These repeated mass school shootings over the last 20 years have left our society in a sort of paralysis. Many wonder how we can move forward, especially when we don’t see a concerted effort on behalf of the states or at a national level.
Daniel
We live in a time when school and community mass shootings have become the expected headlines and recurrent breaking news. Unfortunately, after more than twenty years of these shootings, we do not seem to be slowing down. This situation leaves us feeling unsettled, fearful, and at times helpless and calloused. Many have felt this futility and recognize that not much can be done to stop these tragic events from happening. Those with repeated trauma commonly experience these negative thoughts.
Most people tend to remove themselves from situations that pose potential threats. Many parents will transfer their children to another school or neighborhood if they sense there is a high risk of danger. We tend to follow government travel warnings advising us to avoid going to countries with significant risks. Most people have continually monitored levels of threats and made the appropriate adjustments.
Chronic and repetitive trauma can leave people feeling depleted of their resources to deal effectively with present or future stressors. Many will develop “Learned helplessness, “a maladaptive coping style where individuals with repeated trauma stop attempting to remove themselves from threatening situations. Learned helplessness is frequently seen in battered women, maltreated children, or war combatants. This concept can be applied to some degree to our traumatized society.
Most people exposed to dangerous or threatening situations will intuitively respond by “fighting or fleeing” these situations. Some that have suffered repeated trauma will “freeze” because their typical protective mechanisms have collapsed. As a result, many of these individuals, and possibly at a societal level, will experience a decrease in socialization, verbalization, and loss of their zeal for life.
Responses to repeated trauma by individuals can be applied to collective trauma. These repeated mass school shootings over the last 20 years have left our society in a sort of paralysis. Many wonder how we can move forward, especially when we don’t see a concerted effort on behalf of the states or at a national level. Are all school threats the same?
So, what can our communities do to respond more effectively to our current cascade of mass shootings? One thing we can do is apply some of the lessons learned with individual trauma. Let’s look at some of these approaches.
First, it is essential to recapture our sense of safety. Just like we replace the batteries in our smoke detectors to keep a watchful eye and detect smoke signals, thus responding early and intervening in potential threats, we can also become more alert as a community.
Research tells us that in many school shootings, many of the perpetrators were frequently leaving “breadcrumbs” (leakage)announcing to friends and others their intentions. We can improve our responses by acting on them and intervening appropriately instead of minimizing, missing, or ignoring these cues.
Attunement is the capacity to be in the moment. We live in a society where the level of distraction is high. We can train ourselves to be more attuned to our environment, despite our cell phones and other distractions. I recently found out that some schools in our area are including these skills in their curriculum. These proficiencies will help children and adolescents to self-regulate their emotions and interactions. This capacity is essential as a primary preventive measure.
Most students have a good sense of potential threats at school, especially with the current spread of information through social media. Schools need to find more effective ways of reporting and responding to these concerns without disclosing confidential sources.
Community members, student organizations, and other groups can combat passivity and helplessness by getting involved in community projects that enhance safety, security, and social consciousness. We can also identify and address the psychic and social needs of those individuals at higher risk for mass school shootings. Peter Langman Ph. D, a nationally recognized researcher and mass school shooting expert, has identified that mass school shooters typically fall into one of these three groups, those with 1. Psychopathic tendencies, 2. Psychotic tendencies, 3. Significant history of trauma.
Once we identify those at higher risk, schools and communities need specific means and procedures to monitor these individuals and objectively measure their potential threat assessment. Most individuals will need support, validation, and purpose in their lives, providing access to substance use treatment, addressing past traumas, and promoting social and psychological support for their families. These are specific secondary preventive measures for individuals in higher-risk groups. We can look at school shooting as a cancer.
Special attention is essential to gun safety. We can support commonsense laws, especially those that are widely supported. This will make an incredible difference in protecting our kids and school personnel. We have the experience of other countries that have enacted these measures and have achieved successful outcomes. Increasing the security of the school environment will give everyone some peace of mind.
When risk assessments encounter individuals with specific threats, intentions, and means, they will require a quick response from law enforcement or other containment measures. A quick response to deal to an imminent threat, should be learned and practiced in all school settings.. This is an example of a tertiary preventive measure.
The response to collective trauma cannot be placed in the hands of a few individuals. There needs to be a concerted and grassroots efforts by mental health professionals, family advocates, schools, and law enforcement to tackle this national crisis endured for many years. We dream that one day we will look back and acknowledge that our efforts paid off and that we moved beyond this traumatic pandemic.
