ISMAIL AK (not AX): Possible lead in Virginia Tech case?

Dr. ISMAIL AK is a Professor of Psychiatry at a university in Turkey. His research interests include the following:

Personal Disorders, Agresivve behavior and self-mutilation, ECT, Substance-related disorders, Sexual Disorders, Forensic Psychiatry, Sleep Disorders

President-elect:
Professor Ismail AK, M.D. Head, Department of Psychiatry, KTU School of Medicine, Trabzon, Turkey
Ismail AK is Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at Head, Department of Psychiatry, KTU School of Medicine, Trabzon, Turkey
He is an experienced on clinical psychopharmacology of schizophrenia and bipolar disorders.

As regards pharmacotherapies, 354 (50.2%) were given antidepressants. . . . Among antidepressants, Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) were 72.8%. . . .

Even though all psychiatric disorders do not have the same potential with regard to committing a crime, the number of individuals having psychiatric disorders is gradually going up depending on the increase of crimes and violent behaviors committed in a society. . . . The relation between existence of psychiatric disorder and crime behavior has been significantly emphasized in several earlier studies. In conclusion, it is notable that the rates of committing crime for the individuals with psychiatric disorders are on the rise.

Dr. Ismail Ak is apparently one of the world's leading experts on the psychiatry of antisocial and suicidal behavior, psychotic and bipolar disorders, psychopharmacological therapy, etc.

The young man had been noticed to be disturbed and had been referred to counseling. Dr. Ismail Ak is an expert and author in the particular field most directly related to the guy's disorder.

That seems more likely to me than a connection to Moby Dick or to Islamic terrorism or to Cooper’s story.

This is an angle the investigators need to pursue with the school's counseling service, the killer's computer, and Dr. Ismail Ak himself.

On the Internet or in the VT library, Cho may have come across the name of the psychological expert, Dr. Ismail Ak--an authority on antisocial behavior, depression, conduct disorders, psychopharmacology, etc., whose article on "Predictors of Suicidal Behavior" had appeared in the journal "Death Studies," next to an article on "Death on Campuses"--and the name may have intrgued Cho, who then turned it into what appeared on his arm.

That may not be where Cho learned of Dr Ak:

Police: Cho taken to mental health center in 2005

...Police first investigated Cho in November 2005 after a student complained about him calling her and contacting her in person, Flinchum said.

Cho was sent to the university's Office of Judicial Affairs, which handled the complaint, the outcome of which is confidential, university officials said.

"The student declined to press charges and referred to Cho's contact with her as annoying," Flinchum said of the November investigation.

Police investigated him again the following month when a female student complained about instant messages Cho sent her, Flinchum said.

"Again, no threat was made against that student. However, she made a complaint to the Virginia Tech Police Department and asked that Cho have no further contact with her," the chief said.

After police spoke to Cho, they received a call from a student concerned that he might be suicidal.

Officers spoke to Cho "at length" then asked him to see a counselor. He agreed to be evaluated by Access Services, an independent mental health facility in Blacksburg, the chief said.

"A temporary detention order was obtained and Cho was taken to a mental health facility" on December 13, 2005, he said. ... .

Forum to address controversies over antidepressants"

BLACKSBURG, Va., October 31, 2005 -- Choices and Challenges at Virginia Tech will hold a public forum entitled “On Prozac: Debating the New Technologies of Mind,” a day-long series of panels and discussions to be held on Nov. 10 in the Graduate Life Center at Donaldson Brown. This forum is open to the public at no charge.

In 1987, a new class of antidepressant medications, the Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) appeared on the market, promising a cleaner, more effective treatment for depression, with greatly reduced side-effects. The first of these drugs, fluoxetene, better known by its trade name, Prozac, has become emblematic of the explosion in their use. In the United States, antidepressant use tripled in the 1990s. Roughly seven percent of the adult population is currently on an antidepressant. Even more controversially, these drugs are now prescribed to more and more children and adolescents.

The rapid adoption of these “technologies of mind” has not allowed for adequate public deliberation of their benefits and consequences. The Choices and Challenges forum is designed to provide a forum for such discussion.

“The routine use of these medications creates the illusion that their safety and efficacy are known quantities,” says Daniel Breslau, an associate professor in the Department of Science and Technology in Society in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences, and a co-coordinator of the forum. “And beyond the question of their effectiveness, these drugs raise broad and urgent questions about the causes of emotional distress, how to define emotional and mental well-being, and the relation of mind to the brain’s physiology.”

To be informed consumers of mental health services, and informed participants in policy debates, the public needs to hear and engage with a wide variety of perspectives, including those of ethicists, historians, and philosophers of mind.

On Prozac: Debating the New Technologies of Mind "DANGER: These drugs may offer pseudo-solutions to real problems"

First, yes, I was aware that Cho was taken to a mental health facility in 2005 and that there were concerns he had suicidal tendencies.

Second, not only is Dr. Ismail Ak an expert in suicidal tendencies, he is also an authority on the subjects dealt with at the Virginia Tech 2005 public forum: antidepressants, SSRIs, emotional distress in young people, etc. The odds are good that mental health professionals evaluating Cho would have been well aware of Ak's work.

Third, a couple of years earlier Dr. Ismail Ak had spoken at a conference in the U.S.--in the southeast, in fact--which mental health professionals from Va. Tech may well have attended and made contact with him. Dr. Ak's topic at that time (Session 2, #12) dealt with dissociative tendencies, painful emotions, etc., among young people.

Among the things I wondered about were, given Cho's psychological problems, a) whether he had been referred to Dr. Ak for e-mail correspondence, and b) whether Dr. Ak had contacts at Virginia Tech. I now have answers to at least those two parts of the question.

In post 22 of this thread, I reported what I wrote in an e-mail to Dr. Ismail Ak. Today I received this kind and thoughtful reply from Dr. Ak:

Dear Charles Henrickson

Firstly, I would like to express my sincere condolences on the recent terrible tragedy happened in Virginia Tech. I am sending my thoughts and prayers to families of the victims and all the people at Virginia Tech at this difficult time. I heard the tragedy from TV yesterday. Today I received some calls from the USA about the words written on the killers arm and I started to make a little search on GOOGLE about the situation and I found this site.

I tried to read all the comments and in my opinion the words should be something different than "ISMAIL AK" as it was written as "ISMAIL AX". Matching "AX" with "AK" looks like a conspiracy theory.

For your information; I have no studies in Virginia Tech University and I know no one from that university. As being a Professor of Psychiatry I have some researches about personal disorders, aggressive behavior, etc. So it is possible that people may have read my articles.

As an expert I can say that unfortunately people who has personal disorders may have this kind of behavior.

I am really sorrowful about the people died.

I wish investigators will find out about the situation as soon as possible.

Thanks.

Ismail AK, M.D., Prof

I just sent a thank-you e-mail to Dr. Ak, as follows:

Thank you, Dr. Ak, for your kind and thoughtful reply. You have cleared up a couple of questions. We now know that the young man had not been referred to you for e-mail correspondence, and that you had not had any contacts at Virginia Tech.

So the mystery of "ISMAIL AX" remains. A number of hypotheses have been raised, and many people have been exploring the relative merits of each, to see where the trail may lead. The goal is to try to gain insight into the mind and motive of this twisted killer, so as better to prevent future similar occurences.

Thanks again for taking some of your valuable time to get back to me.

Good job. Taking a new approach to solving problems is very useful in engineering. Ever consider circuit design as a career ?

I'm sure it would pay a lot more than my current career--pastor. :-) But, as St. Paul said, "Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!"

"Taking a new approach to solving problems" is very useful also in my own academic field. I have a Master's degree in Exegetical Theology and am "all-but-dissertation" on a Ph.D. in Biblical Studies. That work is all about interpeting texts, making connections, checking out possibilities, research, analysis, degrees of likelihood, etc.--in other words, a transferable set of skills useful in forming and exploring hypotheses in this case. Factor in training in linguistics--language, words, letters, sounds, even extending to Semitic languages--and you can see why trying to interpret "ISMAIL AX" would be intriguing to me.

A lot of academic work requires pursuing leads that may turn out to be dead ends. That could be the case with this "Ak hypothesis." But you don't know that until you track it out.

In this case, the particular expertise and the similarity in the name of Dr. Ismail Ak, when compared with the writing on Cho's arm, his psychological problems, and his penchant for playing with names--all this is what made it an angle worth pursuing. I certainly won't "take it personally," though, if the trail ends up leading nowhere.

I’ve not given up on the possible link in Cho’s mind that he had a connection to Dr. Ismail AK.

Nor have I. I can visualize Cho walking down the aisles in the VT library, seeing a journal called "DEATH STUDIES," looking inside and seeing back-to-back articles on "PREDICTORS OF SUICIDAL BEHAVIOR" and "DEATH ON CAMPUSES." This weapons-obsessed guy who turned "Macbeth" into "McBeef" notices the name, "Ismail Ak," and turns it into "Ismail Ax." That's one scenario. Cho could have come across the name of Dr. Ismail Ak in other ways, as well.

But other hypotheses that have been advanced--e.g., Cooper's "Prairie" story--have points in their favor as well. The Ak connections could be just a set of incredible coincidences.

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