About 2 million employees are affected by workplace violence every year, according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. And shocking acts of public violence—a stabbing at a Pennsylvania high school, shootings at Fort Hood and the Washington Navy Yard—continue to dominate the news.

This is not simply a case of a 24-hour news cycle maintaining a captive audience with fear mongering. It’s a real danger as many cases of workplace violence go unreported. A prevalent common denominator in these situations is untreated mental illness.

Because diagnosis and treatment of mental illness hasn’t progressed much in recent decades, we need to encourage lay people to be vigilant toward those expressing tendencies that may indicate the potential for violence due to mental illness.

4 indicators that bullying or other problems are happening

Being marginalized or bullied

Students interviewed at the Murrysville, PA high school where 16-year-old Alex Hribal is accused of stabbing 21 people have said Hribal is a shy person without violent tendencies. The FBI, however, has found evidence that he was bullied online. Human beings are social creatures which almost always require companionship for mental well-being, especially for the development of a juvenile.

Be sensitive to those who are socially challenged as pressure from bullying can have catastrophic consequences.

Taking a consistent and emphatic victimization position

After pulling out a pistol and yelling what can be translated in English as “God is great!” Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan pulled out a pistol and killed 13 unarmed people in Fort Hood. Later in court, when Hasan was representing himself, he justified his actions by saying he was defending a group of Taliban leaders in Afghanistan, including a man named Mullah Omar.

Those who perpetrate terrible violence often do so citing justice from a victimized position.

Demonstrating readily apparent indicators of paranoia and a history of violent reactions

Aaron Alexis, the former Navy man who was discharged from the service for a violent altercation, was nonetheless allowed to work in the Washington Navy Yard as a contractor. He eventually shot and killed 12 people, and critically injured three. The FBI later said that he was under “the delusional belief that he was being controlled or influenced by extremely low frequency electromagnetic waves.”

These are clear red flags of mental illness that were ignored.

Exhibiting an aggressively litigious nature

The Guinness Book of World Records named Jonathan Lee Richards the most litigious man. He had levied filings against Martha Stewart, New England Patriots football coach Bill Belichick, and many others. Having heard of this distinction, Richards filed a suit against the record-holding institution!

Outrageous legal action is another form of confrontation from those who constantly perceive grievances.

Bottom line:  some signs of danger are more overt than others, but all warrant taking action.

Today’s guest contributor is Mohinder Goomar, a former doctor and personality disorder sufferer. After experiencing mood swings and a distortion of judgment, Mohinder was diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder (DID) and lost his medical license during his two-year period of rehabilitation. Sadly, because of his DID experience, his medical license was not reinstated. His book, It’s Just My Opinion, details his experience and provides guidance to help others in recognizing danger signs in others in the workplace or schools.