HOW TO PREVENT SCHOOL TRAGEDIES

Victor Bloom MD

The recent spate of high school boys murdering their classmates has spurred interest in understanding how and why these horrible things happen, with the goal of prevention. Psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, sociologists and law-enforcement experts come up with multiple perspectives on this complex problem, which poses more questions than there are answers. The human mind is deep and complex and not altogether knowable. Far from it!

We used to think that children killing children only happened in the disadvantaged inner-city, with its poverty, and accompaniments--- crime, drug and gun subculture. Many of these disadvantaged kids had been killed by both random and purposeful shootings. Now that we see the this destructive trend spreading to the suburbs, we can no longer say, "it can't happen here." The high school in Littleton, Colorado was similar to our own Grosse Pointe South and North. The kids were affluent and presumably supervised and protected. That did not protect some of them from entering into a year-long murderous conspiracy, which in retrospect, should have been obvious.

Could such a thing happen here? Certainly. For sure a small percentage of our teenagers feel alienated and are estranged from the mainstream. They feel rejected and alone. They feel put down. They are the object of scrutiny and derision. They become not only depressed, but angry. Committing suicide is a lonely death. Now people who are suicidal want to take others with them, as even more recent news reports chillingly demonstrate.

We can think, "not my kid!" But that is what the parents of the child-killers all would have said. When it happens, these massacres come out of the blue, by people off the wall. Were there no clues, signs, indications, that if detected and explored, could have led to measures that would have led to prevention?

The usual explanation for not seeing warning signs, of which there were plenty in Littleton, is denial. Not wanting to see an unpleasant, painful prospect. Hopefully, the Colorado experience will cause teachers and other educational authorities to investigate more intensely, messages of hate and violence. They were there to be seen on the Internet, but not everybody tunes into the web. One of the killers presented a murder scenario in English class, but the portent of this communication was obviously ignored.

Part of the reason for this avoidance is the fact that it is hard to get effective mental health care for teenagers. Why report deviant and potentially dangerous behavior if, in the end, nothing will be done? On the other hand, shining a light on the problem is the only way it might be recognized for what it is, rather than be overlooked. It is too bad that around the country and including Michigan, state mental health facilities are minimal. They used to be comprehensive and costly, serving an important purpose, even if many chronically ill people were warehoused and given custodial care. At least they weren't homeless, walking the streets and in prison.

Now the economy is booming and the state has a surplus, and we hear talk of tax cuts instead of re-instituting state mental health care, which would offer evaluation and treatment options. The private sector is not able to keep pace with the growing tendency to violence among our young people.

The causes of teenage violence are many. Some peer groups are functionally amoral. There is no feeling for other people, save anger and hostility. These feelings mount and erupt in destructive and murderous behavior.

The best antidote to this behavior is two loving parents. If one parent has his/her head in the sand, the other should have open eyes. If one parent is overly hard on a kid, the other urges more softness, compassion, understanding. Together, they know their teenager pretty well, they find out who their friends are and how they spend their time. This is what we mean by supervision and guidance.

But parents don't like to be prison-guards and authority-figures. All the more reason to cultivate a climate of open communication and emotional involvement, in which there will be no room for major secrets. Teenagers have to be lured away from violent television, movies, music and computer games. Sports and the arts help hold people to higher values and standards. Religion can be a powerful positive force.

The best way to prevent teenage tragedy is for the parental couple to be an example, a model of a good relationship. If father and mother are enjoying life, being loving and affectionate to each other and their children, vitally involved in their lives, I doubt any kid from such a home would feel like killing anybody.