Post-Newtown, mental health services considered
In the days following the shooting in Newtown that left 20 children and six staff members dead, speculation was rife over the 20-year-old gunman Adam Lanzas mental health. Multiple news outlets reported that Lanza had been taking medication prior to the shooting and that his mother had been mulling over more intensive treatment for her son. Throughout the state, lawmakers and Connecticut citizens have been asking the same question: Had the states mental health system been stronger, could the events at Newtown have been prevented?
In the wake of the shooting, the Connecticut Legislature established the Bipartisan Task Force on Gun Violence Protection and Childrens Safety on Jan. 14, charged with the mission of patching up cracks in any laws through which Lanza may have slipped. The task force is divided into three caucuses: school security, gun safety and mental health, which will each propose a bill this legislative session. Though bills normally take the entirety of the five-month legislative session to discuss, pass through committee and come up for a vote, the task force is due to release its proposals by the end of this month.
Several mental health experts interviewed said that although they were glad to see an unusual spotlight shone on issues of mental health, they worried that producing legislation in reaction to a tragedy might produce regulations that were not well-thought-out.
Kate Mattias, executive director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness Connecticut Chapter, said that Lanzas high profile leads the public to wrongly conclude that individuals with mental illnesses have a propensity toward violence. To the contrary, according to the National Institute for Mental Health, individuals with severe mental illness are no more violent than the average population when their symptoms are controlled.
There is no connection between what went on in Newtown and people with mental illness. We do not have any sort of diagnosis for the young man, Mattias said. What we do know is that the mentally ill are much more likely to be victims than to be perpetrators of crime.