School shootings – why survivors are not likely to seek help

By Jami Wright, examiner.com

In the last decade, from 1999 Columbine shooting to 2009 there have been 60 school shootings (more than double the decade before) that resulted in 181 deaths. Following the Dawson College shooting Dr. Warren Steiner department head of the McGill University Health Centre’s Psychiatric department took a main role in implementing the emergency psychological intervention plan.

After interviewing and studying 949 members of the Dawson community. The findings were interesting:

- Students needing help were reluctant in getting help because of negative social stigmas.
- Male support staff were worried of prejudices of mental illness and didn’t want to seem weak or vulnerable. They were also reluctant to get help.
- Groups that were not Dawson staff and had witnessed the shootings were not offered help and were more psychologically damaged then thought.

For more details on the study visit this website.

The study also discusses that despite the increase in school shooting there really have been no real studies to help the survivors and everyone else learn from these tragedies.

The truly sad part to this story is the mental anguish that these survivors put themselves through to avoid being looked at differently. Have we truly become a nation of people that would rather suffer and have our preconceived pride in tact then to get help and become stronger?

Many of the shooters that were interviewed or researched (because they died in the shootings themselves) after the fact were people who had let the social stigmas get so bad that they blew up and couldn’t control themselves anymore. Isn’t there a similar pattern to the shooters behavior and the victims that were reluctant to get help?

If so, will we continue to see more tragedies like these in our future; tragedies that our children may have to endure? This study is a great step in the right direction and I say cheers to Dr. Steiner and the team in making significant finds in the psychology of how these tragedies affect our survivors. Readers what are your thoughts? Please comment below.