Mental Health America Mourns Victims of Germanwings Flight

Mental Health America (MHA) joins America and the world in mourning the lives which were killed in the horrific and tragic plane crash of flight 9525. The thoughts and prayers of MHA, along with president and CEO, Paul Gionfriddo, are with the families of the victims. It is clear at this point the plane was brought down intentionally by the co-pilot. To many people, that is incomprehensible.

There have been reports that Andreas Rubitz may have been dealing with some mental health issues including depression. It is important that during the discussion and debate around how to prevent a tragedy of this type from occurring again, everyone keeps in mind that violent behavior is not a product of mental illness. Violence is a product of anger. Gionfriddo said:

We want to understand why this man turned to suicide and violence against others. But we must remember that the large majority of those with a mental illness are not nor will they ever be violent.

In fact, research shows that those with a mental illness are

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