Focus on treatment

As a practicing mental health professional for the past 36 years specializing in forensic mental health, I offer the following: Whereas the vast majority of those with mental health diagnoses are not violent, there are those who have been, are and will be.

Having evaluated and treated so many of them, I assure you that it doesn’t matter if it’s a gun, knife or baseball bat. The implements aren’t the issue. It’s the need for proper diagnosis and treatment. They are the most effective safety nets that we have, often including medications that are crucial to preventing such tragedies.

Let’s not focus on the weapons involved to the exclusion of the mental state of those wielding them.

Adam Adams

Garner