Mohinder Thapar*

Pediatric Cardiologist, IBN Sina Children's Clinic, Greater Houston, United States

*Corresponding Author: Mohinder Thapar, Pediatric Cardiologist, IBN Sina Children's Clinic, Greater Houston, United States.

Received: February 16, 2021; Published: May 24, 2021

Citation: Mohinder Thapar. “Gun Violence and Mental Health”. Acta Scientific Paediatrics 4.6 (2021): 60.

  Mental health is a very complex subject. People with severe mental health problem are not the people generally who indulge in Gun violence. Most often the people who have personality related problems are more prone to use the guns to achieve their goal. This is an issue of personality which is very complex. So many factors can change one’s personality, even from one moment to another. Development of personality starts from the day one a person is born, due to the interaction of genetic makeup and the environments in which one is raised and psycho-social inter-action also moulds ones personality. Out of the multitude of factors, the most important is the feeling of power to react with environments. Money, position, social status and so many others factors provide the sense of power in one’s personality. Even holding a weapon in ones hand also imparts the sense of power. As soon as one takes the gun in ones hand the sense of power to alter the environments runs in the mind and alters the personality of the individual. This is similar to having power of the position such as president, governor, any or elected official or chief, directors etc. or if one gets rich and acquire lot of wealth which are also powers and changes the psyche of the person and alters the personality of the individual. I can quote several example of this metamorphosis in the personality of American presidents and other dignitaries.

  People who commit the gun violence also become victim of this metamorphosis in their personality and try to resolve their issue and conflicts using this power given to them by the Gun in their hand. In the American society it is very easy to acquire this power. Unless the society makes it difficult to get this power we cannot resolve this problem of Gun violence. Unfortunately, the financial influence of NRA has silenced lot of politicians. They side track the issue and place the blame on mental health only and pacify the ignorant masses. I have been told by some psychiatrists that the American Psychiatric Association (APA) has already made this clear that it is not an Issue of mental health. If this is correct then their vice has been very feeble and no one has heard their verdict. Why do not they come out with some force that every American should hear it loud and clear?

Copyright: © 2021 Mohinder Thapar. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.