Stress Less® Blog

A Mental Approach to Terrorism

The civilized world keeps going through the same cycle of violence. Some misguided or deranged person(s) decide to grab center stage and kill people to foster their “so-called cause”. This could be a committed terrorist(s) intent on defending or promoting their faulty belief system and/or a mentally ill individual(s) who follows voices in their heads or misguided paths/gurus/martyrs, real or imagined.

The reaction is total frustration and angst from the majority of worldwide citizens and a call for more regulation of gun control, transportation systems, government services, border control, etc.

It can be argued that they are all mentally ill! Taking someone else’s life to support a personal vendetta is not only totally insane, but against the ethics, morals and religious basics of all civilized people in the world. Nowhere does the Quran/Bible tell their followers to kill people.

But the real issue the civilized world faces is mental instability, whether it is inherit or from brain washing and/or false belief systems. In the US, 20% or 44,000,000 US Adults suffer from a “mental health condition” in a given year and 10,000,000 suffer from a “serious mental illness”. Less than half (41%), or 4,100,000 of these “seriously mental ill” people have ever received mental health services in the past year. 

These “serious” cases also contribute to 33% of all hospitalization for the 18-44-year-old adult group. In essence, we have millions of “seriously mental ill” people who have the possibility of walking or driving on our streets that are susceptible to misguided propaganda or demons in their heads.

Certainly we need to have the best data collection system like the FBI NBCI (National Background Check Inc.) for gun ownership applications and cooperation from all relative sources in order to identify potential threats, whether foreign or domestic. But most people understand that if someone really wants to obtain a gun or weapon, there are many sources other than the normal channels for possession.

What would help to reduce our collective stress and angst is to have a fair and open system to identify “seriously mental ill” people and to have support programs for their rehabilitation or hospitalization. It can be argued that radical terrorists are mentally ill and qualify for the program. Funding would certainly be easier under the guidelines that this program is to identify and remove fanatics and potential threats to our safety while helping to provide the proper care for the “seriously mental ill” who are currently not receiving treatment for various reasons. It would be the old “two birds with one stone” card.

Think about it. It makes sense. It would be a helpful treatment program for millions of “seriously mentally ill” people in need; would help reduce our crime rate and homeless population; and would help to isolate and treat potential threats to our society through acts of terrorism.

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