The children who experience a school shooting but live to see their parents and friends again are often called survivors. In the two years after a fatal school shooting, the rate at which antidepressants were prescribed to children and teens rose by 21% within a tight ring around the affected school. AdvertisementIn short, the mental health impact of a fatal school shooting can be substantial and long-lasting, even as it is narrowly localized. The study suggests that some of the ways schools cope with student suicides might prove useful in the aftermath of a school shooting, Olfson said. Although suicides are rarely as public as school shootings, both events seem to set off a contagion of deteriorating mental health among students.

Source: Los Angeles Times December 16, 2019 20:15 UTC