Safety at school: 10 warning signs to look out for in your child

School is starting again. It can be an exciting time, but it's also important to pay attention to your child's well-being and mental health. Too many tragic events remind us that we need to be proactive in identifying potential warning signs in children that could lead to violence.

Schools used to be a safe place, but today they have become places where students conduct drills to prepare for a school shooting. The causes of school violence and other mass shootings are complex and varied, but their origins lie deep in our cultural suffering: the lack of attention to child development and our lack of contact with those in need.

As parents, we play a crucial role in providing a safe and protected environment for our children. As educators, we also play a pivotal role in staying vigilant and recognizing and treating signs of mental illness—which can be invisible and difficult to assess. This dilemma can be especially true for teens, as early signs of mental illness can be confused with typical teenage anxiety. Irritability, mood swings, and withdrawal are common signs of mental illness, but these behaviors can also be normal. Parents need to be sensitive to their child's feelings. Parents need to recognize signs of mental illness and ensure mental health treatment if their child is suffering from it.

Here are 10 warning signs to look out for in your child. These signs may require further attention and support:

1. Significant changes in mood or behavior: Watch for sudden or drastic changes in your child's mood, personality, or behavior. These may include increased anger, aggression, withdrawal, or dramatic mood swings.
2. Obsession with weapons or violence: If your child develops an unusual fascination with weapons, violent media, or cruelty, this could be a warning sign.
3. Bullying or being bullied: Both the bullying of others and the bullying victim themselves can be indicators of underlying issues that need to be addressed.
4. Difficulty in building relationships: Difficulty in establishing and maintaining healthy peer relationships or signs of social isolation may indicate the need for additional support.
5. Declining academic performance: A sudden and significant drop in grades or a lack of motivation to go to school may be a symptom of a larger problem.
6. Psychosis, expression of suicidal thoughts and/or homicidal thoughts: Psychosis, including auditory hallucinations that prompt them to kill, paranoid ideas, delusions and any Mention of self-harm or suicidal intentions should be taken seriously and Immediate psychiatric treatment must be ensured.
7. Increased drug or alcohol consumption: Substance abuse can both contribute to and be a consequence of underlying mental health problems.
8. Fixation on complaints or desire for revenge: If your child seems to have strong feelings of resentment, anger, or a desire for revenge, this could be a cause for concern.
9. Lack of empathy or remorse: A lack of compassion for others or an inability to feel remorse for their actions may be an indication that intervention is needed.
10. Access to firearms: If your child has access to guns, whether in your own home or otherwise, this is a significant risk that must be addressed immediately. Even if you think you have locked your gun away, studies have shown that children can open and access it easily and without any problem.

Violence can be prevented. In our award-winning, state-of-the-art psychiatric study of school shooters, we found that it is usually a combination of factors that leads to violence. My research team and I conducted the first psychiatric study using standardized measures of school shooters and found that while the violence had multiple causes, there was a very high prevalence of not diagnosed And untreated psychiatric illness. Most of the school shooting cases investigated by our team could have been prevented if the perpetrator, after being classified as “problematic” in the secondary support systems, had received appropriate psychiatric diagnosis and subsequent medication and psychotherapeutic care.¹

However, it is important not to lose sight of the bigger picture that most people who treated Mental illness is no more violent than in the rest of the population.¹

Teens who commit school shootings often exhibit disturbed behavior for some time before they shoot, and then the violence often ignites during a personal crisis. Recognizing the warning signs and reporting that someone is preparing for gun violence can be life-saving. The etiology of school shootings is complex and an intersection of many factors: mental illness, exclusion, chronic abuse, neglect, and easy access to guns. Parents and schools working together to ensure necessary mental health treatment is critical—everyone must speak up when they see someone threatening violence. We cannot stand by and remain uninvolved, frightened, or silenced.

Remember that the presence of one or more of these warning signs does not necessarily mean that your child is heading down a dangerous path. However, it is important to take them seriously and seek professional help if you are concerned about your child's well-being. With early intervention and the right support, together we can ensure the safety and healthy development of all our children.

To reduce the number of school shootings, it is important to raise awareness of the warning signs of vulnerable, fragile young people and to provide them with mental health treatment. Mental health professionals have a responsibility to use psychoeducation to better inform parents so that they can request mental health treatment for their children who are experiencing psychosis, suicidal or homicidal thoughts.

Stay alert, stay informed, and have a safe and successful school year!