Preventing School Shootings
In 2023 (until the end of September), at least 54 shootings took place in schools and universities, impacting surrounding communities. Deaths by school shootings account for a small percentage of gun deaths among youth to date, but the numbers have been increasing since 2017. Such events require more accurate risk assessment training to prevent future incidents. This workshop will identify and describe three psychological types of school shooters: traumatized, psychotic, and psychopathic. Each will be illustrated through a case history. The workshop will then present an overview of threat assessment, discussing the concepts of “leakage,” “attack-related behavior,” and “evidence of imminence,” along with examples of warning signs from actual school shootings.
(Case material will include personal writings and drawings from perpetrators, which contain explicit content some might find disturbing.)
NCSPP is aware that historically psychoanalysis has either excluded or pathologized groups outside of the dominant population in terms of age, race, ethnicity, nationality, language, gender, religion, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, disability, and size. As an organization, we are committed to bringing awareness to matters of anti-oppression, inequity, inequality, diversity, and inclusion as they pertain to our educational offerings, our theoretical orientation, our community, and the broader world we all inhabit.
Presenters Response:
Violence and psychopathy have been perceived historically as occurring primarily in specific racial, ethnic, geographical, and socioeconomic domains. This training will show that psychopathy and school shootings are not centered in these stereotypes and will review traits of school shooters across populations.
At the end of this course participants will be able to:
- Describe the three psychological types of school shooters.
- Explain the terms “leakage,” “attack-related behavior,” and “evidence of imminence.”
- Describe at least 3 warning signs of potential rampage attacks.
-
Cornell, D. (2018). Comprehensive school threat assessment guidelines: Intervention and
support to prevent violence. School Threat Assessment Consultants, LLC. -
Langman, P. (2009). Why kids kill: Inside the minds of school shooters. New York: Palgrave
Macmillan. -
Langman, P. (2015). School shooters: Understanding high school, college, and adult
perpetrators. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. -
Langman, P. (2017). A bio-psycho-social model of school shooters. The Journal of Campus
Behavioral Intervention, 2017, Vol. 5, pp. 27-34. -
Langman, P. (2017). School threat assessments: Psychological and behavioral
considerations. Journal of Health Service Psychology, 2017 (Spring), Vol. 43, pp. 32-40. -
Langman, P. (2017). Different types of role model influence and fame seeking among mass
killers and copycat offenders American Behavioral Scientist 1–19. -
Langman, P. (2021). Warning signs: Identifying school shooters before they strike.
Allentown, PA: Langman Psychological Associates, LLC.
Peter Langman, Ph.D., is a known expert in the psychology of school shooters. His trainings identify warning signs of potential perpetrators of violence before it occurs and how school leadership can effectively utilize threat assessment across their communities. This includes analyzing homework assignments, understanding motivations and justifications for violence, and exploring pathways to violence.
This course is appropriate for clinicians, instructors, and graduate students who work in school settings, have an interest in student populations, or want to learn more about risk prevention.
LCSW/MFTs: Course meets the requirements for _ hours of continuing education credit for LMFTs, LCSWs, LPCCs and/or LEPS, as required by the CA Board of Behavioral Sciences. NCSPP is approved by the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (Provider Number 57020), to sponsor continuing education for LMFTs, LCSWs, LPCCS, and/or LEPs. NCSPP maintains responsibility for this program /course and its content.
Psychologists: Division 39 is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Division 39 maintains responsibility for these programs and their content.
Enrollees who cancel at least SEVEN DAYS prior to the event date will receive a refund minus a $35 administrative charge. No refunds will be allowed after this time. Transfer of registrations are not allowed.
For program related questions, contact Katherine Eng at keng@ncspp.org.
For questions related to enrollment, locations, CE credit, special needs, course availability and other administrative issues contact Michele McGuinness by email or 415-496-9949.
Community Mental Health Committee
This committee is a group of clinicians who are interested in the relationship between Community Mental Health (CMH) and psychoanalysis. Psychoanalysis is anchored in a quality of close care and attention that is often systematically denied to members of disadvantaged communities and difficult to locate in stressed, under-resourced public mental health clinics. CMH clinicians hold the tension between a variety of institutional, social, and political pressures and constraints. Meanwhile, psychoanalytic thinking sometimes misses the significance of these systemic influences on individual lives.
There is important work to be done in bridging the theoretical and concrete gaps between community work and psychoanalytic practice. The CMH committee aspires to create a more inclusive home for CMH clinicians within the NCSPP community. In turn, we advocate for greater investment from psychoanalysis in the projects of CMH practitioners- in terms of both theory and practical engagement.
We seek to identify the needs and interests of our various partners both in CMH and NCSPP. We invite our community members to engage with us by emailing us at cmh@ncspp.org .