Don’t blame murder/suicide on mental illness if uncertain
We need to ask ourselves if we truly believe mental illness was the reason Alan Hawe brutally murdered his own family, writes.
Did Alan Hawe brutally murder his wife Clodagh and his sons Liam, Niall and Ryan because he had mental health difficulties or because he was angry and distressed? This is the key question raised by the inquest held earlier this week into the deaths. The answer not only matters to the extended family and to the community, but it matters to us all.
If Alan Hawe’s actions can be attributed to mental health difficulties why was his distress not recognised and why did he not seek help? Are other people with such difficulties at risk of perpetrating similar horrendous acts? If we attribute his actions to distress and anger how can we hope to make sense of the type of belief and value system underpinning this, how can we come to terms with such calculated violence?
Attributing acts of murder/suicide to mental health difficulties is often the easiest way to resolve the emotional anxiety such acts raise in us all. If we can convince ourselves that in some way the perpetrator was, by virtue of illness, not fully responsible for his/her actions, this makes understanding them a little easier. But attributing such acts to mental health difficulties should only be done when we are certain. Speculative attribution not only does a disservice to the victims but does significant damage to the public understanding of mental health.
The battle to combat the stigma associated with mental health difficulties is constant and ongoing. Research conducted by St Patrick’s Mental Health Services in 2017 indicates that stigma remains deeply engrained within Irish society and that trust in people with mental health difficulties is still low. This research found that 44% of people would not trust someone who experienced post-natal depression to babysit, 23% would not willingly marry someone previously hospitalised with depression, and 19% would not be entirely comfortable living next door to someone who is bi-polar.
Of course, people with mental health difficulties, just like anyone, can be violent, but this does not mean the violence should automatically be attributed to their mental health difficulties. We know that those with mental health difficulties are no more likely to commit violent crime than others and that they are more likely to harm themselves than others.
In the last number of years, there has been growing international interest in assessing the factors underpinning murder/suicide and familicide. The new but growing knowledge base has identified factors such as stress and male proprietariness in combination with an exaggerated sense of responsibility as important contributory factors. Of course, every individual occurrence is different and will have its own causal factors but those closest to the Hawes identified a number of such factors in Alan Hawe’s life.
Inquests by their nature cannot determine all the causative factors of any death. This inquest identified key information which we need to interpret carefully and try to understand. The evidence outlined a man in distress, who was facing a marital separation and a loss of status within his community. It also presented the picture of a man who was mentally troubled.
How we assess and make sense of this information will be determined by our pre-existing beliefs and understanding of mental health and those with mental health difficulties.
Interpreting the information requires us to challenge our deeply embedded stigma and to be prepared to challenge this in others.
Every family in Ireland is impacted upon by mental health difficulties. Many seek help for their difficulties and others choose to try to cope on their own. Each of our experiences while different give us a true sense of the impact and effect of such difficulties. Combating the stigma associated with combating mental health difficulties requires us to be honest with ourselves and to ask whether we truly believe we or our family member who is experiencing the difficulties would be capable, even in their darkest moments, of carrying out an act of extreme violence. We must also ask ourselves if we believe that a person can reach such depths of stress, anger and proprietariness that they would be capable of such violence.
Perhaps the most poignant aspect of the Hawe family inquest has been the determination of Clodagh’s mother to have the voices of Clodagh and the boys heard. Supported by her family, her courage has been exemplary. Her family has listened to the graphic detail of the murders and the information from the professionals while showing a resolve to have their understanding of the story heard. The GP and counsellor have also demonstrated their determination to present the facts as they knew them, no matter how painful these are.
We owe it to Clodagh, Liam, Niall and Ryan to make our own judgments as to what we believe happened. As Clodagh’s mother and extended family have done, we need to be prepared to challenge ourselves, to look into our hearts and to ask ourselves if we truly believe mental illness was the cause.
