Can mental illness play a role in terror attacks, extremism?
PARIS — After family members of the driver who slammed a truck into a crowd in the French city of Nice said he suffered from depression, questions were raised about the links between mental illness, extreme ideology and mass violence.
Mental illness cannot be blamed for terror attacks, experts say. The overwhelming majority of people with mental illness never turn violent. But mental health disorders may make some people more susceptible to extremist ideology, and in rare cases that ideology can lead to horrific acts.
“People who are loners and who become angry and resentful can easily be drawn to extremist ideologies,” said Dr. Raj Persaud, a psychiatrist and professor at London’s Gresham College. “They begin to dehumanize others and may not need much more motivation before deciding to commit a terrorist attack.”
It is not known for sure that the Nice attacker, 31-year-old Mohamed Lahouaiyej Bouhlel, was mentally ill. Relatives say Bouhlel was once prescribed anti-psychotic medication. They describe an angry young man estranged from his wife and withdrawn from society.
But the Nice attack and other recent ones have involved a murky mix of extreme ideology and hints of mental illness.
“Terrorist acts are not caused by mental illness but mental illness can provide a background that’s receptive to terrorist activity,” said Persaud.
Paul Gill, a senior lecturer in security and crime science at University College London, says mass attacks are often triggered by a constellation of problems and do not depend on a mental health disorder.
“Just because you have psychological issues, it doesn’t mean you will turn to violence,” he said.
He said there’s a higher rate of mental health issues among “lone wolf attackers” as opposed to people involved in a terrorist network, according to his study of more than 100 such assailants.
The vast amount of research on people with mental health problems and violence suggest that they are much more likely to pose a danger to themselves than to others.
“It would be stigmatizing to say that we should focus on people with mental health problems as vulnerable and potential risks for radicalization,” said Ariane Bazan, a professor of clinical psychology at the Universite Libre in Brussels. “There are so many other things to look at.”