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Engage the mental roots of college violence

When others turn violent, what can we do to help?

By Siavash Emamzadeh

Ce sense conceives adages,
like “practice makes perfect” or “you’ve
got to give it 110 per cent’. Adages
are what our peers and guardians use
to guide us in our lives because the
sayings are unexceptionally guaranteed
to produces positive and favourable
results in whatever faucet of life we are
confronted with. When, with the passing
of time and the evolution of the human
race, contradictions to sayings emerge,
it is a clear indication that some major
predicaments have surfaced.

We hear so often our parents
advising us to “stay off the streets,” “go
to school,” and “stay out of trouble,” but
is that really the right advice? Are such
statements still legitimate in the modern
world? When, like a resented tradition,
random and unpredictable on-campus
shooting sprees occur, how do I know
for sure that I won’t be safer outside of
college?

Perhaps, with the steady increase
of campus tragedies and continuing
lack of reassuring shields, colleges will
soon see a decline in registrations, and,
therefore, students. No student wants to
be on guard during the entire duration of
class, like a solider in a battlefield, and
their loved ones certainly don’t want a
paranoid family member or friend forced
to reluctantly— but constantly — gaze at
the class door.

How does one establish due
discretion and sensitivity when the
warming signs are so ambiguous?
Certainly, it is known that college
killers are distraught, and, in some form,
neurotic, as eradicating and marring
lives absolutely mandates a sort of
indifference and detestation that can
only stem from mental turmoil. These
perpetrators, perhaps unfortunate victims
themselves of bad genetics, environment,
or a brand of cultural contrast, proceed
to succumb to desire and provoke
demise. So, internally, their unorthodox
levels of emotions and cognition are
unquestionable. But what can we, the
unsuspecting bystanders, generally with
no defense. do to help? What measures
can we take? Are we to report every sly
stare, and every accident, to the police?
There are infinite scenarios that could
trigger irrational attacks on students; for
example, the Virginia Tech gunman took
issue with wealthy kids, but jealousy
is only one excuse. Resentment could
also be caused by the separation of two
partners, a remark or gesture interpreted
the wrong way, or simply one’s own
deep-seeded insecurity.

We cannot burden ourselves with
enduring an abusive relationship or
contemplating our every display of
conduct so that it doesn’t offend or upset
somebody else. But, at the same time,
as reluctant as we are to admit it, isn’t it
inevitable that we will all become steadily
more paranoid in correlation to more
incidents (which are also inevitable)?
Fundamentally, we would be fighting fire

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with fire; battling the fire that is select
individuals’ troubled makeup with our
own alleged remedies, which of course
only provokes more neurosis, disguised.

Expanded security personnel and
devices do assist in a swift emergency
response, which, along with weapon
detections, are improvements that are
absolutely necessary. Certainly, these
represent a large financial commitment
that evokes a lingering shudder through
every dean’s being, but a shudder is better
than an inflicted wound—both mentally
and physically. Yet, to prevent violence
in campuses, metal detectors and trained
security staff will not be sufficient—even

mental health is a profound composition,
and its general study is still in its relatively
preliminary stages of just over 100 years,
and counting. Until the day a “magic pill”
or “magic therapy” is invented—if it is
invented at all—those diagnosed with a
mental difficulty will have to settle for
medication and counselling that will
only treat, but not cure, their problem.

The first step is always to meet with
a psychiatrist, psychologist or therapist,
complete several surveys, introspect
and converse comprehensively (all
many times), then simply consume the
prescribed medication and cooperate
in therapy. Some problems with the

“No student wants to be on guard dur-
ing the entire duration of class, like a
solider in a battlefield.”

without guns, there are many variations
of brutality that students can resort to.
Obviously, metal detectors and
other security measures do not have
the competence to assume the role of
a panacea capable of mending “the
individual’s” predicaments. No, one’s

aforementioned assumptions: first of
all, it is critical that the aberrations are
pinpointed early on, as the progression
of the disorder can strengthen if not
noticed, and second of all, it is important
for the patient to yield with complete
honesty in discussions with doctors and

 

in questionnaires. Additionally, you have
to hope that you are in the company of
a qualified doctor, who has correctly
diagnosed you, given you the correct
pills, and perhaps most substantially,
ensured that you actually proced to
take your pills or attend the perscribed
therapy.

Mark Dubliecskwy, of the recent
North Carolina University shooting
rampage, was not consuming his pills
in the two weeks prior to his murder of
five other students and then himself. It is
the troubled invidivual’s choice whether
he is willing to expose everything to his
doctors, and it is only the individual that
will decide if they are willing to devour
their prescribed medication or show up
to therapy. What can be in our command
is the prevention of the escalation of
psychological problems. The illness
that could one day escalate into your, or
your loved one’s, visit to the hospital can
perhaps be prevented.

Let’s look at it this way: I do not hold
a degree in psychology or any science
of this nature, nor do I know the core
commonality that triggers shooting sprees
or violence in educational campuses.
In fact, all this is something that even
professionals are struggling with. So,
with that assertion, there is a suggestion
that we can perhaps, depending on
logistics, detect cognitive problems
and inhibit their progression.

For early detection, it’s needless to
say that a system must be initiated that
intervenes at an early stage of one’s
life—as early as high school. In fact, it
would serve the world greatly if high
school curriculums were compiemented
with a course exclusively devoted to
psychology, but not in the traditional
sense. Students are often so profoundly
betwixted in the bustle that is today’s
high school life, and too often they can’t
afford the time to introspect and truly
discover any stressful and disconcerting
stimuli in their lives. A course, entailing
stimulating exercises and_ interactive
discussions, could be put in place to
inform them how to confront difficult
scenarios and discover themselves.
Self-reflection is a vital necessity in
life, especially in high school and
later, because it will facilitate one of
the Erikson’s Stages of Psychosocial
Development.

Erik Erikson, an eminent
psychologist, divided life into eight stages
and deemed the time of adolescence to
be the period when “identity verses role
confusion,” or an identity crisis, arises.
He suggested that adolescents either
tend to see themselves as a unique and
defined individuals—or they emerge as
confused and unsure. Moreover, research
by Hart and Yates, in 1997, substantiated
that those who fail to resolve the identity
crisis, which could result from a lack of
commitment or postponement of dealing
with the issue, often experience the
worst problems. Although there is no