APRIL 2015
the newsletter for Nuçi’s Space, a nonprofit musicians’ support/resource center
Mentally Ill or Just Bad?
“It’s
people like that who give those suffering with depression a bad name.” That’s what I think every time I read a story like the one recently about the pilot who flew his plane into a mountain, taking 149 innocent people to their deaths. Is it because of mental illness that someone would not only kill him/herself but would also murder unknown men, women and children? Andreas Lubitz, Adam Lanza, Dylan Klebold and the list goes on. In the discussion that follows each tragic suicide-murder, mental illness enters the picture. So many of the perpetrators of such heinous crimes have been singled out as loners with a history of depression and often have been in treatment. My own son Nuçi, after having made a very serious suicide attempt, confided in his brother that he had often thought of running his car into the median on I-285 but didn’t because he was afraid someone else would be hurt. So I ask myself, “What made Nuçi and the vast majority of mentally ill people who are not violent and harm only themselves, different from the Adam Lanzas of this world?” The search for the answer requires knowledge of the perpetrator’s mental health or lack of, personality and perception. This inquiry needs much attention and creative thinking considering the number of mentally ill people who today are incarcerated in our penal institutions. Adam Lankford, an associate professor of criminal justice at the University of Alabama says that in his research on mass killers who also took their own lives, he has found “a significant number of cases where they mention a desire for fame, glory or attention as a motive.” In other words there is much more going on with these individuals than depression which cannot begin to explain such drastic and statistically rare acts. “People want an easily graspable handle to help understand this, to blame something or to
by Linda V. Phillips
scapegoat,” said Dr. James L. Knoll, the director of forensic psychiatry at the State University of New York Upstate Medical University. “There’s something fundamentally different here, aside and apart from the depression and that’s where we need to look.” To add to what Dr. Knoll says, we know from various studies that serious mental illness is a factor in only about 20% of mass killings. Yes, we must look elsewhere for explanations, for answers. Common to many perpetrators who kill themselves and murder others are the distortions of personality—excesses of rage, paranoia, grandiosity, thirst for vengeance or pathological narcissism and callousness. One of the most salient features of mass killers is their belief that they have been wronged. They almost always have a personal grief and are driven to retaliate in a manner they see fit. Parents, teachers and responsible adults should be aware of such characteristics in children and respond in appropriate ways to address such tendencies. Human beings are very complex and it’s not always easy to give a simple, single explanation for our actions. But some things we do know for sure. Mentally ill people rarely are violent and when they are, it is mainly toward themselves. Bad people do bad things. They may suffer from depression, but that is not the prime moving force that leads them to kill. So the next time there is a suicide-murder, and there will be others for sure, I will remind myself that yes, this person may suffer from depression, but that is not why he did what he did. I remember Nuçi who would never have done anything that would endanger another person and I know for sure what the difference is between him and an Adam Lanza. I then thank the universe for giving me a good son and I mourn for those left in the wake of such horrendous crimes.
nuçi’s space 396 Oconee Street Athens, GA 30601 706.227.1515 space@nuci.org www.nuci.org www.facebook.com/ nucisspace Newsletter Contributors
Bob Sleppy Chris Byron Lesley Cobbs Kristie Greene Debbie Watson Dave Chamberlin Photos
Lesley Cobbs Design & Layout
Larry Tenner