Commentary: Linking Mass Shootings with Mental Illness and Stigma

Edwards, Ann-Marie; Kotera, Yasuhiro

doi:10.1007/s11469-022-00787-0

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 17 publications

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“…Other than the inability of officers to identify when they were experiencing a mental illness, officers did not seek services for 3 additional reasons: (1) concerns about confidentiality in the department, (2) not believing psychologists understood their line of work, and (3) feeling like they are not fit for duty. A smaller, qualitative study in the UK found similar results of officers reporting stigma associated with seeking mental health care and lack of support from line management that hindered officers’ desire to disclose mental distress …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 91%

Prevalence of Mental Illness and Mental Health Care Use Among Police Officers

et al. 2020

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IMPORTANCE Limited literature has characterized patterns of mental illnesses and barriers in seeking mental health care among police officers. OBJECTIVES To assess the prevalence of mental illness (diagnosis) and symptoms of mental illness, evaluate the characteristics of officers interested in seeking mental health care, and characterize perceptions of mental health care use. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS This survey study was conducted among officers at a large police department in Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas. Focus group sessions were conducted from April 1, 2019, to November 30, 2019, and the survey was conducted from January 1 to February 27, 2020. A total of 446 sworn, employed patrol officers who were present during the recruitment briefing were eligible to participate in surveys and focus groups. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Officers reported lifetime or current diagnosis of depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress disorder, as well as current mental health symptoms (using validated screeners of depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder, and suicidal ideation or selfharm) and mental health care use in the past 12 months. Focus group data were collected to contextualize mental health care use. Logistic regression analyses were used for quantitative data, and focus groups were iteratively coded by 4 coders using inductive and deductive thematic identification. RESULTS Of the 446 officers invited to participate, 434 (97%) completed the survey (mean [SD] age, 37 [10] years; 354 [82%] male; 217 White [50%]). Of these officers, 19 (17%) had sought mental health care services in the past 12 months. A total of 54 officers (12%) reported a lifetime mental health diagnosis, and 114 (26%) had positive screening results for current mental illness symptoms. Among officers with positive screening results, the odds of interest in using mental health services was significantly higher for officers with suicidal ideation or self-harm than for those who did not (adjusted odds ratio, 7.66; 95% CI, 1.70-34.48). Five focus groups were conducted with 18 officers and found 4 primary barriers in accessing mental health services: (1) inability to identify when they are experiencing a mental illness, (2) concerns about confidentiality, (3) belief that psychologists cannot relate to their occupation, and (4) stigma that officers who seek mental health services are not fit for duty. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE The study found that although few officers were seeking treatment, they were interested in seeking help, particularly those with suicidal ideation or self-harm. Additional interventions appear to be needed to systematically identify and refer officers to health care services while mitigating their concerns, such as fear of confidentiality breach.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 91%

Prevalence of Mental Illness and Mental Health Care Use Among Police Officers

et al. 2020

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Far-Right and Jihadi Terrorism Within the United States: From September 11th to January 6th

Dugan

Fisher

2023

Annu. Rev. Criminol.

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As tens of thousands swarmed the US Capitol Grounds on January 6th, 2021, to oppose the election of Joe Biden as President, thousands among them assaulted officers and breached the building to stop the certification of the election results, leading to nine deaths and hundreds of injuries. Despite being an act of terrorism and evidence that far-right extremists planned to take over the government, some dismiss January 6th as legitimate political discourse. This divisive response starkly contrasts with the unifying response to the jihadi attacks on September 11th two decades earlier, raising the question as to why the country has not also united against far-right extremism. This review argues that the Bush administration misused deterrence in response to the September 11th attacks. While unifying the country it also disproportionately punished innocent Muslims and legitimized anti-Muslim ideals, giving rise to anti-Muslim hate crimes and backlash by jihadi extremists and emboldening violence from far-right extremists. This review combines research on deterrence, counterterrorism, anti-Muslim ideals, and far-right organizations with data on terrorism and hate crimes within the United States to delineate this argument and assess its alignment with the empirical progression of violence between September 11th and January 6th. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Criminology, Volume 6 is January 2023. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

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Commentary: Linking Mass Shootings with Mental Illness and Stigma

Cited by 2 publications

References 17 publications

Prevalence of Mental Illness and Mental Health Care Use Among Police Officers

Prevalence of Mental Illness and Mental Health Care Use Among Police Officers

Far-Right and Jihadi Terrorism Within the United States: From September 11th to January 6th

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