Death of Thomas Chatterton, Poet,  c1780 Painting by Henry Wallis c1800

VIOLENCE AT SEVEN PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

psychological aspects

There have been seven separate incidents of shooting in the schools since Feb. 2 1996 to May 20, 1999 in which nine perpetrators killed 28 victims, and wounded 69 others. The perpetrator were less than 16, except for Harris and Klebold, 18 and 17 respectively. Uncontrolled violence is the  common consequence here.

dealing with  violence

Understanding one incident might help to understand all, and prevent future incidents.

All incidents used guns. In five the perpetrators were identi fied as depressed, and three were taking either Prozac,  Luvox, or Ritalin. We do not know how many similar kids were  treated successfully and did not engage in violence. We lack  sufficient psychological information to explain what was  missing in the perpetrators of these seven incidents.

K. Kollwitz  woodcut The most prominent has been the shootings at Littleton, CO which continue to be enigmatic. The information media has viewed it as  homicide by two normal kids rather than suicide in which the perpetrators ran amok killing people semi-randomly until stopped by shooting themselves. Suicide is always enigmatic unless a psychological autopsy is performed, in which survivors are interviewed for what they can recall, and the results permit more understanding of how self injury behavior can occur.

The media gives psychologists' minimal facts about personal histories, needs, or distress suffered by Harris and Klebold, the perpetrators at Littleton. There has been a remarkable absence of comments by professionals with mental health training who had personal knowledge of these two teen agers. We have not heard details from "the counselor" who provided service after their arrest for theft. Presumably this was a probation officer with some behavior modification kinds of training. It is part of the "dumbing" down of mental health treatment, where undergraduates are asked to take on significant mental health tasks. The parents of Harris are appropriately cautious since they fear litigation by either the police or surviviors.

The physician who prescribed Luvox to Harris has not described to the public, the clinical criteria he used to select that medica tion. Typically family doctors rely upon self report or familiy concerns in prescribing psychiatric medications, most of which are ordered by non psychiatris physicians and nurses with minimal training in mental health. Until these sources feel safe enough to come forward, the events will remain enigmatic.

From the press, it is possible to infer that both boys exhibited high risk behaviors earlier;

1. poorly managed distress, a turning in, with minimal overt expression to others
   
2. "acting out" of bad feelings which implies little aware- ness or understanding; i.e. larceny of electronic gear
3. further acting out through video games which was a substitute

for actual mayhem much earlier, and may have delayed overt aggression, although it could have facilitated the final violence.

4. mixed feelings to others; needing approval, and fearing rejection
5. a paranoid degree of suspicion and hatred of "jocks", teachers, other authority figures

The perpetrators at Littleton, in the year or two before their deaths, were expressing through actions their personal distress. They did this mainly through the video and internet games they played, and eventually through the bomb making, and gun acquisition behavior. It led to aggressive action on Hitler's birthday, a strange choice considering one mother of this pair was Jewish in her origins, as was the great grand- father. They have been described as laughing hilariously while they were shooting randomly selected victims, i.e. inap- propriate affect. The finality of death It is clear they did not understand the finality  3m3
 Šof death. As psychologists we want to know more about their motivations. We are not morbidly curious, this is the way we learn to understand, and perhaps deter future perpetra- tors.

To find an explanation three conditions are necessary in any suicidal situation, and not very likely in the Littleton incident:

1. personal documents and other projective products are necessary
2. The perpetrators can be more approriately understood as suicidal victims and appropriate psychological autopsies performed with the help of the survivors who knew them best
3. Threats to survivors must be removed (criminal sanctions, media embarassments, or litigation) in order to secure their rapport with a psychological inquiry.
4. The public media is not helpful in its searching for the "villians" or "single causes". Its more important to understand so that prophylactic procedures can be attempted. "There is enough blame to go around".
   
5. The Plethora of "explanations" by various experts while excellent in themselves, says nothing about these two perpetrators.