Why do people go on rampages

In this more recent case, Maj. Hasan is still living, and I think that we will be able to learn more about this case because of it. I think that this will also shed light on other cases like his. Another thing that all the cases I looked at have in common is that the perpetrator was male.

In fact, I was hard-pressed to find a similar case in which a woman was the assailant. I wonder about the significance of this. Surely women are just as liable to be mentally ill as men?

I think a question I would like to ask next is, why do more men than women commit violent crimes? I think women are more likely to seek help. Men on the other hand, forever pursuing the ideals of masculinity, will keep quiet, until their illness eventually takes over them.

It is useful to notice peoples' tendency to look for outside causes, and to recognize that there may equally be internal ones. Perhaps one can go one step further and suggest that what is actually at issue is combinations of the two? Internal factors don't lead to rampages except in the context of particular external factors and vice versa?

Acknowledging this kind of causal complexity may make it harder to find something to blame, but may be a better starting point for making sense not only rampages but many other biological and human phenomena generally. Resources for Teaching about Coronavirus has descriptions and links for multiple resources to use in teaching and learning about coronavirus.

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Notify me when new comments are posted. All comments. Replies to my comment. To prevent automated spam submissions leave this field empty. The couple of seconds it takes for a magazine change, or grabbing another gun slung behind your back, may be enough time for someone or several people in the firing line to get to safety.

When there are enough such measures in place, there will be a real chance at not only reducing the number of mass shootings, but the body count at the end of them. Or, you could keep your head down, say that nothing will ever work, that no one has the right to take away your guns, so why bother? Peter Ross deconstructs the psychology and philosophy of the business world, careers and everyday life.

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We'd really appreciate it. Click the AdBlock button on your browser and select Don't run on pages on this domain. How Do I Whitelist Observer? Below are steps you can take in order to whitelist Observer. Then Reload the Page. I don't know what's the matter with me, I don't know what to do, please help me. A few hours before his rampage, Bosse e-mailed a scanned copy of his diary to several schoolmates and wrote in a suicide note: "Because I know that the fascist police won't publish my videos, notebooks, or diaries or anything else, I've taken care of that myself.

In some cases, a youth may alert the media to his plans. At Virginia Tech, Cho unleashed two shooting sprees separated by two and a half hours. During that intermission, the young killer mailed a package of homemade videos, photographs and writings to NBC News. Castillo sent a video to a local newspaper in which he vented his rage and hinted that he was planning a massacre at his former school.

Such communications should not be ignored. School personnel, parents and peers alike need to be alert for verbal, written and other signs that an adolescent is becoming engulfed in a destructive fantasy world. We are training teachers, principals and school psychologists to differentiate signs of serious trouble from ordinary adolescent rebellion.

In addition to disclosing aggressive intentions, a student who is extremely interested in obtaining guns, collects movies and posters of shooters, regularly visits fan Web sites for school shooters or is a social loner is likely to be in dire need of professional help.

Symptoms of depression in a young person are another warning sign. In December a physician examined Cho and found him mentally ill, noting that he had a flat affect and depressed mood. Access to weapons is yet a further cause for alarm, indicating that the youth has the means to turn fantasy into reality.

Robert Steinhauser, a year-old expelled student who executed 16 people in a school in eastern Germany in , was a gun club marksman who had access to enough ammunition to kill hundreds of people. On the other hand, teachers should not panic if a student sports a rebellious hairstyle or outfit, and they should exercise judgment if someone is carrying a potentially dangerous object. In the aftermath of the Columbine killings, a student was expelled for coming to school with green hair.

Another child who brought a knife to school because her mother thought it would be useful for cutting an apple was expelled after the student turned the knife in on her own. Such an overreaction perpetuates fear and hurts the students.

Seeking Respect For kids in need of help, however, a thoughtful response to the problem is essential. School psychologists and social workers need to help disillusioned youths find a place for themselves in society, something many of them feel they lack. In one of Castillo's home videos he says: "All I wanted was respect No one respected me. On a broader scale, schools should offer seminars that advise students on ways to discover their talents and interests and how to use them to earn admiration.

Strong relationships with peers, teachers and other adults provide an even more effective shield against destructive fantasies. Criminologists have known for decades that building and maintaining relationships with socially accepted people is the best way to prevent violence. When a youth establishes ties to people he cares about, he is apt to feel that he has too much at stake to act out his brutal dreams. All adolescents, not just teens at risk, should receive more social training in school.

Primary violence prevention classes, for example, teach students social skills such as empathy and peaceful options for resolving conflicts. In addition, a teacher's role should extend beyond dispensing knowledge to forging friendships with students and providing young people with adult confidants and role models. At the same time, teachers would be advised to educate students to view critically all media that glorify violence.

The news media must take a stand as well. Welner said that young people can tap into "destructive fantasy" at a time when they are learning to be men, formulating their identity and how they express themselves as men. James Garbarino , a psychology professor at Loyola University Chicago, said that when people do "crazy" things, they always do it in a particular cultural framework and context.

Dramatic violence has not been part of the cultural landscape for girls the way it is for boys, he said, although there has been some shift. Garbarino, who has written the forthcoming book I Listen to Killers: Lessons Learned from 20 Years as a Psychological Expert Witness in Murder Cases , said he interviewed an year-old who showed up at school with two guns and a bagful of bombs. The boy, who was intercepted before he could cause any harm, said he had studied the Columbine school massacre as if it were a primer.

While there's an element of "copycat" behaviour, culture plays a role in how one acts out violently, he said.