APA’s Lieberman Discusses Role Mental Illness Plays In US Mass Violence Incidents.

On the air, the PBS NewsHour (12/16) ran a segment devoted to “efforts to curb” violence in the US, particularly gun violence in the wake of recent mass shootings. Correspondent Gwen Ifill sat down with Jeffrey Lieberman, MD, president of the American Psychiatric Association, and with Paul Barrett of Bloomberg Businessweek, author of the book, “Glock: The Rise of America’s Gun.” In the segment, Dr. Lieberman noted that the “serial mass violence incidents occurring” lately are “unfortunately involving disproportionately people with mental illness.” Dr. Lieberman also pointed out that “in the wake of these series of mass violent episodes, there has been a greater attention, a greater debate and more legislative action to try and address the root cause of the problem, which is the inadequacy and lack of quality comprehensive mental health care services.” Barrett suggested looking to cities where gun crime rates have fallen, such as New York City, and replicating their programs to reduce gun-related violent crimes.

Related Links:

— “Can the U.S. find consensus in better mental health access to curb gun violence?, PBS NewsHour, December 16, 2013.

Posted in In The News.