Posted on 01/12/2011 12:26:57 PM PST by worst-case scenario
It wasn't long after news of the Tucson, Ariz., tragedy broke that the words "paranoid schizophrenic" entered the conversation. Armchair psychiatrists across the country looked at Jared Loughner -- 22, history of antisocial behavior, with a cache of rambling YouTube videos on government mind control -- and diagnosed him. But is there any truth to this? And if so, how does it help make sense of his horrific actions?
To try and untangle the influences that might lead one lone gunman to fire his Glock at a political rally, we turned to Dr. E. Fuller Torrey, respected psychiatrist and one of the foremost experts on paranoid schizophrenics. Torrey has written several books on the mental illness, including the bestselling classic "Surviving Schizophrenia." He is founder of the Treatment Advocacy Center in Virginia, a national nonprofit for the mentally ill.
Quite early in the news cycle, the media more or less diagnosed Jared Loughner as paranoid schizophrenic. Do you think that's accurate?
He's a textbook case. Most psychiatrists will tell you they need to examine a patient before diagnosing him, but this guy has all of the symptoms. He has the right age of onset. He has a deteriorating social course, as they say in the [DSM], social and occupational dysfunction. He has delusions, and they're pretty strange. It's common for schizophrenics to think people are trying to control their mind, but thinking the government is trying to control your grammar -- I've never heard that before. The real tip-off is the markedly disorganized speech, which you see in the rambling videos. This is the kind of disorganized speech that you virtually never get in any other condition. It's what we call pathognomonic of schizophrenia. That is, when you hear that symptom, it's "schizophrenia until proven otherwise." He's also got the affective flattening of emotion, which you see in that mug shot.
That was my first thought when I saw his YouTube video, but what do I know?
“Dave’s not here!”
Pot is not a good mix for a paranoid schizophrenic.
That was my first thought as well.
not too long ago he was calling his friends at 2am asking them if they were sitting outside his house. He pushed them away out of fear they were trying to kill him. Clearly he was paranoid.
Yet he was a contributor on Daily KOS and fitted right in.
Seriously, Leftist websites are great places to conceal pathognomoneia. Like hiding leaves in a forest.
It was obvious to me and I don’t even work in this field. The media and that idiot sheriff should be ashamed of themselves.
YEP....my sister has gone thru paranoid schizo phases...one time she wouldn’t eat at my home...”because I might poison her.” She is cut off from family because of her behavior. It’s not easy being a family member....believe me.
Isnt Salon a liberal website ???
I posted this Sunday but it’s worth a short excerpt.
Loughner posted on a board called abovetopsecret.com. Last July another member TOLD Loughner he was a schizophrenic and to seek help before hurting himself or others.
I’ve since gone back to see if this user posted any follow-ups and could find none. But it’s amazing to me that this one guy who never met Loughner and only “diagnosed” him via Loughner’s posts, was dead-on.
Below I have just one post of Loughner’s to give you a taste of the guy’s mental ability and then the exchange between the other (sane) member and Loughner:
Loughner Post -
Though shall wish the alien zombie away!
If this is a nightmare situation then hope that the alarm is set.
This is a nightmare situation.
Hope the alarm is set.
This next one is a statement by another user, mordant1, to erad3 (erad3=Loughner), telling him to seek help. Then a response from erad3 (date is July 11, 2010):
(mordant1) I have maybe made a mistake is my assessment of your avatar, because for that to be the case, you’d have to be at least somewhat rational, but I think youre frankly schizophrenic, and no that’s not an amateur opinion and not intended as an uninformed or insulting remark, you clearly make no sense and are unable to communicate. I really do care. Seek help before you hurt yourself or others or start taking your medications again, please. Maybe, it’d be better for some there be an infinite source of haldol or cogentin then fiat currency.
[edit on 11-7-2010 by mordant1]
reply by erad3 I can occasionally change the avatar into other stick figures for humor. I didn’t say anything about an amateur opinion from anyone. I enjoy the concern because of the misspellings of words that occur.
There’s trouble with misspelling of words in all posters. This is fine because of the Edit button. Don’t stereotype the misspellings of words ! The inductive argument is frightening for scholarly research. Ill get to the location of the currency in the next post. Thank you for the concern.
Many years ago, I lived upstairs from a woman and her elderly mother. The woman seemed a little odd but OK but we did not know them at all. Turned out, that was when the daughter was taking her meds.
One day, mom shows up at my door pleading for help. He daughter was off the meds and had held her mom prisoner for several hours. During the course of the next several hours, I had to be with the daughter to make sure the mom was going to be safe (the police were useless). Among other things, the daughter accused me of preventing her from driving by putting severed heads on the front seat of her car. She was serious and it wasn’t a rant. She knew it to be true and was trying to tell me reasonably that she knew about the whole thing.
Had she listened to Rush Limbaugh and thought he was telling her to imprison her mom, does that make him responsible for the woman’s acts? Insane has its own internal logic that reaches out and gets random stuff from the world and works it into the craziness. I just happened to be around so I got to be the severed heads guy.
“Isnt Salon a liberal website ???”
Yes.
Most of the comments there continue to blindly insist that Sarah Palin or Glenn Beck made him do it, anyway.
Frankly some of the commenters are exhibiting the same type paranoia that schizophrenics do. They keep insisting on obviously untrue scenarios despite all evidence. They have their delusion and they won’t let go.
Are you sure? There was some original speculation that the killer was Daily Kos member BoyBlue who had worked for Giffords but recently said she was "now dead to me". That turned out to be incorrect. I haven't heard any other connection to Kos than that.
Confirms what I have always believed that the shooter not only has mental illness but I do believe demonic possession as well.
Confirms what Michael Savage has said, “liberalism is a mental disorder”.
I have a sister who has been a COMPLETE nightmare for me and my family since around 1985.
I believe you.
You’re right about that too. Another reason it should taken by prescription only.
Just occurred to me....are there support groups for the FAMILY members of Schizo’s....? I had never thought about that before...it might be useful...we’ve been dealing with this since about 1977
Right! Practising psychiatry without a patient should be a crime! How the hell does this jerk KNOW anything about Jared? It is all remote hearsay.
No true professional would ever do this. This guy is a QUACK!!!
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