Journalists will often ask mental health professionals about warning signals or red flags that may have been missed. When a psychiatrist publicly states that signs were missed, he implies that the suspect’s family, friends, and co-workers were somehow negligent for failing to prevent a tragedy. Public safety is not improved by blaming the suspect’s family. Susan Klebold, the mother of Columbine shooter Dylan Klebold, wrote a moving essay about her reaction to her son’s crime in her essay, “I Will Never Know Why”:
“Those of us who cared for Dylan felt responsible for his death. We thought, 'If I had been a better (mother, father, brother, friend, aunt, uncle, cousin), I would have known this was coming.’ We perceived his actions to be our failure. I tried to identify a pivotal event in his upbringing that could account for his anger. Had I been too strict? Not strict enough? Had I pushed too hard, or not hard enough? In the days before he died, I had hugged him and told him how much I loved him. I held his scratchy face between my palms and told him that he was a wonderful person and that I was proud of him. Had he felt pressured by this? Did he feel that he could not live up to my expectations?”
Similarly, survivors and family members of the victims can be traumatized by continued professional speculation. On our Shrink Rap blog, the mother of one Virginia Tech student thanked us for not discussing that crime. Here is how she described the effects on her son:
“The media coverage hurt as much as it helped. Many of those kids don’t want to talk about that day at all. It’s very hard for a young adult when the first thing they get asked about college is not “how do you like classes” or “what’s your major” but rather “Were you there, were you injured, did you know anyone who died?”
Finally, there is the risk of creating a copycat offender. Media attention has been a well-known cause of clustered suicides and can be a precipitant for other violent behavior. Almost on cue, Maryland police recently apprehended a man who threatened to “shoot up” his employer and referred to himself as “a joker.”
Considering all this, I’m grateful that I have consistently maintained one response to high-profile offenses: “No comment.”
—Annette Hanson, M.D.
DR. HANSON is a forensic psychiatrist and co-author of Shrink Rap: Three Psychiatrists Explain Their Work. The opinions expressed are those of the author only, and do not represent those of any of Dr. Hanson’s employers or consultees, including the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene or the Maryland Division of Correction.