Providentia

FBI Report Shows Mass Shootings on the Rise

A new report released by the Federal Bureau of Investigations has shown a dramatic increase in shooting incidents involving the wounding or  killing of multiple people.   The reportwas prepared with the assistance of Texas State University’s Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training Center and used official police records and FBI resources.   Titled, "A Study of Active Shooter Incidents in the United States Between 2000 and 2013”, the report  highlighted a number of high-profile incidents including  Virginia Tech, Sandy Hook Elementary School, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, Fort Hood, the Aurora (Colorado) Cinemark Century 16 movie theater, the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin, and the Washington Navy Yard.  

The majority of these attacks have occurred at businesses or schools, including universities or other education facillities.   Houses of worship and health care facilities are other popular targets.   Though the report omitted shootings that were either gang- or drug-related, the 160 "active shooter incidents" occurring between 2000 and 2013 have risen dramatically in recent years.   The number of annual shootings has gone from six incidents a year for the first seven years studied to more than sixteen per year during the past seven years studied.    

The report is intended to collect data about the  attacks to help local police prepare for future incidents as well as potentially identifying shooters before their violence occurs.   "These incidents, the large majority of them, are over in minutes. So it's going to have to be a teaching and training of the best tactics, techniques and procedures to our state and local partners," said James F. Yacone, an FBI assistant director who oversees crisis response and was involved in the report.  According to Special Agent Katherine Schweit, who heads the FBI’s Active Shooter Initiative, the study “demonstrates the need not only for enhanced preparation on the part of law enforcement and other first responders, but also for civilians to be engaged in discussions and training on decisions they’d have to make in an active shooter situation.”

Along with 486 people being being killed and 557 being wounded in the attacks, about twenty-five percent of the mass shootings ended with the shooter committing suicide.   Though 60 percent of the incidents ended before police arrived, in 21 of the 45 incidents where law enforcement had to deal with the  shooter to end the threat, nine officers were killed and 28 were wounded.   Virtually all of the shooting incidents involved perpetrators acting alone and only six of the shooters were female.    While the motives that led to the shootings often remain unknown, many of the shooters appear to act on their violent impulses due to personal grievances.   As for why the incidents have been rising in recent years, some behavioural analysts suggest that the rise may be due to vulnerable people being inspired by other shootings and hoping to become notorious themselves.

"The copycat phenomenon is real," said Andre Simons of the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit in an interview with The Telegram. "As more and more notable and tragic events occur, we think we're seeing more compromised, marginalized individuals who are seeking inspiration from those past attacks."       

Click here for a copy of the report (PDF).

Sleeping Your Way to a Longer Life

Not getting enough sleep can lead a wide range of health problems.

Along with medical problems including lower resistance to disease, fatigue, and problems at work, getting too much or too little sleep has also been linked to obesity, cardiovascular problems, being more accident-prone, and hypertension.   The amount of healthy sleep you get can also predict overall mortality rate.  In one study, regularly sleeping fewer than four hours or more than ten hours a night was linked to a reduced lifespan in adults.  Interestingly, too much sleep can have a negative impact on overall health much like getting  too little sleep does.   

And this link isn't just limited to how much sleep people get as adults.    As part of his reseaarch into gifted children, psychologist Lewis Terman first proposed in 1913 that getting an optimum amount of sleep can play a strong role in physical and mental efficiency.   A century of research into the effect of sleep on health suggests that getting around seven hours of sleep a night is essential for good health.   On the other hand, poor sleep patterns have been consistently linked to school problems in children and employment problems in adults.  

To read more, check out my new Psychology Today blog post.

Gender Differences in Youth Crimes

Young female offenders represent a growing number of young offenders. Studies have shown that youth in the juvenile justice system, particularly young females, report higher rates of lifetime sexual abuse than their nonoffending peers. A study published recently in Law and Human Behavior examined gender differences in risk factors for recidivism, including a history of sexual abuse, among a juvenile court clinic sample. Findings suggest that, even after accounting for previously identified risk factors for recidivism such as prior legal involvement and conduct problems, a history of sexual abuse is the most salient predictor of recidivism for young female offenders, but not for males. The development of gender-responsive interventions to reduce juvenile recidivism and continued legal involvement into adulthood may be warranted.

For the  abstract

When is Torture Justified?

Imagine that someone close to you was in imminent danger and the only solution involved having police use torture to extract information from someone in custody. Would you agree or not? 

While torture remains a divisive topic with many countries around the world authorizing its use,  international human rights codes and the legal codes of most countries provide comprehensive legal protections against torture under any circumstances. Public opinion polls tend to be consistent in showing that only 34 percent of people worldwide actual endorse the use of torture though the numbers vary from country to country.  Still, despite the consensus that torture is both immoral and ineffective, both as a means of punishment and as a way of gaining information, controversy surrounding the use of rendition, waterboarding, and the very definition of torture continues to influence international relations, especially given the current "War on Terror"  that shows no sign of ending. 

To read more, check out my new Psychology Today blog post.

 

 

The Jesus Experiment (Part 2 of 2)

Continued from Part I

So, how did the three patients react to seeing other people with the same delusion? 

Their reactioons were recorded through interviews and through careful observatioon while they were in the same ward together.  Rokeach interacted with all three patients throughout the two-year experiment.   That meant questioning them  to see how much insight they had concerning the experiment and how they handled the identity issues involved   Though the patients argued at first, Clyde, Leon, and Joseph basically developed their own explanations for the apparent conflict.  Clyde, for instance, noted in an interview that the other two men were really not alive.  "The machines in them are talking. Take the machines out of them and they won’t talk anything. You can’t kill the ones with machines in them. They’re dead already.”  He insisted that the machines inside them were located in their stomachs although he appeared confused when no trace of these machines could be found on examination.

Joseph, on the other hand, was more insistent about his identity.  He said that the others "can’t be God or Jesus Christ or the Holy Spirit, by any means. There is only one God. I’m the only God. Clyde and Rex are patients."   For him, the fact that the other two were patients in a mental hospital was enough to prove that they were insane.   As for Leon, he seemed disturbed enough by the presence of other Christ to come up with several different explanations and suggested that they were only claiming to be Christ .  Though he referred to them as “hollowed-out instrumental gods with a small ‘g’”,  he conceded that he was one as well but, being the first one made, he had the real privileges associated with being God and Christ.  

His delusions of grandiosity also extended to his reasons for being in the hospital.   As far as he was concerned, he owned the property and stayed in the hospital to oversee his investment.  When questioned about being mentally ill, he announced that, "“I never contradict myself. I’m darn proud of myself. I can take care of myself. I certainly haven’t been insane for quite a while.”   Leon, on the other hand, insisted that he had been placed in the hospital due to persecution, prejudice, etc.   This was a common theme for all three men.

When Rokeach asked them about the purpose in bringing the three of them together, Joseph came up with the best answer.  He announced that Rokeach wanted him to “to iron out that I’m the one and only God.”   Also, by convincing Clyde and Leon that they were crazy, he would do his work "with greater tranquility."   Leon, however, had a different reply.  “I understand that you would like us three gentlemen to be a melting pot pertaining to our morals, but as far as I’m concerned I am myself , he is him, and he is him," he said.  "Using one patient against another, trying to brainwash and also through the backseat driving of electronic voodooism. That has an implication of two against one, or one against two.”   He also added some thoughts on the sinister motives of what the doctors were doing.  "“You can’t push a person into heaven by an organic thrust into God. This is not a hospital in the true sense; it is noted for brainwashing.”

Though all three patients were well aware that they were in a mental hospital, none of them had the insight to see past their own delusions.  While the three patients often argued with one another about identity, the arguments were fairly restrained at first.   Essentially, each Christ tried to convert the others (and the doctors) that they were the one true Christ.   Over the next few months, the tension began to build as the "reasonable" attempts at persuading the others failed.    Verbal outbursts became more common during the meetings as well as threats of violence though the patients had enough awareness to keep themselves from going too far.

The first act of violence took place three weeks after the beginning of the experiment.  Following one of Leon's verbal taunts, Clyde responded by hitting him on the right cheek.   While Leon failed to respond, Rokeach and his assistant pulled Clyde away.   Afterward, he insisted that he only struck Leon to "cool him down.  Then he starts talking straight.  He talks better then."     The violent encounters would continue, often with arguments over which of them was the one who was crazy.   Joseph had particular problems with Leon since Clyde was not as confrontational about his belief that he was God.   Talking about Leon, Joseph said at one point:  "That man is sick.  No joke!  He says everything contrary.  Nobody can talk to him."   After another physical fight broke out between Joseph and Clyde over the same arguments about religious identity, the violence eventually ended.   All three patients decided that there was no point in fighting though the verbal arguments still continued, often bitterly.   

Due to concerns that any improvement shown by the patients might be due to the attention they were receiving rather than by the experiment, Rokeach had also arranged for a "control group" to be used as a comparison.   The three patients in this group were all women who had severe delusions (one believed she was Cinderella, one a member of a wealthy family, and the third thinking she was bewitched). They were largely treated the same as the male patients including daily meetings with staff and sleeping in adjoining cots in their ward.    None of them were confronted about their delusions the way the male patients were and no real behaviour problems ever surfaced.   This control group was disbannded after six months to focus on the three males in the experimental group.

Of the three original patients, only Leon showed signs of actually questioning his beliefs, apparently due to his close contact with the other two Christs.  Not that his delusions ever improved, but he did at least try to elaborate on why the other two men were so confident in their own beliefs.   He also showed some progresss when he interacted with a female clinical worker but he soon returned to his usual state.   According to Rokeach, It was Leon who also succeeded in convincing him to terminate his experiment and stop forcing the three patients to keep confronting one another as he had been doing during the two years of the study.  Ironically, the regular meetings with the three patients meant that they received more clinical attention than any of the other patients in the hospital although this would fail to have any real impact on their symptoms.

As Rokeach would sadly point out in his book, the Three Christs experiment did little to help the three patients regain their true identities.  Part of the problem may have simply been the fact that they were all too institutionalied to have any real chance of recovery.   Both Clyde and Joseph had been in mental hospitals for nearly two decades while Leon had spent five years in close confinement by the time the experiment began.  The years of neglect that they had spent in hospital, with little chance of actually seeing a doctor more than once a year, left them poorly equipped to handle being exposed to the real world.   At the end of the experiment, the three Christs could often be seen together though there were no more confrontations.   They simply went back to being regular patients and their delusions appeared to be as strong as ever.

In an afterword written by Milton Rokeach twenty years later, he reported that Leon Gabor was the only patient still at Ypsilanti State Hospital.  Clyde Benson was discharged to his family in 1970 while Joseph Cassel died in 1976.   Along with admitting that his experiment was ultimately a failure, Rokeach also candidly admitted that there were major flaws in his research study, particularly concerning the ethics involved in "playing God" with his three patients.   There was also the question of whether forcing these patients to confront one another may have actually made their condition worse.   Did the emotional upheaval that Rokeach's experiment forced on them simply make them more rigid than ever in defending their beliefs? 

Largely based on his experience with Leon, Joseph, and Clyde, Milton Rokeach went on to develop a self-confrontation model  that helps people change their beliefs by having them recognize the limitations of those beliefs for themselves.   Though it likely wouldn't have helped with patients as deeply psychotic as his test subjects, self confrontation continues to be a useful strategy for coming to terms with destructive beliefs.   

Whether or not Milton Rokeach's experiment was truly ethical or provided a real benefit for the three patients he was trying to help, the legacy of the Three Christs lives on.

Use and Abuse of Research in the Courtroom

In parenting cases, judges are asked to resolve the dispute by reference to the best interests of the child.  In many cases, they have the benefit of expert witnesses who are trained in a social science and who draw upon the available research, directly or implicitly, in making recommendations concerning the child’s best interests. Lawyers and judges may also be exposed to social science research in other ways, including conferences and educational programs. While the contribution of social science has been valuable, and many core propositions from that body of research have passed into generally accepted knowledge among family law professionals, the use of social science research in resolving individual cases remains, in some respects, problematic. A recent article in Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, which was written particularly for lawyers and judges, outlines the issues involved in evaluating research findings, some of the dangers of using social science research in courts dealing with families and children, and measures that might help ensure the more appropriate use of such research in judicial decision-making. Giving lawyers and judges the tools to assess the reliability of social science evidence is arguably as important as exposure to evidence about particular issues that arise in the family law context.

For the abstract

 

"Provocation" Cited in Bizarre UK Domestic Violence Case

A U.K. man has received only a suspended sentence after being sentenced for assaulting his wife because of her "provocation" of accusing him that he was the Devil.   52-year-old Anthony Berry reported that he "snapped" after his wife, a devout Catholic, had repeatedly claimed her husband was possessed and even went so far as to have him undergo an exorcism in France. 

Despite being married for 22 years, Claire Berry's accusations apparently began following her husband's admitting to an extramarital affair.  She then joined the ultra-conservative Society of Saint Pius X and insisted that his behaviour proved that he was being controlled by Satan.  Along with a blurred selfie that he had taken, she also insisted he attracted evil spirits to their Derbyshire home and that she had seen a small dragon fly across the house while he was there.

During one of these confrontations, she reported screamed: “You're not Tony!" to which he replied: 'No, I'm Satan, Prince of Darkness."   She later forced him to travel to France for the exorcism because "he had signed a pact with the devil" and later had her sister throw holy water on him while she thrust a crucifix in his face.   After hours of arguing, he then grabbed his wife and threw her across the room.  According to Prosecutor Jennier Fitzgerald, Berry then shouted: 'I’m going to kill you. I’m going to have your neck."   He admitted to having drunk up to eight pints and was likely intoxicated at the time. 

The second assault occurred a month later when he returned home at 1 am after an evening of drinking and playing snooker.   Claire Berry, who had also been drinking, got into an argument with him and, when he attempted to go to bed, followed him into the bedroom.  He then struck her repeatedly on the side of her head as well as grabbing and twisting her ankle.  She got away from him and spent the night in the garden under some blankets because she was too afraid to remain in the house with him. After calling her sister the following morning, Mrs. Berry called an ambulance and was taken to hospital for treatment.  She sustained a swelling to the side of her head as well as extensive bruising and damage to her spine. 

This left her in "excruciating pain" and forced her to walk on crutches for some time afterward.   When questioned by police, she said that her husband was "Satan" and he was charged with assault.  During the trial, Mrs. Berry testified about her belief that her husband was possessed and her previous attempts to rid him of his possession, including the exorcism.   The prosecutor told the court that Anthony Berry had received a previous caution for assaulting his wife in 2010 and that his behaviour was part of a longtime pattern of domestic abuse.   In response, Mr. Berry's defending attorney, John Bunting, argued that his actions were partially in self-defense given his wife's bizarre religious beliefs and the "extraordinary provocation" that had led to the assault.

Though Berry has been convicted of two separate assaults, he has been spared an immediate jail term.  Still, Chairman of the Bench Bob Graham told Berry:  'Both of these assaults were prolonged and quite brutal and I have to say nasty. Drink was also involved and you also issued threats to kill.  'But we have taken into account there was a degree of provocation.'  He has been sentenced to sixteen weeks in jail, suspended for two years, and ordered to pay court costs and a victim surcharge.

For more information

 

WHO Releases New Suicide Report

Every suicide is a tragedy. It is estimated that over 800 000 people die by suicide and that there are many suicide for each death. The impact on families, friends and communities is devastating and far-reaching, even long after persons dear to them have taken their own lives.  Unfortunately, suicide all too often fails to be prioritized as a major public health problem. Despite an increase in research and knowledge about suicide and its prevention, the taboo. and stigma surrounding suicide persist and often people do not seek help or are left alone. And if they do seek help, many health systems and services fail to provide timely and effective help.   Dr. Margaret Chan, Director-General, World Health Organization

In a comprehensive new report released by the World Health Organization (WHO), the impact that suicide has on families and communities the world over is shown in graphic detail.   The report, titled Preventing Suicide: a global imperative, provides a statistical overview of suicide and the efforts being made to curb suicide deaths through prevention and treatment.   According to the report, a person commits suicide every forty seconds somewhere in the world and, for every successful suicide, many more attempts are made.    Among young people between fifteen and twenty-nine years of age, suicide remains the second most common cause of death worldwide.  

And suicide isn't just a problem in industrialized nations.   Most suicides takes place in developing countries where suicide prevention programs and resources are often nonexistent.   People in need often have nowhere to turn and, because of the stigma surrounding mental illness, are forced to hide their problems until it is too late.  To combat this trend, the Sixty-Sixth World Health Assembly adopted the first ever Mental Health Action plan of the World Health Organization in May, 2013.   Suicide prevention was a key part of that plan with a goal of reducing the rate of suicide ten percent worldwide by  2025.     Though suicide is recognized as being preventable, it is often not given the priority that it deserves by most governments and even gathering reliable statistics can be difficult in many places, especially in countries where suicide is illegal and people attempting to kill themselves risk prison sentences. 

To read more, check out my new Psychology Today blog post.

Will Legalized Marijuana Lead to Substance Abuse Among Minors?

An opinion article recently published in the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management discusses the legalization of recreational marijuana in United States. One of the key unknowns in the debate over legalization concerns the relationship between alcohol and marijuana use. Researchers have attempted to produce causal estimates of this relationship by exploiting cross-sectional policy and price variation. Because the social costs associated with the consumption of alcohol clearly outweigh those associated with the consumption of marijuana, legalizing the recreational use of marijuana is likely to improve public health, although plenty of unanswered questions remain. Based on existing empirical evidence, the authors expect that the legalization of recreational marijuana in Colorado and Washington will lead to increased marijuana consumption coupled with decreased alcohol consumption. As a consequence, these states will experience a reduction in the social harms resulting from alcohol use. While it is more than likely that marijuana produced by state-sanctioned growers will end up in the hands of minors, we predict that overall youth consumption will remain stable.

For the abstract

September 10 is World Suicide Prevention Day

The International Association for Suicide Prevention IASP has declared September 10 to be World Suicide Prevention Day.    Conducted each year to commemorate the estimated 800,000 people worldwide who die by suicide annually,  the  IASP is holding a special candlelight event at 8 pm  on September 10.   Among the resources available on the World Suicide Prevention Day webpage are brochures, banners, a facts and figures PowerPoint presentation, and a toolkit for organizations wanting to hold their own World Suicide Prevention Day events.  

This year's theme is   Suicide Prevention: One World Connected.  The theme reflects the fact that connections are important for individuals at risk for suicide and to combat the social isolation that can lead to many people killing themselves.  Connectedness is also important for the mental health treatment that is often not available in far too many places around the world, and the stigma that prevents people from reaching out for help.  Though national and international organizations provide what help they can, too many people still "fall between the cracks" and fail to find the help they need.   This year's theme is also important because the WHO has just released its first World Suicide Report and a Comprehensive Mental Health Action Plan by the World Health Assembly.   The plan commits all 194 member states to reduce their suicide rates by 10 percent by 2020.

Both the IASP and the World Health Organization has been setting aside September 10 for World Suicide Prevention Day since 2003.  The events marking this day serve to remind us that one suicide death occurs every 40 seconds and that suicide is the 15th leading cause of death overall (that figure is much higher for people in the 15 to 29-year age group).   The number of lives lost to suicide is greater than the number of homicides and deaths from war combined.   And for every suicide death that occurs, there are over 20 suicide attempts made.  Along with the loss of life involved with suicide, there is also the emotional harm that suicide has on the family members and friends left behind.  

Please use this occasion to think about suicide can affect your life and ho you can reach out to the ones who need help the most..

Click here to download the World Suicide Prevention Day brochure (PDF).

Click here for the World Suicide Prevention Day Facebook page.

Click here for a list of suggested activities.