The mass school shooting in Connecticut is a tragedy that has many people asking, how could someone commit such a horrible crime? Dr. Bradley Wajda is an adult and child psychiatrist, in Fresno. He says with the rise in technology, as teens and people in their 20’s struggle for an identity, they struggle for social relevance.
“Clearly an act like this, as always is the case in some degree, there's a tie. The mom was a teacher in the classroom. This was a punishment for something we may never know about. But it was a personal issue. A struggle for attention,” said Wajda.
It's a traumatic event Wajda says will change the students’ lives forever. He says it's a classic situation for post-traumatic stress, and the students who survived will likely experience fearfulness, shock, anger, grief and anxiety.
“It's going to be therapy. It's going to be a lot of counseling and reassurance and understanding on the parents' part and there are parents that have suffered the ultimate loss. This is going to affect that entire community,” explained Wajda.
Wajda recommends bringing the tragedy up with children because it's very likely they will hear something, whether from a friend or television. And if they don't have all of the facts, they'll make up their own. He says you can start by asking what they know and express to them how rare shootings like this are.
“The most important thing is reassuring those kids that they're safe and tell them that they have a responsibility when they're at school to always do what their teachers say. You know, follow the rules. That's how it's going to ensure that they remain safe,” said Wajda.
TXT 24
Twitter
Facebook