State: As violence erupts, experts ask: Why all the rage?

A Massachusetts software tester shoots and kills seven co-workers after learning his wages are about to be garnished. A Citrus County man chases down his mother and kills her outside a convenience store. After arguing with his wife, a New Port Richey man slams his truck into her van, which blasts into the living room.

And that's just a sample of last week's rage. One year ago Saturday, a man went on a shooting rampage at the Radisson Bay Harbor Hotel in Tampa, killing five.

Any week you choose, you can find more examples of people so enraged that they lose all reason and control.

Facing problems that seem trivial in retrospect, they sometimes respond with bullets, ruining their lives and ending others'.

Mental health professionals and others who deal with extremely angry people say there is no simple answer to why some people succumb to rage. Isolation, anger and even holiday stress can be factors, they say.

Charles D. Spielberger, a distinguished research professor at the University of South Florida, said a typical pattern is that someone who experiences a great deal of anger turns it inward.

Unlike the person who is quick to anger and quick to forget about it, this inwardly angry person is likely to feel his torment slowly building.

"He doesn't reduce its intensity. It just continues to grow," said Spielberger, who also is director of the Center for Research in Behavioral Medicine and Health Psychology.

Eventually, a straw will break the camel's back, and all this suppressed anger can explode.

Spielberger cautioned that he has no direct knowledge of the Massachusetts case, but said, "I suspect that further information will show that he may have had angry feelings toward the people in the company which were never really expressed."

Enraged people often feel no connection to a supportive family or a community of co-workers who want to help each other, said Debi McGinty, a human services director for the Department of Children and Families.

"I think that, many times, is the core of rage," she said.

So companies must set up employee assistance plans that offer counseling to workers in need, she said.

Even though it may seem awkward, individuals should think of non-threatening, non-embarrassing ways to suggest help early on for co-workers or friends who seem to be wrestling with anger or depression.

"We all have a responsibility and that may sound very 'social worky,' but I do think that's true."

Asked if holiday stress could play a role in some of these outbursts, McGinty pointed out that some holiday stress is not so bad. When people are busily rushing to stores and furiously baking, they are usually doing so in anticipation of a delightful holiday.

But the flip side is the person who doesn't feel that connection, who sees joy around him but knows he's not going to share it.

"You turn on the TV and you see all these joyful things, and that doesn't mirror your life," McGinty said, and that can exacerbate the feeling of loneliness and depression.

Five years ago a Pinellas emergency mental health facility wanted to know how many of its clients had committed some sort of violent act in the two weeks before getting admitted to their center. The answer was about one-third, 53 out of 156 cases studied.

"We were really struck with how high those numbers were," said Thomas C. Wedekind, executive director of Personal Enrichment through Mental Health Services. That was one reason the agency opened its Family Emergency Treatment Center, a 24-hour walk-in center for people in crisis.

Still, most people with psychological problems are not violent, said James Edgar, a Tampa psychiatrist and past president of the Florida Psychiatric Association.

On a more philosophical note, Linda Osmundson of the Center Against Spouse Abuse, wonders if some bursts of rage have their root in some of society's prevailing attitudes. She thinks "a revenge mentality" is common today.

"If somebody stepped on my toe, they meant to and it was intentional and I should be enraged about it," she said, describing this attitude.

"I think we have lost the concept of forgiveness."

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Lucy Morgan

From the Times state desk