People might go on rampages for reasons other than mental illness, experts say.
"People can be very angry, for example, and do bad things," said Dr. Joel J. Silverman, chairman of the psychiatry department at the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine. "Don't assume this is mental illness."
Police say Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, opened fire at the Fort Hood Army post in Texas, killing 13 and wounding at least 30 others.
Reports suggest that Hasan, a Muslim, was upset about being deployed overseas, that he was being harassed about his beliefs and was trying to get out of the military.
Having personal beliefs that conflict with one's professional role can be painful, but there are "all kinds of better alternatives" than violence, Silverman said.
"It's usually a perception rather than reality that there is nothing you can do," Silverman said. "People feel trapped in situations where they are not trapped."
The tragedy at Fort Hood has drawn attention to military mental-health professionals who counsel those who are stressed out over multiple deployments, family separations and armed combat. The ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have resulted in repeated deployments for many men and women in the military.
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs made a big push several years ago to hire more mental-health professionals.
Shortages still exist, Silverman said.
"We need them in the military," Silverman said of mental-health professionals.
"We need them in our schools and our colleges. We have excellent and effective treatments, but we've got to get people access to those treatments."
Experts said people in the healing professions may face some of the same issues they are helping others manage.
The Virginia Department of Health Professions, for instance, offers a program that monitors doctors, nurses and other providers with substance abuse and mental-health problems.
In his work as a military psychiatrist, Hasan counseled mentally wounded soldiers.
Students training to be therapists are forewarned that their work may sometimes get to them, said Leticia Y. Flores, a clinical psychologist and director of the Center for Psychological Services and Development at VCU.
They also learn that there may be times when they cannot be effective because their views are in conflict with those of their clients.
"It's our ethical duty to do no harm," Flores said.
Nonetheless, with so much unknown about this case, it would be a mistake to make generalizations, Silverman said.
"This is not about army officers," he said. "This is not about psychiatrists. This is not about people whose grandparents may have come from another country. This is about a specific man with a specific history."
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Contact Tammie Smith at (804) 649-6572 or TLsmith@timesdispatch.com. To see more of the Richmond Times-Dispatch, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.timesdispatch.com. Copyright (c) 2009, Richmond Times-Dispatch, Va. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
