Gun Violence: A Biopsychosocial Disease

Abstract

Gun violence is a complex biopsychosocial disease and as such, requires a multidisciplinary approach to understanding and treatment. Framing gun violence as a disease places it firmly within medical and public health practice. By applying the disease model to gun violence, it is possible to explore the host, agent, and environment in which gun violence occurs, and to identify risk factors to target for prevention. This approach also provides an opportunity to address scientifically inaccurate assumptions about gun violence. In addition, there are many opportunities for medical communities to treat gun violence as a disease by considering and treating the biologic, behavioral, and social aspects of this disease. The medical community must answer recent calls to engage in gun violence prevention, and employing this model of gun violence as a biopsychosocial disease provides a framework for engagement.

Proceedings from the Medical Summit on Firearm Injury Prevention: A Public Health Approach to Reduce Death and Disability in the US

“…Firearm violence can be viewed as a complex biopsychosocial disease. 10 The biology of this disease is treated acutely every day in emergency departments (EDs) and trauma centers across the US. Increasingly, the care of the patients and their families (and communities) are being informed and strengthened by behavioral health and social interventions that reduce subsequent risk, such as posttraumatic stress disorder, and can inform at-risk assessments for youth and other vulnerable populations.…”

“…An historic meeting of 44 major medical and injury prevention organizations and the American Bar Association was hosted by the American College of Surgeons (ACS) February [10][11]2019. Leaders of these professional organizations met with the goal of building consensus around opportunities to work together to address the growing problem of firearm injury and death in the US.…”

Initiating a Dialogue About Gun Violence: Shifting the Focus

“…Others (Hargarten et al, 2018) use the framing of gun violence as a disease to consider root causes, ''risk factors,'' and strategies for prevention. This framing examines three main facets of gun violence: the host (the victim), the agent (the kinetic energy from the bullet fired from a gun), and the environment (physical and social), with the vector of disease being the gun itself, as it ''transmits'' the agent to the host.…”

The Bullets He Carried

“…As a physician, I am interested in better understanding this pathogen of gun violence: the bullet and the guns that carry them. 1 Recently, my colleagues and I at the Medical College of Wisconsin's Comprehensive Injury Center focused our attention on the bullet and its energy. This energy is a measure of the potential for causing wounds.…”

“…As a physician, I am interested in better understanding this pathogen of gun violence: the bullet and the guns that carry them. 1 …”