I’m writing to expand on the important message of Laura Briggs’ Sept. 10 letter to the editor “We can’t securitize our way out of school shootings.” I’m a psychotherapist, and the young students my colleagues and I work with can have very high levels of anxiety about school shootings.

The vast majority of youth gun violence is perpetrated by boys. It’s crystal-clear that we as a nation are not serving them well. The wonderful improvements for girls in schools over the last decades means they now graduate, and go on to further success, at a much higher rate than boys.

Boys often struggle academically and socially. For support, they are left attaching to proponents of an extreme version of the outdated male gender role, and then are ostracized for embodying that. By the time their mental health issues are obvious, they are waved off by a society that doesn’t believe boys have emotional issues.

Is it any surprise they are desperate and confused? The Ezra Klein Show’s exemplary podcast episode featuring expert Richard Reeves (“The men — and boys — are not all right,” March, 10, 2023) lays out in detail the many paths that could lead boys to a better fit in their communities. As Ms. Briggs suggests, making counseling more available is very important. Having more male teachers, therapists, etc., model a new gender role would also do a lot in heading off this problem, as would more pro-social groups.

School districts, state governments, and parents urgently need to clue in to this alarming trend, and the encouraging possibilities.

Harry Remer

Hadley