Do high school shootings happen as a result of teenagers being bullied and then having enough, drugs, violence on television or are they just psychopathic?

Wow. I am sure that the folks across town at Columbine would love to read this hub. Because ten years later, they still don't have a definitive answer for why two upper middle class boys would respond violently in a context where other kids in the same boat with similar disengaged parents did not.1.

OREFIELD, Pa. (AP) - A child psychologist who authored a book about the triggers that set off school shooters says most are mentally ill, not victims of bullying as is often believed. Peter Langman’s book “Why Kids Kill: Inside the Minds of School Shooters” is being released by Palgrave Macmillan just shy of the 10th anniversary of the Columbine 2.

From CNN in 1999: "Eric Harris, was rejected by Marine Corps recruiters days before the Columbine gh School massacre because he was under a doctor's care and had been prescribed an anti-depressant medication. Harris' prescription was for Luvox, an anti-depressant medication commonly used to treat patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder. "I have spent the last ten years considering this question.In fact, many Coloradans have admitted secretly that they were more affected by the horrors of Columbine than by 9-11.

We in this state are pretty obsessed with issues arising around school violence. If you really want to educate yourself on the subject, I suggest you begin here: http://acolumbinesite.com/end.html.

I'm a small dude and as a result was an ideal target for being bullied. While it was no fun going through that, it is done and over. I have no angst against the guys that were mean to me.

We were kids and kids to stupid and sometimes vicious things. But it is over. However, I remember with a surprising amount of clarity two instances were I was getting pummeled in front of adults.

I asked for their help, but they didn't do anything, nor did they say anything. They didn't walk away, but wordlessly watched the show. It was one thing to take a beating.It sucked, but not a big deal for me in the long run.

What really hurt me was the feeling of helplessness knowing that help was only a few feet away and that the help actually condoned the beating. Still haven't completely dealt with that to this day.

I think we live in a society that shirks responsibility far too much. When there's teenage violence, it's the TV's fault, when kids drop out of school, it's because of drugs. All these things are used as scapegoats by social crusaders in their quest to create the perfect society.It never occurs to them that all individuals are affected differently by societal pressures based on upbringing, mental imbalance, personal experience, etc. Then of course there are the actual psychopaths out there.

And even when there are incidents of violence, there are isolated and then sensationalized by the media as if they are massive social problems. If television is to blame, why aren't there shootings at every school in the country? All kids watch TV, but only a few of them end up killing people.

I was watching TV commercials for movies coming out and each and every one of them was violence filled as well as alot of the video games they put out these days . Parents are both working these days just to try and put food on the table so there Is no supervision at home or nurturing . And our kids live In a society that glorifies violence!

Plenty of blame to go around on this one .

It has to do with rejection and a feeling of alone, no-one cares, then it turns to anger and get even, and it goes un-noticed, until it explodes in somewones face. Take a kid thats say a little smaller, he is no football hero, hes avg or less in grades, he is getting shot down, other kids see it, they chime in, saftey in numbers and it begins to build. He feels not wanted, gets rejected for school clubs etc, does not fit in.

Gets mad starts to blame folks, it strats smoldering there, and builds to gun shots, and bomb threats to get even. Its very sad to have it done to you, or watch it. And most kids today will not see it, they are to busy fitting in, to walk across a hall and talk to an outcast.To afraid they will be vied like that person, and the isolation grows.

A shame if you ask meJon.

Interesting blog. I don't think it has to do with TV violence, psychopathy, sociopathy, or bad parenting though all these may contribute. I think the answer lies with attachment theory and it's simple.

If a child from birth is allowed to form a secure attachment with one person - which may be parent, grandparent or sibling in which they believe they are loved by that person and that the love is inalienable, very few kids go off the rails and resort to violence. Children can survive poverty, abuse, bullying, illness and disability but none grow up well-adjusted in the absence of love.

I think it is different in all the different cases. But I DO think the bullies are psychopathic.

These are children who have lived their lives starving for attention, love and affection. Those lacking human touch provided to most youth in a positive manner and thus are prone to violence. Rich or poor children without bonding, without true love given in the formative years have no idea how to love themselves.

Poor children hate themselves and everyone else. Like those disillusioned individuals who raised them, they are without direction or purpose. They, who would prefer to cut themselves to feel something, tattoo marks on their skin to feel they belong to something, actually feel nothing but pain inside.

Hurting others is mere byproduct of their inner loss and but a slight amusement to them. The notoriety given to evil is a benefit to those who have no name and should remain nameless. They do not understand "normal" as they have never experienced it.

Read my essay on the subject. The answer is too complicated to speculate, meanwhile certain ideas can be put to the test. What I propose is a victim/bullies class in schools, as an experiment.

Okay this is only my opinion. Not meant to disparage any one person or group. Ive thought about this alot over the years.

And I have reached the tenative conclusion that the social engineering of the last thirty years is the cuase. As more and more feel good laws were passed. Such as banning corporal punishment in schools and basicaly at home." due to fears of having you children taken becuase of accusations of abuse" there is a marked trend in Juvenile crime rises starting with in five years of the passage of such laws.

As more programs were added, such as banning anything considered to violent or disturbing or humiliating I.E. PE, dodgeball, cartoons. Then there is the " you must not fight, ever no matter what... you must not get angry, you must not act like a child etc.." Childeren were slowy pushed into a lack of social development, including the inability to deal with insults, gossip and being bullied. Expecting to be protected by adults, they find that Adults are unable to protect and defend them in the hallways, classrooms, interenet or where ever.

Lacking the cathartic release's that older generations have I truly believe some kids reach a point where they just snap. No one. Meaning adults, can help them or even understand what they feel.

So they don't bother to talk to Adults who failed them in the first place. Okay I might be blowing wind here. And maybe Im not expressing myself well.

But there is no denying that earlier generations dealt with things in a much healthier way. Oh sure we fought, two of my best friends started off as my enemies, till we got into it and ended up respecting each other. We played jokes, and we dealt with insults and slurs.

Usually by tossing one right back. No one thought a thing about the pocket knives we all carried, and every hunting season I had a rifle in my Truck in the school parking lot.It never occured to us to use those on others. And as KIng of Axes pointed out.. Some are just born that way.

The answer could very well be - Yes, any of the above. Having taught At Risk kids, and being certified in dealing with behavior disorder students, any of those things could well be a trigger. On a scale from least to most, I'd order them this way and add a couple - Mental illness (including psychopathy)BullyingHome environmentDrugsand TV violence is the LEAST likely to trigger in school violence among the 12- 18 crowd.

Most of the time, it's not as simple as just one thing or another - it's most often a combination in varying degrees. For one child, it's a sociopathic viewpoint. For another, it;s a combination of being bullied at school, abused at home and being strong willed to boot.

Know that even the mildest mannered child can, at some point, be pushed far enough to act violently. I know - I threw a chair across a cafeteria as a teenager because I had been picked on one too many times. I was lucky in that I had a principal who understood what was going on, and helped me learn to cope.

Perhaps intervention early on, when you see the signs, would stop things like this in the future.

Speaking as a victim of bullying, I would have to say they've had enough and fought back. I've been out of school for 25 and still despise those who tormented me. Every time I log into Facebook and see them as possible related fans, it causes those memories to well up.It's an out of sight, out of mind thing.

Fortunately or unfortunately, I was friends with kids who were in jail and that persuaded me not to act on my thoughts. Until bullying is punished by schools, violence will not stop.

I believe bullying more than anything is the cause. It almost happened at my high school, but the kid told someone he had a shotgun in his guitar case. You can only make a person feel helpless for so long before they strike out in some way.It is human nature.

These people may have psychological issues which cause them to lash out in ways that we would never consider.

This culture is long overdue for maturity. We teach young people virtually nothing about being adults, because we don't consider them adults, and we're ashamed of it. Reality does intrude when someone brings a gun to an argument.

I think it's a product of the home environment. Well never know really why these kids what they did and that's the sad part they had to end their own lives. The majority of the kids that get into trouble these days, most but not all, are because of the home life.

They don't have two parents at home, or both parents work hours that don't put them at home when the kids need the attention the most. I also believe it has a lot to do with liberal laws on disciplining. When you take the rod from the parent the child becomes spoiled and rebellious because nature is they need the discipline in the early years.

I think that there are a combination of factors to consider here. In addition to the potential factors you have listed, there is the fact that parents cannot effectively discipline their own children. The government has put restrictions on what parents can and cannot do with their own children.

Some children have taken advantage of a system that is supposed to help victims. The schools are no better in fact when they turn the blind eye to someone who is being violent or has had changes in their behavior. I think that this society is inept when it comes to teaching our children a clear understanding of what is acceptable behavior.

Some children may do this to act out against their parents and some maybe reacting to being bullied by their peers. I would venture to say that a child from a "less-stable" environment may be predisposed to act out in such a manner when combined with the hormone surges. I don't believe that this happens overnight, there has to be a catalyst, that is of course on the assumption that children don't shoot their classmates for fun.

I don't believe that violence on tv have a whole lot to do with it. Violent acts have been played out on screen for years and it is in more recent years that this became an epidemic; just like teen pregnancy is. Let's really face facts now.

Most parents of today's youth do not know how to be parents, children are expected to act like adults when they are not. There is more than enough blame to go around, but ultimately, the only person responsible is the kid with the gun.

School shootings don't happen because of one thing. They happen because a number of issues are present and they all converge to create a ticking bomb. A person can only take so much of a beating, be it physical or mental/emotional.At some point, just like a dog that has been beat, they will snap.

I think there has to be some basis in psychosis for a person to commit multiple murders. Even if a person snaps and attacks their tormentor, they usually won't murder the person.To commit a school shooting, a person has to have a loose grip on reality and no respect for human life. At the same time, how much respect for human life would you have if people were tormenting you?

On the subject of television violence, if a person doesn't have a firm grip on reality TV violence is a bad thing. A person like that will begin to think they can do the things they watch on TV and get away with it. My direct answer to this questions is: I believe school shootings are caused by a lack of involved adults, mental illness, and bullying.

I think the mental illness and depression these kids suffer from can and sometimes is caused by bullying. I believe a lack of involved adults in their lives makes a huge difference. If you're involved in your children's lives and you pay attention, you can and will notice signs of a problem.

If you're not looking, you're going to be sitting there asking yourself what went wrong and the answer will be, well, you.

I'm guessing that mental disorders contribute most to this one. It is not a normal reaction to being bullied to take a gun to school and attempt to blow everyone away. The accessibility of guns and the glorification of violence, particularly in certain cultures, probably contributes as well.

If you step back and look impartially at society over the past 30 years or so, we have been in steady decline of core values. People no longer actively pursue moral excellence. I'm not saying that 50 years ago, all people were pure, virtuous and decent, but clearly there is a relationship between mass media accessibility and the decline in social values.

Apathy, sarcasm, selfishness - a child growing up these days who keeps their head twisted straight by their 15th year would be a very balanced and strong individual. Its no wonder that kids (and adults) go crazy. We're surrounded by inconsistent and disturbing imagery, be it in advertising, computer games, magazines, TV.

The bombardment of distorted and unrealistic social values leaves us with no core sense of self, or place. So the weaker minded individuals succumb, and sometimes they take others with them. The real key to understanding what makes someone go on a killing spree is deeper than your multiple choice a) drugs, b) tv, c) psycho .. in order to really turn this alarming social trend around, we have to start taking personal responsibility for the problems of the world.

We have to grapple to truly understand the aggressor and the victim, and tackle the problem at its root cause. The only way to fight darkness is to light a candle. Stop thinking in terms of THEY and THEM, and start thinking in terms of WE and US.

Your friend,Captain Australia.

I think that much of the fault for hight school shootings lies witht he parents. A lack of communication with children can cause major problems and such a lack seems to be much more common these days.

Having went to school with killers and witnessing killings as well as some of my best friends being murderers ( read my hubpage ) I feel like an expert on this subject! People are wired this way and there are more " pre- wired " killers roaming this Earth than you'd probably think there is!

Once upon a time, I use to believe B.F. Skinner's hypothises that we were blank slates (i.e. Tabula Rasa). But after working as a foster parent and in treatment centers for teenagers for many years, I honestly believe we are born with our personalities and have those tendancies.

Because if bullying, drugs, and watching violence on television were pre-requisites for this type of outburst then every teenager who were bullied, doing drugs, or observing violence on television would act out. I believe genetics and mutation of our society (i.e. Radiated food, pollution, alcohol used by pregnant mothers and overpopulation/thinning of the gene pool) has much more to do with psychopathical behavior.

Also, it is more apparent because there are so many more people and much more media coverage.

Hmmm...Interesting question, truly. Where does the blame lie, if there is any to pass around? If this is REALLY the ase, then I would chalk it up to bad parenting on all parts.It's we, the parents, who need to teach kids right from wrong and that bullying, drugs, teenaged sex, etc etc etc is bad.

Some people grew up with parents that bullied and condoned it. Others grew up in a house where drugs and alcohol were most prevalent, and mom or dad (or both?) were out having sex to pay for more drugs, so their kids learned that that's acceptable behaviour. TV will put out whatever is socially relevant, whether it's acceptable or not, but it's parents who should guide their kids away from the garbage and help kids to learn that what they see on TV isn't the real world, and they shouldn't hold too high regard for the characters they see commintting all sorts of crimes and acts of wanton carnage and harm.

Coming from a law enforcement standpoint, ultimately anyone over the age of 15 should have a basic understanding of right and wrong, so arresting these kids after stabbing a classmate or taking a gun to school, or shooting at police officers was some of the hardest things officers ever had to do. Contributing factors always, ALWAYS had something to do with the parents, regardless if the shooting victim was a bully, or what-have-you. Up until they day I left, it was always the same, whether it was true or not isn't for me to judge, but a great deal of it went back to good old mom and dad.

Personally, I try to keep a vested interest in my kids, they are all adults now, even if they want to keep me at a distance. I will always be there to help, guide, and suport them to make their own decision and ensure that those decisions are the right ones. The ones that throw things into the crapper, best to help them through it and avoid telling them "I told you so.

Lack of parental guidence and morals makes our society open to a more violent nature. Our children need to learn to value themselves and the lives around them. I pods.

Cell phones, computers and other electronics replacing a friendly conversation or a teen seeking help. Bullying has always been a problem, hidden and torturing our children silently. Those bullies who become openly violent are usually victims hiding there own pain.

Lack of parental guidence, nurturing and family values due to an overworked society. Daycare and schools becoming a danger zone as the relaxed moral and sexual values surround our children on TV, movies and music. How many times has a TV become a mother's baby sitter.

Im in highschool. I have known firsthand the lows kids these ages have stooped from. I'm a strong girl, and it's crazy how the human language has created words that is able to physically and mentally break a person down.

I don't know if someones prematurely psychopathic at their start, but other people are a MAJOR influence. If half the world thought about others feelings before they completed there actions, and considered them. You'd PROBABLY have an answer to your question.

But in this world, its an I for ME thing, not I for team. We are the World My A**.

It's undoubtedly a combination of many factors; genetic predisposition to mental illness, repeated exposure to violence (either real or fictional) leading to desensitization, chronic drug abuse, etc. The individual cases vary, but most have similar elements.

TV was recently linked to kids & violence by a major U.S. University study, however I feel it is the staccato commercial breaks that cause brain damage. I pray to Jesus H. God that Congress would follow England's BBC practice of a TV-tax and absolutely no adverts at all.An analogy to the brain damage caused by rapidly flashing commercials and fast-takes: "Day of the Triffids," wherein flashing lights in the sky created world havoc, but more importantly, salt water became the cure-all panacea, even as in reality saline-Visine solution soothes our own eyes.

-Abe Normal"You see, you know, you learn, hehehehe," (Jedi Master Yoda).

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.