now 57. The OCD is managed without drugs and really not a problem by being treated by a OCD behavioral therapist in New York city using CBT techniques and exposure therapy. The depression is a whole other animal that no DR here in San Diego could touch. I had to fly up to Monterey Ca and see a psychiatrist DR Romeo Mariano a Dr who treats the whole body and not just the brain to finally get well. My protocol is 120mgs Test Cyp every Saturday 180mgs Armor thyroid, 50mcg synthroid, 400mgs Lamictal, 150mgs zoloft and on an as needed basis 10mgs Dextroamphetamine. A diet low in gluten and sugar and lots of supplements prescribed by the Dr to try and to reduce inflammation in the brain which he swears will improve mood. Also keep in mind that waiting for a psychotic break to get someone help can backfire as it is quite difficult to get someone in active psychosis to the hospital. Its much better and safer for all if some
intervention is had before the break. My son was not violent but I truly believe if he had latched on to a violent theme he too could be in the kind of trouble James is in. Sadly James will most likely become stable with meds and never see the outside world as a free person. Since he has a violent theme attached to his psychosis he probably should not ever be released. All he would have to do is stop his meds and be right back into a crisis. Kind of long but thanks for reading.

Sherry Foster

8/5/2012 2:03:28 PM

Lola thank you for your input it was very well written and I feel the sam.way you do about the computer games and violence. I do want to add to it though. Social awareness of our surroundings with the media publicizing horrific events contributes too this same level of violence we all experienced it on 9/11/2001. They repeatedly replayed the planes hitting the towere and the mass hysteria that ensued afterwards. Just like the show cops that was very popular in the 90's and early two 2000's my social awareness for my surroundings living down in moreno Valley, Ca I didn't feel safe raising my kids there for the reasons you spoke of fhere was so much crime and violence I watched on tv It scared me when my oldest son Zach wasfour years old very hard to keep him still and in one place long. He was always very overactive. He disapppeared on me and was on his bike. I Called the police I Started worrying about him here were always kids disappearing and found sexually abused a murdered and left on he side of a road somewhere from pedofiles. 45 minutes later the cops found him 4 miles fm home on his bike trying to outrun two cop cars. That was the last time we watched the show "cops". This time frame in our lives I was raising the kids alone their dad had moved to orange county even thouh we were still self employeed. Zach became defiant for a while after that and he took off again and didn't get so far before a neighbor called me after she asked him for his phone number to call mom he was again on his bike two miles fm home and I went and picked him up. I didnt let him out of my site after that. It just became a no brainer that I had to places latches up hih to keep him from escaping the house. When my daughter Cassie was ten a new neihborhood girl was riding her bike and carrying a toy plastic pistol in her hand. There had been accidental shooting of kids being killed from the Riverside police department a few times. I watched this girl sitting next to my daughter on the curb directly in view from.oir window at our front door. She handed Cassie the pistol and then Cassie aimed that toy pistol at her own head and pretended to pull the triger. I went outside sent that girl home with her pistol and told her to leave. I brought my daughter inside and talked to her on why she did that simulating killing yourself is wrong. We sold our home later that year and moved here in Lompoc closer to where I was raised. Kids have lost their freedom to feel safe outside in your neighborhoods. My neighborhood now is la Purisma mission thousands of acres of bike trails.

Lola

8/9/2012 9:20:40 PM

Sherry, I agree completely that the media share responsibility. I guess it's the degree of immersion most video gamers have that worries me slightly more than the cop shows -- but children -- and even teens and some adults don't always have enough impulse control to stop them from imitating something. These gamers become experts at what they are doing and start thinking they could outgun everyone because they're good at the electronic game -- and a certain number want to try it out or may be goaded into something. It's just a horrific trend.

I guess there's not a four-year-old alive who won't take off running on you, but what a frightful time for you, and it must have been shocking when he tried to outrun the police. But that is what they are taught on television and games.

The number of teens who play games of chance with real guns is really frightening, and there are accidents all the time. Kids are just too curious to have guns around, and parents who think they can hide them in the house have forgotten what it was like being a kid. My parents hid things from me, like the rifle and porn magazines, but I guarantee you every chance I got I was standing on a chair seeing what was in the closet or sneaking a peak at the magazines. And I let all my friends see them too. Parents always want to think their kid won't do it or they have hidden something cleverly, but a bored kid will get into absolutely every nook and cranny -- and if there's a lock, they'll find the key. I was a very good, obedient kid, so if I did it, they ALL do it. You were absolutely right to run that girl with the toy gun off and talk to your child about it. My cousin my own age held me and his sister at riflepoint under the bed for entertainment one day -- and this was out in the country -- no TV or anything -- just a kid trying to get the better of us. No one did ANYTHING about it. It's crazy.

Because I have studied crime so much, I am actually an advocate of giving kids more freedom than many people will now, but it's mainly because I know that the things most parents are being careful about are protecting them from random stranger abduction when the truth is 85%+ of crimes against children are done within the family and circle of friends, neighbors, and schools, churches, and other activities and not be strangers at all. Of course, kids have to be a certain age, and some kids are more reliable than others to look out for themselves. But I do think there has been an overreaction to not letting kids play outside with other kids and that sort of thing. I think they're safer playing amongst themselves than being isolated at home with nothing to do but watch television and play video games!!

Eileen

8/21/2012 2:15:56 PM

I am coming to the thought that in some cases our medical system allows some mentally ill people who could commit this type of crime to go unchecked. I am in the midst of pleading with the doctors treating my husband in trying to help the acknowledge his behavior out of the exam room.

I have watched this amazing man spiral into hell under the care of doctors who prescribed him oxycontin and other controlled substances. They see signs of his slurred speech, distorted reality and physical complaints that never had a definite source that would be in line with his description level of pain he was experiencing.

But the drugs keep coming. He will embellish his ailments to get more drugs, to have a stash if and or when his doctor would no longer write a prescription. He takes these drugs as he feels are needed, not as prescribed.

Today I feel he is addicted to these drugs and they have altered his reality. His rage and anger is frightening. His verbal threats against those he feels have done him wrong are chilling. He has loss of memory and expresses to me that at times he feels confused. At times he says to me he has no reason to live and wishes he were dead so his pain would end. He has a family history of mental illness and suicide.

But when I bring these concerns to his doctors I am told there is nothing they can do. That until he wants help there is nothing they can do.

But I see there is something the medical profession could do. I see that closer monitoring of his narcotic use and abuse should be instituted. I see that a patient who has a long history of chronic pain and no source of the pain should be required to see a psychiatrist in order to continue obtaining mood altering drugs. It's a medical fact that depression augments pain. This should not be a choice for the patient in this setting. It should be a requirement, a check's and balance so to speak, for a long term user of powerful mood altering drugs.

I see lots of fingers pointed everywhere AFTER a mass murder, lots of hand wringing AFTER a mass murder. Lots of "how did we miss the signs?"

I see and hear many signs that my husband is one who could, in a fit a rage, commit a crime against any of the people on his hit list. His list includes doctors and family members he feels have done him wrong.

If he ever succeeds and follows thru with killing or maiming anyone I will be the first one on the evening news telling the shocked newscaster that this event could have been avoided had someone treating him taken control, required him to receive psychiatric treatment and requested his guns be removed from our home. They were aware he was not thinking clearly and was irrational. They chose to enable him.

DDA

8/23/2012 11:38:43 AM

Your letter is so true, Eileen, and you're to be commended for trying to do something before something happens. I suggest you inform police of your fears regarding the prescribing doctor and never hesitate to call 911 if you feel you are in danger. Keep us posted.

Sherry Foster

8/31/2012 3:25:32 PM

Eileen, I have a few questions for you. 1. Why don't you take initiative to remove the weapons from your home if you don't feel comfortable with your husband's unstable behavior? I actually did that to protect myself and family and had the weapons stored at a relatives home instead where he couldn't get them or the ammunition. Living among fear like that really does emotional damage and it took me years to overcome mine. 2. I would like to know how you are not fearful or are you just not admitting that you are? My ex husband was very proficient with weapons. Even before we had gotten married and had our kids. We had a argument get out of control, and before i knew it he was laying in the prone position upstairs in our bedroom doorway with a Baretta 9mm loaded up with hollow points aimed at my head downstairs. I just stood there and watched to make sure he didn't turn the safety off on the gun while I calmed him down. When people are unstable they can do anything and hurt anyone including the family that is closest to them. 3. I Would like to know what preperations have you planned to prevent a mishap in your family? I would advise you to notify the ATF or FBI because i know in California Law its automatic 6 months in jail for communicating a threat to kill a person.

Sherry Foster

8/31/2012 3:29:42 PM

Eilleen,
One other thing that you may not be aware off is that if a true life threatening emergency does happen involving your husband you can call 911 and they can come and have your husband admitted to the hospital for 48 hr psychriatic evalulation. I worked in a hospital for 5 years, and the Emergency Operators code is known as a 5150.

DDA

8/31/2012 8:05:54 PM

Thanks for the added valuable information, Sherry.

Eileen

9/6/2012 11:07:36 PM

Sherry, I would have already removed his guns long ago but I am the last one he would listen to. I fought him to keep a handgun out of the bedroom a few years ago. I won and they are in the garage in a locked gun safe. He is unaware that I had a locksmith change the lock so if he decides he wants to get a gun it should slow him down some.

I have talked with our police department. Since no crime has been committed they can do nothing. The threats he has said have only been said to me, about others. Never said to the person he wants to harm. The police said since he has not said threats to the person directly he has not committed a crime. They did note about my concerns and flagged our address in case a call is made.

The police suggested I speak with our county mental health dept. I did and was told in order to have the weapons removed i would need a diagnosis that he is addicted or mentally ill.

I took this info back to his Neurologist who first suggested to me the guns be removed. Neuro said he has no idea if my husband is mentally ill or addicted. He feels he has psychological issues and is for sure dependent but could not say he is addicted. He wrote a letter for me to take to the county that stated he is aware my husband is confused and that he is a danger possibly to himself and to the community. I dropped the letter off at the county mental health department.

I actually feel safer living in the same house. At least I am aware of what he is up to and aware of his moods. Could he snap and shoot me? Sure he could.But he could just as easily catch me unaware and shoot me as I entered any building if I provoked him with divorce papers and he was threatened with losing assets.

He escalates to an out of control anger towards those who he feels have *done him wrong or screwed him over* and rants on about his mission to get revenge. (Divorce would be the ultimate screw over from me) He has his hit list of folks and his list remains pretty much the same.

He is physically compromised somewhat in that he drives or leaves the house very little. He is de-conditioned from all the sleeping he has done over the years. Walking up a flight of stairs is difficult for him.

My plan to prevent a mishap? I keep my eyes open to what he is up to and tuned into his moods. He is often slowed by the effects of his narcotics. I
plan to keep law enforcement and his doctors aware of his behavior.

Re notifying the ATF or FBI about a threat to kill a person. I am in Minnesota and stated earlier the detective I spoke with said the threat had to be made directly to the person.?

I did call 911 last year when I was concerned he had taken an overdose. When the officers arrived my husband fought with them, ended up being tasered and put on a 48 hour hold with a possible 6 month commitment. He hired an attorney who helped him get discharged. He then considered a police brutality suit claiming he was an innocent disabled old man. That the police attacked him as he laid calmly in bed. (the 3 officers are on his hit list and are aware)

This attorney who had never met him bf stated in the commitment meeting she was sure he was not that depressed. One of the 3 doctors did not agree he needed commitment. The other 2 doctors did but all 3 needed to agree so he was free to go. The attorney told him if he has another 911 call of this nature she will not be able to get him free again.

Thank you for your thoughts.

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