Interesting Coincidence about the Colorado Shooter’s School

[NjoyingNsanity]

I just think what happened is incredibly sad and wish I could wrap my head around what causes people to do these sorts of things. From news accounts up until very recently I or most people wouldn't have pegged him for someone who would have done this sort of thing. The reports I've heard say he was studying to enter the medical field. How does someone go from wanting to help people to indiscriminately shooting random strangers as if he were hunting them. I think most people when faced with trying to understand an event as horrific as this struggle to make sense of it blaming it on some sickness of the mind, soul or society. Me I just think something had to have gone very wrong with him for him to have done such a thing. I tend to try to see the good in people so maybe that side of me thinks he might have been suffering from an undiagnosed mental illness, and had he recieved proper treatment none of this would have happened. If that is the case then justice requires that he be shown some level of mercy.

There are things that make me doubt mental illness the fact that he planned this and it was clearly premeditated makes me think this wasn't the work of someone who just snapped. He bought gun, ammo and protective gear. He surprised his victims and made escape harder by throwing a tear gas canister into a crowded theater. All this points to some level of rational thought and planning. Those are not the actions of someone who is acting out of fear. Yet his actions show the same lack of basichuman empathy that is a hallmark of serial killers so something is really off with him though

[Lainey]

What I'm trying to say is that when delusional people are violent, it's because they think they're in danger and what they do is react to the immediate threat. That often means they strike out at the person or thing that's agitating them. It is EXTREMELY rare that they spend months plotting out an elaborate scheme to kill large groups of people. That is psychopathy, which is caused by much more than mental illness. So to just say "this guy is mentally ill!" is not coming even close to telling the whole story, and has the effect of making those who are uneducated about mental illness be even more judgmental about them. And to say that the only other explanation is that he's demonic (I've seen this a few times) is just idiotic.

ITA with this. I also agree with NjoyingNsanity that people look for something to blame, as a way to make sense of a senseless tragedy.

[JesusFightClub]

These sorts of act are fascinating though horrible. He seems to be along the same lines as Breivik in Norway, and had carefully planned what he was going to do (although Breivik beats him in the planning stakes). I do not know if it's mental illness or something else we don't understand yet.

Planning doesn't rule out mental illness. I'm bipolar and I get fixated on stuff. Fixated like phoning people at 3am to explain a particular point of IRA strategy because I don't get that a. even if the person wants to know it which is highly unlikely b. they don't want to know it at 3am. I can totally see fixing one's thoughts on a plan like those perpetrators did, so it takes over your whole life. It's happened to me without the wanting to kill people thing.

[Glass Cowcatcher]

These sorts of act are fascinating though horrible. He seems to be along the same lines as Breivik in Norway, and had carefully planned what he was going to do (although Breivik beats him in the planning stakes). I do not know if it's mental illness or something else we don't understand yet.

Planning doesn't rule out mental illness. I'm bipolar and I get fixated on stuff. Fixated like phoning people at 3am to explain a particular point of IRA strategy because I don't get that a. even if the person wants to know it which is highly unlikely b. they don't want to know it at 3am. I can totally see fixing one's thoughts on a plan like those perpetrators did, so it takes over your whole life. It's happened to me without the wanting to kill people thing.

It has been speculated that he had a breakdown due to pressure at school.

How that translates into shooting a theater, and not the school itself, I don't know.

[JesusFightClub]

It has been speculated that he had a breakdown due to pressure at school.

How that translates into shooting a theater, and not the school itself, I don't know.

Well, I know one person - knew one person who didn't make it due to pressure at school. She killed herself, though, not anyone else.

She was a med student who threw herself off a cliff. I could see where she'd done it from my window. The poor girl had been suffering from feeling she wasn't good enough. IIRC her parents were both doctors. I don't think it's what she wanted to do, but she wanted to make her parents proud. When she realised she was not able to complete the medical course she thought better to die instead.

A very high pressure course which brings out the best feelings and the worst feelings in people...

[deelaem]

These sorts of act are fascinating though horrible. He seems to be along the same lines as Breivik in Norway, and had carefully planned what he was going to do (although Breivik beats him in the planning stakes). I do not know if it's mental illness or something else we don't understand yet.

Planning doesn't rule out mental illness. I'm bipolar and I get fixated on stuff. Fixated like phoning people at 3am to explain a particular point of IRA strategy because I don't get that a. even if the person wants to know it which is highly unlikely b. they don't want to know it at 3am. I can totally see fixing one's thoughts on a plan like those perpetrators did, so it takes over your whole life. It's happened to me without the wanting to kill people thing.

*sigh* I never said it did. What I DID say was that if he has mental illness, it is of the sort that is extremely rare and is only one part of his psychological profile. There have been numerous studies that show that mass murderers have other factors such as prenatal trauma, child abuse, head injuries, organic brain damage, etc. in addition to mental illness. And the mental illness is usually more of a personality disorder diagnosis rather than schizophrenia or other thought disorders.

[treemom]

I have yet to see any concrete evidence of mental illness. Violence, even incredible violence is not in and of itself a sign of mental illness.

[deelaem]

I have yet to see any concrete evidence of mental illness. Violence, even incredible violence is not in and of itself a sign of mental illness.

Thank you!!

[deelaem]

I have yet to see any concrete evidence of mental illness. Violence, even incredible violence is not in and of itself a sign of mental illness.

Thank you!!

[Kishiria]

http://www.10news.com

Local TV station here in San Diego. James Holmes grew up in affluent Rancho Penasquitos and was active in his family's church, a nice liberal ELCA Lutheran one.

Mental illnesses can manifest in young adults. I think this will reveal itself to be the case. My heart goes out to the victims of the Aurora shooting and their families, but until shown otherwise I can only shudder thinking about what Holmes's reaction will be when/if they administer the right medication and he realizes what he did.

[treemom]

http://www.10news.com

Local TV station here in San Diego. James Holmes grew up in affluent Rancho Penasquitos and was active in his family's church, a nice liberal ELCA Lutheran one.

Mental illnesses can manifest in young adults. I think this will reveal itself to be the case. My heart goes out to the victims of the Aurora shooting and their families, but until shown otherwise I can only shudder thinking about what Holmes's reaction will be when/if they administer the right medication and he realizes what he did.

Mental Illness also doesn't work like that. As some know I was the victim of a violent crime committed with someone with schizophrenia when I was a kid. There wasn't just some magic drug that made him understand it.

ETA: Most people with schizophrenia are not violent, and certainly not violent like this.

[Alecto]

What mental illness could cause this?

The only real indicator I have seen in the reports has been are the claims he thinks he is the Joker.

I've been following this like a hawk, and I honestly think he might be attempting to present as mentally ill as a way to "get away with it." Though after watching the tapes of him this morning, I would not doubt he was drugged on something.

[ems]

Ugh, do we really have to go through this again? No, evil people aren't evil because of mental illness. Some people are just bad people. He may or may not have a mental illness, but it's not why he committed this massacre. Remember that people with mental illness are actually more likely to be the VICTIM of violence. Stop trying to pin all of this horror on mentally ill people.

I don't think that people are trying to stigmatize the mentally ill as all being violent, just saying that people who are violent are likely to have some sort of mental illness. Of course, maybe some people are just "evil," we'll never understand why people commit evil actions like this, but much horrific behavior is a result of being "not right in the head," even if it's a mental illness like antisocial personality disorder (pychopathy).

[ems]

I also think it's likely the shooter could be mentally ill based on the fact that he had been a neuroscience student -- and no, of course I'm not saying that all neuroscience students are mentally ill :P . But was there a reason he was drawn to that particular field?

[deelaem]

I don't think that people are trying to stigmatize the mentally ill as all being violent, just saying that people who are violent are likely to have some sort of mental illness. Of course, maybe some people are just "evil," we'll never understand why people commit evil actions like this, but much horrific behavior is a result of being "not right in the head," even if it's a mental illness like antisocial personality disorder (pychopathy).

Well researched statistics do NOT bear this out. The vast majority of violent crime is not committed by people diagnosed with a mental illness.

[mausi]

I also think it's likely the shooter could be mentally ill based on the fact that he had been a neuroscience student -- and no, of course I'm not saying that all neuroscience students are mentally ill :P . But was there a reason he was drawn to that particular field?

(bolding mine) Is this a serious post? In what possible way is there any conceivable connection between a PhD course in neuroscience and senseless violence??

[Glass Cowcatcher]

(bolding mine) Is this a serious post? In what possible way is there any conceivable connection between a PhD course in neuroscience and senseless violence??

I hope not because it's an epic fail. Neuroscience isn't the same as psychiatry.

[emmiedahl]

I hope not because it's an epic fail. Neuroscience isn't the same as psychiatry.

His special research focus was in organic molecules involved in mental illness. I don't think this in itself makes him more likely to be mentally ill, probably just a coincidence.

I think he was mentally ill. Not so much because of the crime (any random right wing asshole can get a gun and decide to be an even bigger asshole) but because of the relatively fast period of decline in the period before the shooting. People with severe and untreated mental illness are more likely to be violent, but because of the numbers involved most crime is certainly committed by perfectly mentally capable people. Still, something about this screams mental illness to me.

[FakePigtails]

It seems he was seeing a psychiatrist: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/28/us/co ... -care.html

[Wolfie]

I think he was mentally ill. Not so much because of the crime (any random right wing asshole can get a gun and decide to be an even bigger asshole) but because of the relatively fast period of decline in the period before the shooting. People with severe and untreated mental illness are more likely to be violent, but because of the numbers involved most crime is certainly committed by perfectly mentally capable people. Still, something about this screams mental illness to me.

This- if you look at what has been published about his life he seems to have been pretty normal until just months ago when there was a fast decline.