Dr. Henry Paul, MD

Psychiatrist, Author and Educator

Tag Archives: teenagers and gun violence

PARENTS NEED TO KNOW!

June 6th, 2014

Between “Slender Man” and shootings, yes another one today on a campus in Seattle, the news this week has made a lot of parents wonder about what their children, teens and young adults are watching, listening to, and engaging in online. It is important to understand what is influencing your child. Here are some things you need to do:

  • Parents should find out what media engage their teenagers. This mean knowing how often your teenager watches television, listens to radio, and surfs the Internet, as well as knowing what music and music videos he/she listens to and watches. This task of educating yourself about your teen’s media exposure is extremely important. It may involve watching television shows you know your teen habitually watches (with or without your teen); and listening to music, radio shows, and so on that that personally you may not find palatable but your teen does. You can’t understand the impact of media if you don’t know what in it attracts and absorbs your teen.
  • Set rules in your home about the media. Reasonable limits should be set and adhered to.
  • Encourage your teen to get involved in athletics, the arts, or other activities. Teenagers should not be allowed to become passive recipients of an overload of media.
  • Talk with your teen about what he/she is watching and listening to. Try to get a sense of why it absorbs him/her. This is especially important in the areas of sex and violence. Let your teen know that these are important issues and that they shouldn’t be dealt with superficially.
  • Parents should find out what is constructive in media and encourage teens to take part in it. There are many programs, talk shows, and even musical experiences that can be quite thrilling, uplifting, fun, and educational. Much worthwhile culture can be gleaned and enjoyed through the media.
  • Stay around your teen when he/she watches TV or videos or surfs the Internet. The simple presence of a parent is often enough to remind the teen of limits you have agreed to about what and how much media to consume.
  • Help the school system your teenager attends develop educational programs about exposure to media.
  • Become as familiar as possible with cultural and sub-cultural trends to which the media exposes your teen. This is not meant to imply that you should pretend to be as “cool” as your teen, but simply be knowledgeable about what’s going on. Again, you can’t help your teen deal with media influence if you don’t know what the influence is.

DISCLAIMER
Information contained in this blog is intended for educational purposes only. It is not intended as medical or psychiatric advice for individual conditions or treatment and does not substitute for a medical or psychiatric examination. A psychiatrist must make a determination about any treatment or prescription. Dr. Paul does not assume any responsibility or risk for the use of any information contained within this blog.

NOT ONE MORE!

May 30th, 2014

Richard Martinez, whose son was killed in the Santa Barbara shootings last week, said, “Not one More.”

I believe that we could use better gun control laws in this country, but I don’t believe that those laws, necessarily, will prevent the gun violence that results in mass shootings like the one last week at UCSB. I do believe that more vigilance on our part, and more support for those suffering with mental illness will make a difference.

What we know about the California shooter, Elliott Rodgers, in particular, is that his family did have concerns so they did contact law enforcement. The outcome of that visit between law enforcement and Rodgers I’m sure will be debated for a long time to come, but what we can say is that the parents did try to make a difference.

It is up to us as a community — as family, friends, neighbors, teachers, doctors, clergy and others to observe changes in the people we know and love. That is the key. It has never been more important than now to start a dialogue about understanding mental illness, the signs and symptoms, and how you can help.

If you suspect mental illness in a friend or loved one you need to learn more about what is going on or what is troubling them. If you get too little cooperation you can call a mental health professional or even the legal authorities for help. I am not saying that any of this is easy. The reality is it is very difficult, and sometimes it comes at a high price – the loss of a friendship or even more. It is human nature to ignore the frightening truths that are sometimes right in front of us, but the only solution to ending the senseless violence is to reach out when you have concerns. While we cannot predict with total accuracy who will commit violence, we do have enough evidence to know when to act. If we have the courage, and trust ourselves about our observations we might make the world a bit safer and move just a bit closer to reaching Mr. Martinez goal of “not one more!”

Here is a short list of some behavioral changes that should be of concern:

  1. Increased anger, aggression, tantrums, irritability, and revenge episodes especially when you can’t make any sense of the situation and the person seems more depressed, isolated and unruly than usual.
  2. The appearance of strange ideas especially having to do with anti-government themes, conspiracy theories, and other paranoid trends especially if accompanied by hearing voices.
  3. Interest in and ownership of weapons that are a new or heightened twist for the individual.
  4. Overt or thinly veiled threats, writings, interest in and worship of lethal ideas towards self or others, including suicide.
  5. Increase in substance use by people with a history of violence and especially in those who have been treated for a severe psychiatric illness who have stopped their medication.

DISCLAIMER
Information contained in this blog is intended for educational purposes only. It is not intended as medical or psychiatric advice for individual conditions or treatment and does not substitute for a medical or psychiatric examination. A psychiatrist must make a determination about any treatment or prescription. Dr. Paul does not assume any responsibility or risk for the use of any information contained within this blog.