Last Sunday, I — like most of the modern world — woke up to the news of what’s now being called the “deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history.” 29-year-old Omar Mateen gunned down innocent patrons of Pulse, a popular gay nightclub in Orlando, murdering 49 people and injuring 53.
Like so many others around the country and other parts of the world, I sat transfixed in front of my television, crying, and just asking, “Why?”
So much horror, anger, violence, fear, and sorrow.
Why?
Not long into the broadcast, reporters began interviewing some of the many — and there were many — people who’d lined up to donate blood and volunteer in any way they could.
They just wanted to help. There were so, so many of them.
It reminded me of a lesson Mister Rogers taught us years ago. It’s a quote that’s been passed along a thousand times over, and for good reason:
When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’ — Fred Rogers
I’ve gone back to this quote time and time again over the past week, to remind myself. There are good people. There are helpers. Remember they exist. Remember to look for them. Remember to be one of them. This is advice not only just for children, but for all of us.
Is There a Psychology of Hate We Need to Understand Better? Some psychologists, psychiatrists, and sociologists weigh in on why they think our culture has more hate, and hate-inspired violence, than ever.
House Dems Lose Bid to Attach Gun-Related Amendments to Mental Health Bill: “Only days after a mass shooting in which 49 people were killed in an Orlando, Florida, nightclub, Democrats in the House failed to attach gun-related amendments to a long-stalled mental health reform bill.” (The bill, Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act, was introduced after the 2012 mass shooting in Newtown, Connecticut.) According to Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., mental health reform is not a substitute for legislation that addresses gun violence.
The Psychology of How Pizza and Tacos Can Help Prevent Suicide: Not even kidding here, folks. Both pizza and tacos have helped walk men off the literal and figurative edges, illuminating the psychological significance of food.
Mental Illness Is Not the Leading Cause of Violence, Study Finds: A Johns Hopkins’ Bloomberg School of Public Health study conducted last week found that “nearly 40 percent of news stories about mental illness connect it to violence,” and, according to the study’s lead author, Emma E. McGinty, PhD, MS, an assistant professor in the departments of Health Policy and Management and Mental Health at the Bloomberg School, “Most people with mental illness are not violent toward others […] Most violence is not caused by mental illness, but you would never know that by looking at media coverage of incidents.”
Coping With Grief On Father’s Day: Tomorrow is Father’s Day here in The State’s, and Dr. Asim Shah, assistant professor in the Menninger Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Baylor College offers some advice on how those of us who have lost our fathers can cope with the grief that comes along with this yearly celebration.
The “Parenting Happiness Gap” Is Real, New Research Confirms: According to a new study to be published in the American Journal of Sociology, the “parenting happiness gap” is alive and in full swing across the globe — but thriving the most in America where, apparently, certain parent-friendly policies such as paid parental, sick, and vacation leave as well as subsidized child care, are severely lacking if not entirely non-existant.
from World of Psychology http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2016/06/18/psychology-around-the-net-june-18-2016/
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