Essay On Gun Violence

1128 Words5 Pages

Suicide not being the only form of violence in this country today. The matter concerning acts of gun violence has hit an epidemic high in the country with more school mass shootings reporting in the past 3 years than ever before in American History. Understanding how this plays into the role in psychiatry today and the role that mental illness plays is very much needed. With a fundamentally flawed Mental Health system, more gun related violence has been rising. In Wolpert’s article he quotes Swanson a professor of psychiatry, “We do need better mental health care in America. An estimated 3.5 million people with serious mental illnesses are going without treatment every year.” (Wolpert) The need for a better mental health system is a necessity that can only be achieved with better training for psychiatrist to deal with these situations. Wolpert further states that based off statistics that six out of every ten gun violence reported where self-inflicted and not directed towards others, but four out of ten people inflicting gun violence outwards is just as high a pressing matter. Why are these statistics important? In light of the recent gun related acts of violence and the gear that …show more content…

Mainly NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, the nation’s largest non-profit organization that strictly deals with mental illnesses. With NAMI’s help mental health clinics have established set symptoms to watch for, indicators that can be used to raise a flag of warning, to after care treatment, to preventative measures by going out into the public and advocating. (NAMI) NAMI is further proof that with a clear cut established set of guidelines that psychiatry can develop into an accurate and proficient medical