A new report from the Wisconsin Office of Children’s Mental Health finds that anxiety, depression, and PTSD, along with hypervigilance and fear are common mental health conditions of shooting survivors. The recently released fact sheet outlines the traumatic effect that school shootings have on the entire school community and long-term harm to youth mental health and well-being. Fond du Lac County Public Health Officer Kim Mueller says the report found that children who survive shootings have twice as many pain disorders, are 68 percent more likely to have a psychiatric diagnosis, and are 144 percent as likely to develop a substance use disorder than those who did not experience a shooting. In the past 25 years, there were nearly 1,500 school shootings in the U.S., which is 57 times greater than all other major industrialized nations combined.
