🤝Could the mass shooting have been prevented?

Your 11/05/23 update on all things mental health

Good morning and happy Sunday! ☀️

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In today’s newsletter:

• Could the tragedy in Maine have been prevented?

• Research shows that early humans interbred with ancient human cousins, and that this enhanced cold adaptation but impacted mental health 🧠

• Psychiatrists have begun to prescribe Ozempic, a diabetes drug, to patients ⚕️

Question: How many mass shootings have occurred in the United States in 2023?

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Could the tragedy in Maine have been prevented?

Last week, a mass shooter killed 18 people and wounded 13 others in Lewiston, Maine’s second largest city. There were clear signs that this person posed a risk: He spent time at a psychiatric facility for troubling behavior; a fellow soldier expressed concern that he would “snap and do a mass shooting”; and he threatened to shoot up places like the Army reserve drill center in Saco, Maine.

Another troubling finding is that Maine’s “yellow flag law”, which is supposed to prevent this kind of incident, failed. The “yellow flag law” requires that a law enforcement officer report a weapon confiscation to a judge and that a medical professional complete a mental health evaluation. Yet this law, say critics, makes it extremely difficult to take away guns from someone who should not have access to them.

Unfortunately, the clear signs, troubling reports from colleagues and family members, and laws that were meant to prevent this from happening were not enough. Although there are many reasons for this, including difficult-to-implement yellow flag laws and siloed agencies, at the core we have a person who was clearly mentally ill. And as we have written previously, our mental health system functions as a band-aid and does not provide long-term treatment.