How Do We Stop Mass Violence?
I’m overwhelmed with news of violent extremists and school shootings. It seems that the world is falling apart quicker than we can fix it.
Dr. Brian Van Brunt, Ed.D., specializes in threat and risk management and the psychology of extremism. Brian is the deputy director of safety for D-Prep where he trains K-12 schools, colleges, universities, law enforcement, and workplaces on issues related to threat assessment, crisis preparedness, and response. He was interviewed in the aftermath of the January 6th US Capital insurrection on extremist groups and violence. He was not surprised by the insurrection, given the growth of extremist groups. He also provides an understanding of mass shooters.
Most therapists may have skills in assessing and intervening in suicidal threats, but don’t have tools to assess planned and targeted violence. As a mental health clinician, I have a professional duty to warn the police if I have reason to suspect homicidal intent. You also have a moral duty to warn.
Dr. Van Brunt helped develop the Extremist Risk Intervention Scale. It identifies people who have a hardened, crystallized, passionate point of view in which they feel justified in violence toward others. In these cases, violence is not impulsive but premeditated. These people will show up to protests with weapons and gear. They are prepared to act violently. They are not there to create meaningful dialog for change, but are there to incite violence.
So, what do you look for? The following is taken from the Extremist Risk Intervention Scale (ERIS):
RISK ELEMENTS: Individual experiences, behaviors, attitudes, and environment that increase vulnerability to extremism and risk of violent action.
Free Falling: Experience of bleakness. There is a lack of stability and support, combined with feelings of dissatisfaction, frustration, anger, disillusionment, depression, disenfranchisement, and emotional pain.
Outsider: Experience of discrimination and societal disengagement. The individuals begin to feel separated, disconnected, and alienated from larger societal values, and experience social or political frustrations, creating a distortion of how they view the world.
Roadblocks: Obstacles to goals. Conditions within the individuals’ environments block the ability for them to improve their situations and reach their goals. They lack “off-ramps,” or diversions as they progress on the pathway toward violence.
Hardened Warrior: Development of hardened point of view and justification for violent action. The individuals begin to selectively attend to their environment, filtering out material or information that doesn’t line up with their beliefs. They may harbor grievances and are emotionally drawn to action for perceived “injustices.”
Dangerous Belonging: Seeking reassuring group affiliation with polarizing, extremist ideologies. The individuals identify and feel a sense of solidarity with extremist messages over friends and family. This makes them feel special, excited, confident, and understood, while reinforcing the justification for violence.
Can this be prevented? Many people believe that mental health treatment is the answer to violence. For counseling to be helpful, the individual must identify a problem, understand their own contribution to it, and be motivated to change. But these individuals have strong beliefs that violence is the answer. Mass violence is far more complicated and must be addressed from a number of sources.
The core element in prevention, prior to an act of violence, is to identify and address hopelessness, desperation, suicidality, and marginalization of people who are not seen or heard and feel disconnected from mainstream populations. They may find solace in hardened groups of people who share their destructive beliefs and bond around common symbols such as tattoos, clothing, or gestures. People in the mainstream can help these individuals feel a sense of belonging without destructive ideologies. Encourage non-violent venues of expression and protest. A sense of belonging starts early, not late in one’s development.
We don’t want to believe that someone we know and love would commit violence, yet we are required to report suspicious behavior. So, if you know someone who has deeply held convictions and feels that violence is justified, you need to make a report. You may see red flags such as changes in an individual’s group of friends. Does that new group of friends increase the level of risk? Are they immersed in a radical online chat group? Have they made specific and planned expressions of threat either verbally, on social media, or in writing or artwork? If so, act.
For further information on threat assessment, you might want to read Harm to Others, The Assessment and Treatment of Dangerousness by Dr. Van Brunt. You can also access his interview on White Supremacist Violence at https://clearlyclinical.com/podcast/ceu-white-supremacy-violence?rq=brunt