Trump's claims and what experts say about mental illness and mass shootings

Trump's claims and what experts say about mental illness and mass shootings
Posted on Aug 23 2019
ABC News
NAMI mentioned
Reports that under pressure to take action, the president has repeatedly tried to shift the cause of mass shootings away from guns and toward mental illness. There was strong reaction as well from NAMI acting CEO Angela Kimball. "The president should be talking about better care and earlier access to intensive treatment, not revisiting the shameful institutions of our past," she said in a statement. "Words matter, Mr. President. 'These people' are our friends, neighbors, children, spouses. They're not 'monsters,' 'the mentally ill' or 'crazy people' -- they're us. Talking about reinstitutionalization only further marginalizes and isolates the 1 in 5 people with mental illness. Instead, we need to be talking about the power of early treatment and effective intervention to change lives," she said.