Don't let California shooting stigmatize veterans with PTSD

By Harry Croft M.D.

It’s happened again. Another mass shooting, this time in a California bar, takes 13 innocent lives. It’s a heinous act that should have never happened. As the nation grieves for those we lost and does what we can to comfort the loved ones of the victims, we are left trying to put the pieces together and figure out why this happened. What caused the shooter, Ian David Long, to snap, open fire and kill so many people?

As we are learning more, we have since found out that Long was a veteran who may have suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In fact, police confirmed he was an ex-Marine with a history of problems with the law.

As more details emerge in the coming days and weeks, it’s important that we don’t stigmatize our veterans and those with PTSD because of this tragic incident. In my career, I have evaluated more than 7,000 veterans with Combat-Related PTSD, and I can tell you with 100-percent certainty that PTSD alone would not have caused Long to go on a killing spree. Even in the most severe cases I’ve seen in my more than 30 years of research and treating patients, I have never seen or heard of anyone with PTSD alone doing such a thing. There’s definitely more to this story. I don’t like to speculate, but I’ve been inundated with questions from friends, the media and law enforcement, and my best guess is that he was also suffering from drug or alcohol abuse, major depression, psychosis or trouble with a spouse or relationship.  

The number of veterans with PTSD varies by service era. If we look at Operations Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Enduring Freedom (OEF), we know that about 11-20 out of every 100 veterans who served develop PTSD in a given year. Roughly 18 percent of veterans who served in Vietnam developed PTSD. PTSD typically brings on symptoms of anger and irritability. It causes a person to feel distant and detached, easily startled or hyper-vigilant. The person might be unsociable and have trouble expressing his or her emotions. But walking into a bar, shooting up the place and killing 13 people is definitely not a result of combat-related PTSD by itself.

Although society has come a long way in removing the stigma around mental illness, we still have a long way to go. It’s imperative that when stories like this dominate the headlines, that the media and the public don’t jump to conclusions or conjure up misbeliefs or stereotype other veterans and people with PTSD. This type of behavior is not typical for ex-marines, veterans from any branch of service or people suffering from PTSD.

The other reason it’s unfair to stigmatize veterans is because their unemployment rate far exceeds the national unemployment rate. These men and women have great training and skillsets, and often excel in organizational and leadership qualities, and they have so much to offer corporate America and small businesses. It’s not fair to single out the many who are mentally healthy, stable and very capable of functioning in society for the actions of a few who were very sick because again, this is not typical behavior for veterans or those with PTSD.

As we begin the healing process and pay our respects to the victims, I urge everyone to please not give into the myths, mystique and stigma about veterans with PTSD. Never will someone with PTSD behave like Ian David Long. There’s much more to this story that we’re going to find out, and I promise you it was much more than just PTSD.

Harry Croft M.D. is a psychiatrist who has evaluated more than 7,000 veterans with PTSD. He is author of the book ‘I Always Sit with My Back to The Wall.’  http://harrycroft.com/