How We Talk About Mental Health After Mass Shootings

Eric Paddock holds a photo of him, at left, and his brother, Stephen Paddock, at right, outside his home, Monday, Oct. 2, 2017, in Orlando, Fla. Stephen Paddock opened fire on the Route 91 Harvest Festival on Sunday killing dozens and wounding hundreds.
Eric Paddock holds a photo of him, at left, and his brother, Stephen Paddock, at right, outside his home, Monday, Oct. 2, 2017, in Orlando, Fla. Stephen Paddock opened fire on the Route 91 Harvest Festival on Sunday killing dozens and wounding hundreds. AP Photo/John Raoux
Eric Paddock holds a photo of him, at left, and his brother, Stephen Paddock, at right, outside his home, Monday, Oct. 2, 2017, in Orlando, Fla. Stephen Paddock opened fire on the Route 91 Harvest Festival on Sunday killing dozens and wounding hundreds.
Eric Paddock holds a photo of him, at left, and his brother, Stephen Paddock, at right, outside his home, Monday, Oct. 2, 2017, in Orlando, Fla. Stephen Paddock opened fire on the Route 91 Harvest Festival on Sunday killing dozens and wounding hundreds. AP Photo/John Raoux

How We Talk About Mental Health After Mass Shootings

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After nearly 60 people were killed and more than 500 injured in a mass shooting in Las Vegas on Sunday, the popular conversation inevitably turned to — as it so often does after any violent tragedy in the U.S. — the state of the shooter’s mental health.

While Stephen Paddock has no known history of mental illness, and his family members say he didn’t have any mental problems, the search for a cause or motive still led to speculation. Politicians and pundits on both sides of the gun control debate agree that guns must be kept out of the hands of the mentally ill. But does that kind of speculating scapegoat mental illness? 

Morning Shift talks to Patrick Corrigan about whether the conversations around mental health after mass shootings in the U.S. further stigmatize people with mental illness or help bring national attention to an often-ignored topic.