School Shootings: The Need for More Empathic Parenting

article

Nina Cerfolio

Abstract

Our team’s research suggests the importance of using early mental health care to appropriately treat children who are suffering from undiagnosed mental illness, abuse, and isolation. There is a need for more of an interdisciplinary approach involving families, school counselors, law enforcement, mental health workers, and lawyers to secure appropriate psychiatric treatment for children with mental illnesses who are marginalized and may have a higher risk of violence.

Keywords:

American gun culture, abuse, bullying, childhood neglect, early-onset schizophrenia, gun violence, isolation, marginalization, mental health care, psychohistory, psychosis, radicalization, school shootings, undiagnosed psychiatric illness

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About the author

Nina Cerfolio

Nina Cerfolio, MD, Assistant Clinical Professor of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, is an expert on trauma and terrorism and a board-certified psychiatrist and psychoanalyst in New York City. Her recent book, Psychoanalytic and Spiritual Perspectives on Terrorism: Desire for Destruction (2023/2024), weaves her team’s cutting-edge research with her first-hand experiences of being a first responder to explore a more expansive understanding of the origins of terrorism. She can be contacted at .

How to cite this article

Cerfolio, N. (2026). School shootings: The need for more empathic parenting. Clio’s Psyche, 33(1), 101-107.

https://doi.org/10.70763/1ba922ac006a8e5f2b123684c2f4d65f