Take someone who is mentally ill/unhinged, add rage, and paranoia, then weaponize this individual, and you’ve got a murderer/mass murderer on your hands.
The “rage + paranoia” is a highly incendiary combination. In these mass murders it strikes me that “paranoia” is almost surely present and necessary—the murderous individual believes that it’s “him against a world” that has “screwed him over,” the world (and everyone in it) becoming a global, generalized “object” and “target” of his violent contempt and rage.
His is a worldview in which he is the “outsider” and everyone else is “on the inside;” in his paranoia, immaturity and narcissism, he has divided the world into these rigid categories—himself on the “outside,” and everyone else “on the inside” (literally and figuratively “on the inside”); the latter become “fair game” for the vengeance he has accumulated and the plans he incubates to ventilate it.
This is how innocent people, and small children, seemingly inexplicably get lopped into the vortex of his rage: as members of the “inside,” everyone in his warped mind becomes a “target”–a generalized, deserving target of his hatred (again, by virtue of merely being “on the inside,” where he, alone, is not.)
I worked for two years, weekly, with a client who, two years after I last saw him at the community mental health center where I worked, gunned down seven children at a hotel swimming pool. He had been full of rage, paranoia and was mentally unhinged. He found himself some weapons, big surprise, with perverse ease. Having weaponized himself, he went to town and shattered the lives of these innocent kids and their families.
He was on the “outside,” perceiving himself to be alone there; where the world, and everyone in it, had it easy, he perceived himself as a “victim,” as an “outsider,” as not belonging, as ignored and persecuted; blatant paranoia and delusions warped his thinking terribly; his rage was chronic and rose as implacably as flood-waters, becoming uncontainable.
Finally, easy access to weapons was the final stage of what, in retrospect, seemed an almost inevitable outcome.
(This article is copyrighted (c) 2012 by Steve Becker, LCSW.)
I dont agree at all with the “easy weapons” bit. and here’s why.
folks, a gun is a tool. it can be used responsibly. and they usually are..even as a tool in war, those with conscience avoid using them on civilians or non combatants. if there were no guns, these disordered folks would find a baseball bat or a piece of rope etc. always remember how driven they are. it is the individual holding the weapon who pulls the trigger. the gun didn’t do it.
furthermore, if we were to take away all the guns from society, there would still be the military. and they are controlled by the most powerful group of liars and disordered we know. our government. we throw the same disillusion at our politicians as we do at these maniacal killers only we ask different questions such as “how can they lie to us?’. I am shocked by our nations debt and the insane belief by a large portion of us that BELIEVE the govt. can and will provide for us under these circumstances.
sincerely,
rgc
Steve, good heavens, how horrible. Thank you for posting this professional experience and I am so sorry that this happened.
As a mental health professional, I would really like to read your views on the obvious symptoms of this type of paranoia, how it’s generally addressed, and if you see any methods of preventing the “inevitable outcome” in cases like this.
To me, it seems that there is really no method to manage the dangerously disturbed. In the case of my own eldest son, he’s violent, reclusive, manipulative, and (IMHO) very, very dangerous. In 2004, he was diagnosed by military psychiatrists with Borderline Personality Disorder Cluster B. He is also armed and I have contacted numerous agencies with regard to these facts. The answer has ALWAYS been, “Until something happens, our hands are tied.”
So, I’ve kept all of the documentation with regard to his diagnosis, and other evidence for lo, these many years. I am fearful that he will, indeed, go on a rampage in a fit of rage, one day. When the shootings at VA Tech occurred, I spent the entire day attempting to track down my son to find out if he had been involved – he lives near VA Tech.
What options does a concerned and conscientious parent have when they are fearful for their disordered children?
Again, thank you for sharing your professional experience in this matter. I imagine that it’s been a difficult one to process.
Brightest blessings
EDIT ADD: I don’t feel that this is the appropriate time or place to discuss gun control. I feel that sorting out disorders and engaging in “people control” is a far more appropriate focus. Just my 2 cents.
Truthspeak,
I, like you, have no belief that anyone hears me “crying in the wilderness like John The Baptist” or believes a word I say about how dangerous my son Patrick is EVEN THOUGH HE HAS ALREADY KILLED ONE GIRL and as NEVER HONORED ANY CONDITIONAL RELEASE, PROBATION OR PAROLE.
Though “the best indicator of future behavior is past behavior” and his past behavior has been violent and criminal, even in prison it continued to be criminal….the parole board wants to decrease prison populations.
Here iin Arkansas they cut down the number of NEW prisoners by DECRIMINALIZING all robberies less than $1000. It used too be a felony to steal a GUN, any gun, now it is ONLY if it is worth more than $1000, and most guns are NOT worth that, so gun theft is essentially NO LONGER A FELONY. All the guns in my house total are not worth $1000 so it wouldn’t even be a felony to steal them all. NO prison time. Before, if someone stole my grandpa;s old squirrel gun, worth about $20, it was a FELONY, but not now. And prison population is dropping because of fewer people going in in my state.
The state can say “CRIME IS DOWN!!! FEWER FELONIES COMMITTED IN ARKANSAS, FILM AT 6:00” yea right. Just quit calling it a crime to steal and theft is no longer a crime. Less arrests, less paper work, and less people in prison. Works for my state.
I agree with your comment above: “I don’t feel that this is the appropriate time or place to discuss gun control. I feel that sorting out disorders and engaging in “people control” is a far more appropriate focus. Just my 2 cents. “
Steve
I am so sorry for you to have had such an experience with such a client. I think you are spot on about the rage these type feel and exhibit. Whether the rage comes from only disorder or whether it comes from history of constant invalidation and abuse, the rage is real and constant. I agree it is a THEM vs VICTIM rage.
I don’t know if you intend to imply that the Sandy Hook murderer is the same but I am thinking while terribly sad and tragic, there are facts that have yet to come out. Just knowing that Adam smashed all the hard drives on his computers tells me that he was able to process extrapolation to the future. I think the questions, what makes a ticking time bomb vs where are the rights of a person who has yet to commit a crime are the Flustrating questions we all ask, flustrating b/c we can all see the travesties done.
EDIT ADD: Like others, I agree this is not the venue to discuss gun control. I will say for 50 years I was VERY afraid of guns and people who carry guns, that is until I took gun classes. Now I understand and I am no longer afraid of ANY guns or those who use/carry them.
Oxy, I have kept the physical evidence and documentation with regard to my eldest son because, GOD FORBID, the day that I hear a knock at my door and am required to hear from the mouth of some law enforcement individual that my son has committed the worst crime imaginable, I can hand this pile of 4 lb of documentation to them and say, “I TRIED to tell people that he was a danger, and nobody heard the words.”
Oxy, I do not want my eldest son to be disordered. I do not want his violent tendencies to ever manifest themselves in the worst crime imaginable. I do not want to believe that my son is dangerous. No parent wants to accept these truths. But, my son IS disordered, he HAS been diagnosed, he HAS attempted to choke a pregnant ex-wife to death in a rage, and, he IS in possession of firearms. And, there is nothing more that I can do as a parent or citizen to warn any agency or individual that he is, indeed, dangerous.
I feel very impotent in this matter. I feel an almost desperate inevitability that my son will, in due time, really inflict irrevocable harm on someone in a fit of rage. His father often threatened to kill our children, murder me, and then commit suicide – and, I believe that he might have followed through with his threats if I had not finally left him. This is clearly a situation of genetics PLUS environment PLUS a dangerously disordered adult, and the only response for my concerns was “tsk, tsk, this is your own SON that you’re talking about.”
WTF?! It’s the worst feeling that I can think of, Oxy. To know that my son is dangerous and to have no means to protect society from his violent nature.
Brightest blessings
Truthhy,
The FIRST thing my son did when he got out of prison was to secure a GUN. It was a FELONY for him to even be in control of one, much less to OWN one.
He obtained this gun ILLEGALLY and committed a FELONY in doing so.
He did not try to hide the fact he had it. In fact, one of his ex convict friends who was questioned by the police said that he constantly played with it, jacking rounds back in and out of the chamber of this semi automatic pistol.
He even told some of his friends e intended to kill Jessica and WHY (she had ratted hiim out) told them “Sunday or Monday” and asked where thhey thought a good place to hide the body might be.
THEY DID NOT WARN JESSICA…WHY? Because they didn’t believe him? thought it was just “big talk”??? or was it because they didn’t care? One “friend” said he was AFRAID of Patrick. Maybe FEAR is why they didn’t warn Jessica. But I wonder if they HAD warned her if she would have believed them?
Yes, Patrick is FILLED with rage when he doesn’t get his own way, just like my P sperm donor was. No tolerance for frustration or being thwarted.
Our system of laws and our constitutional freedom hampers some “people control” because until a crime has been done, you can’t put someone in jail for it. However, there are some “three strikes” laws in many states in fact, but it is rarely enforced…there are only about 4-5,000 people sentenced to life without parole for frequent felonies and believe me I know many that qualify and should be in prison FOREVER but the “plea bargaining” and so on that goes on to keep the “system” going actually I think subverts real JUSTICE.
I have a brother. When I was little, he’d chase me around the house, shooting his bb gun at me. I was terrified. He was sexual abused by my pedophile father. My mother, who hated men, would put him in dresses and ridicule him, taking him to town in his dresses. Took pictures of him. My mother would beat the shit out of us, on a whim. She vented whenever she felt flustrated or angry. She liked to beat until she ran out of energy, liked the blood running. She did it to me, and many times she beat him the same intensity. When he was in third grade, he started playing with matches, started many fires, burned the corn cob pile, burned down two barns. We had to move. He tortured animals, pulled feathes out of birds, skinned kittens. My cat disappeared and I did not get another b/c I was sure he killed her. He wet the bed, and was ridiculed at school. They called him Peewater. He was a very angry teenager. When I was 17, my mom moved to another state and did not tell me. He moved with her. So I lost touch until he graduated and wanted me to give him a present. He demanded b/c he said I owed him b/c I had a very good job and he didn’t. He married at 18, and immediately had kids, they had 9 kids in 7 years.
Anyone want to predict what my brother did? (I will answer in a post later.) Do you think, based on genes and nurturing, that he should be one of those isolated and housed to protect society?
Hi KatyDid,
The ‘obvious’ answer is your brother is now a menace to his family and society. I have a feeling you may tell us otherwise.
Not everyone who is abused becomes an abuser…not every child who does awful things turns out to be a monster…
Not every child who has a nurturing, loving family turns out well…my son is a perfect example of a child with many GOOD tings who became a monster.
Unfortunately PREDICTION is limited to crystal balls and God…but the BEST INDICATOR OF FUTURE BEHAVIOR IS PAST BEHAVIOR so my son and those like him who have shown they are violent to other humans should be kept locked up.
slimone
You’d be right. When I was younger I would have expected my brother to be a mass murderer. He was DISconnected. He still is. He thinks whatever he decides is RIGHT. I can’t stand him. He’s this huge fat blob, gapped/missing teeth, eating junk food, watching tv, playing his video games. Over sexed (don’t think that part works anymore). Yet, he didn’t cross over into crimes, no more animal torture. Doesn’t even hunt. So WHY didn’t he? (personally I think he’s too lazy.) He is the epitome of the definition that turns into a predatory sociopath. Yet, he’s in his 50’s and since he hasn’t started yet, I don’t think it likely. He’s a pig, he lets his kids take care of him. He’s an ASS and he’s disgusting but he’s not in the realm of EVIL. Thus my issue with people screaming to screen and isolate people by definitions. People like him are the reason why cops say they can’t arrest people BEFORE they commit a crime, even if WE say they are dangerous.
Oxy makes a GREAT point, about her son showing the depth of his psychopathy and why LIFE should be LIFE. Thus I mailed my letter Monday 17 Dec, and her attorney should have it by today. I’m betting her son will eventually get released and his next victims family will be asking WHY couldn’t anyone predict his crime and keep him in prison.
SOME people CAN be predicted, likely to kill based on past behavior. Some can’t be predicted b/c what gets done TO people doesn’t mean they automatically BECOME. And SOME stuff is boy stuff, like picking on small critters and being fascinated by fire – SO typical of country boys.