The New York Times (11/6, Barry) reports, “With each mass shooting, Americans look to one grim indicator – the number of dead – as a measure of the destructive impact.” However, “damage left behind by gunshot wounds reverberates among survivors and families, sending mental health disorders soaring and shifting huge burdens onto the health care system, a new analysis of private health insurance claims shows.” The analysis published in Health Affairs found that “for families in which a child died of a gunshot wound, surviving family members experienced a sharp increase in psychiatric disorders, taking more psychiatric medications and making more visits to mental health professionals: Fathers had a 5.3-fold increase in treatment for psychiatric disorders in the year after the death; mothers had a 3.6-fold increase; and surviving siblings had a 2.3-fold increase.”
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— “The New York Times (requires login and subscription)