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Why Blame "Mental Illness?" Stop the Stigma of Mental Health

Writer's picture: Alan FergusonAlan Ferguson

Updated: Oct 16, 2023

Maybe it's just me, but I got really irritated - again - at media discussion following the horrific tragedy in Highland Park, Illinois on Independence Day. In the early coverage, CNN anchors, hosts, and guests were really focusing on the speculation that the shooter had "mental illness" or, as one guest put it, "mental issues." Everyone got dumped into that barrel with Crimo (the shooter).

According to the National Institute on Mental Health, there are 52.9 million Americans who suffer from mental illness. As a Certified Peer Specialist, I assist many of my peers who suffer from one or another mental health disorders. I can say with near absolute certainty that none of us will ever pose any threat to public safety!

There is a difference between run-of-the-mill mental health disorders and sociopaths/psychopaths. CNNs Peter Bergen had an interview posted on their website with forensic psychologist Reid Meloy after the massacre in Uvalde, Texas. In that interview, Meloy stated

"When people claim that it is all about mental disorder, that sets my teeth on edge. If you say it's about mental disorder, how do you then account for the millions of people in the United States who struggle with mental disorders and are not violent? "

Yet I watched as Erin Burnett, Anderson Cooper, and a guest on AC360 all spoke generically of "mental illness" or "mental health issues" being a huge threat and a disqualifier from owning or possessing a firearm. So, someone who has depression or anxiety should not be allowed to hunt or target practice? I know an awful lot of people with various disorders who actually do those very activities. Do we really think that all 52.9 million of us are so deranged as to be banned from them?

I am old enough to recall the early 1980s. There was a new killer disease that was primarily affecting gay men. In hysteria, many public officials and religious fundamentalists were calling for all gay people to be locked away in detention centers! Really, that happened! And I don't see it as all that different from what happens each time some psychopath or sociopath goes on a killing rampage. Suddenly, 52.9 million Americans are a public threat!

There is absolutely zero comparison between me or many of the people I work with or otherwise know and Robert Crimo III. Absolutely zero!

People with mental health disorders already suffer from the stigma associated with those disorders. We are treated differently by our friends and acquaintances, in our workplace, and even by the physical medicine doctors who should really know better. We don't need television news anchors and hosts dumping more on us out of hysteria. Imagine if those very same people had been proclaiming that tattoos are a sure indicator that the person poses a threat to public safety! (Crimo has tattoos.) If Cooper's guest had said, "There's no way that anyone with a tattoo should be able to buy an AR-15!" Would Cooper have just let that slide? And, the thing is, CNN had the interview from Reid Meloy on its web site, where he pointed out the wrongfulness of blaming "mental disorder."

CNN staff should know better!

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