Insanity, Rhetoric and Violence: No Easy Answers
By Stephanie Pappas, LiveScience Senior Writer
Posted: 10 January 2011 06:50 pm ET
Livescience.com
In the aftermath of the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and 19 others at a Tucson supermarket, one overarching question has emerged: Is violent political rhetoric to blame?
Many have argued that warlike words contributed to the actions of Jared Lee Loughner, the 22-year-old man who allegedly killed six people and wounded 14 others, including Giffords (D-Ariz.), on Saturday. Loughner's behavior and online postings suggest that he may have a mental illness, although he has not been officially diagnosed.
Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik kicked off the debate at a news briefing after the shooting, saying that Arizona had become a "capital" for vitriol, prejudice and bigotry. Giffords herself decried violent rhetoric during the last election, when Sarah Palin's political action committee posted a map with what appeared to be the cross-hairs of a gun sight over Gifford's district. (SarahPAC has since removed the image, and a spokesman has said the icons were not meant to be gun sights.)
Can violent political rhetoric push a mentally unstable person over the edge? The answer isn't as simple as yes or no, psychologists say. Violent rhetoric can make people more comfortable with the idea of violence, according to some research, but it's almost impossible to pin down the larger causes of one specific incident, researchers say.
The need for nuance
Debate over Loughner's motives has hewed largely along party lines. Conservative politicians and pundits have been quick to dismiss Loughner as a "madman" and a loner without a coherent political policy. On the other hand, those at the liberal end of the spectrum have blamed militaristic political metaphors for creating a dangerous climate.
In many ways, the debate echoes the conversations that took place after the November 2009 Fort Hood shooting, said Peter Ditto, a psychologist at the University of California, Irvine, who studies political reasoning. In that case, U.S. Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan was charged with gunning down 13 people and wounding 30 others.
"In that case, it was the right that's saying, 'This guy did it, this was caused by jihadist motivation,' and the left was saying, 'Oh, you know, he was just crazy,'" Ditto told LiveScience. "So, that was a perfect example of the sort of mirror-image phenomenon."
Neither narrative — "just crazy" or "driven to violent action"— really fits, psychologists say. People with severe mental illnesses are more likely than the general public to commit violent crime, said Seena Fazel, a senior lecturer in psychiatry at the University of Oxford. But that doesn't mean people with severe mental illnesses are automatically dangerous.
"The vast majority of violent crimes in society, including homicides, are not committed by people with mental illness. That needs to be clear," Fazel told LiveScience. "Most people with mental illness are not violent, and most violent crimes are not committed by people who are mentally ill."
Illness and violence
People with acute mental disorders like schizophrenia or bipolar disorder are two to three times more likely to commit violent crimes (not just homicide) than people without mental illness, Fazel's research has found. But there's an important caveat:
By Stephanie Pappas, LiveScience Senior Writer
Posted: 10 January 2011 06:50 pm ET
Livescience.com
In the aftermath of the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and 19 others at a Tucson supermarket, one overarching question has emerged: Is violent political rhetoric to blame?
Many have argued that warlike words contributed to the actions of Jared Lee Loughner, the 22-year-old man who allegedly killed six people and wounded 14 others, including Giffords (D-Ariz.), on Saturday. Loughner's behavior and online postings suggest that he may have a mental illness, although he has not been officially diagnosed.
Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik kicked off the debate at a news briefing after the shooting, saying that Arizona had become a "capital" for vitriol, prejudice and bigotry. Giffords herself decried violent rhetoric during the last election, when Sarah Palin's political action committee posted a map with what appeared to be the cross-hairs of a gun sight over Gifford's district. (SarahPAC has since removed the image, and a spokesman has said the icons were not meant to be gun sights.)
Can violent political rhetoric push a mentally unstable person over the edge? The answer isn't as simple as yes or no, psychologists say. Violent rhetoric can make people more comfortable with the idea of violence, according to some research, but it's almost impossible to pin down the larger causes of one specific incident, researchers say.
The need for nuance
Debate over Loughner's motives has hewed largely along party lines. Conservative politicians and pundits have been quick to dismiss Loughner as a "madman" and a loner without a coherent political policy. On the other hand, those at the liberal end of the spectrum have blamed militaristic political metaphors for creating a dangerous climate.
In many ways, the debate echoes the conversations that took place after the November 2009 Fort Hood shooting, said Peter Ditto, a psychologist at the University of California, Irvine, who studies political reasoning. In that case, U.S. Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan was charged with gunning down 13 people and wounding 30 others.
"In that case, it was the right that's saying, 'This guy did it, this was caused by jihadist motivation,' and the left was saying, 'Oh, you know, he was just crazy,'" Ditto told LiveScience. "So, that was a perfect example of the sort of mirror-image phenomenon."
Neither narrative — "just crazy" or "driven to violent action"— really fits, psychologists say. People with severe mental illnesses are more likely than the general public to commit violent crime, said Seena Fazel, a senior lecturer in psychiatry at the University of Oxford. But that doesn't mean people with severe mental illnesses are automatically dangerous.
"The vast majority of violent crimes in society, including homicides, are not committed by people with mental illness. That needs to be clear," Fazel told LiveScience. "Most people with mental illness are not violent, and most violent crimes are not committed by people who are mentally ill."
Illness and violence
People with acute mental disorders like schizophrenia or bipolar disorder are two to three times more likely to commit violent crimes (not just homicide) than people without mental illness, Fazel's research has found. But there's an important caveat:
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