Virginia Tech Shooter's Mental Health

The mental health of Cho Seung Hui is something that was listed as a potential reason behind the massacre at the campus. I remember seeing a licensed psychologist shamelessly telling the blonde reporter that Cho was Schizophrenic. Yeah, OK sure. If he was Schizophrenic he wouldn't have been able to organize everything the way he did, due to the disorganizing nature of the illness. But on the other hand he couldn't have been Bipolar because manic/hypomanic people are usually excited in a certain way. That could mean happy, paranoid, etc. which does not describe Cho in the video clips he sent to NBC. (And shame on NBC for showing that!) Plus, Bipolar Disorder doesn't have a diteriorating course like Schizophrenia. To me, Cho was simply someone born naturally cold, a pure sociopath obsessed with violence who was apathetic.

I want to pose the question, what do people here think? Was Cho mentally ill or a sociopath naturally homicidal?

I think he had some mental / emotional issues that needed professional help.... that which he never got, therefore, the killings in VA was the out come of his inner wounds that NEVER healed (what ever they were).

while there is much controversy...

current consensus is that sociopathy is a mental illness too. currently dx'd as 'antisocial personality disorder'. some clinicians are arguing that there are important subsets / distinctions to be made within this population

I agree with Rhapsody and alexandra. I think this guy had serious mental health issues.

do all the people in prison (the mass murders and the murderers and the rapists) have mental health issues do ya reckon? or is this guy distinctive from the majority of the prison population in some respect?

i'm wondering because...

dx of mental illness is made on the basis of behaviour...

anybody know of a mass murderer or murderer or rapist who DOESN'T meet criteria for antisocial personality disorder???

I've thought of that, too, alexandra. I'm not sure where the line crosses between mental illness and just bad behavior, if there is a line at all.

As much as I believe in help for the mentally ill, I also believe that people who are dangerous--for whatever reason--to the general public, need to be taken out of the general public.

> I'm not sure where the line crosses between mental illness and just bad behavior, if there is a line at all.

yeah. this is currently the subject of much debate.

> As much as I believe in help for the mentally ill, I also believe that people who are dangerous--for whatever reason--to the general public, need to be taken of the general public.

Yeah. institutionalisation the answer to both.

When people have offended we can lock them up in jail against their will.
When people haven't yet offended but we think they are likely to offend we can diagnose them with something and lock them up in a mental institution against their will.

Some people argue that psychiatry (when used to involountarily commit) is a form of social control that picks up where law leaves off. Whereas the legal aspect relies on their HAVING OFFENDED ALREADY the psychiatric aspect relies on clinical judgement about the liklihood of FUTURE OFFENDING.

but its ok because people in the latter group are 'defective'.

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alexandra_k said:
When people have offended we can lock them up in jail against their will.
When people haven't yet offended but we think they are likely to offend we can diagnose them with something and lock them up in a mental institution against their will.

Some people argue that psychiatry (when used to involountarily commit) is a form of social control that picks up where law leaves off. Whereas the legal aspect relies on their HAVING OFFENDED ALREADY the psychiatric aspect relies on clinical judgement about the liklihood of FUTURE OFFENDING.

but its ok because people in the latter group are 'defective'.

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Exactly. We're not supposed to be able to be put in jail, punished or whatever until we've actually committed a crime or caused harm, but if a psychologist or psychiatrist says you have a mental illness, they may be able to put you away, whether you like it or not, and force you to take medication, even though these medications have side effects and do have serious risks. (Even if the risks are low, I feel each individual should have the right to decide if s/he wants to take those risks.)

Most of psychology is guesswork. You tell them, or someone else tells them, of your behavior, worries, etc., and they give you a diagnosis. Yes, most of these guesses are likely correct, but not always. Behavior can have many causes, and even if you have a group of behaviors that fit a certain mental disorder diagnosis, there may be another reason for it. You can say the same of physical illness, but at least there, there's more evidence than just descriptions to go by. And we know that mental illness is often (if not always) caused by physical problems, so it seems there should be more physical examination in diagnosing mental illness.

the trouble with the physical examination is that there simply isn't a physical test that allows us to diagnose (aside from the behavioural measures that we have already). and with respect to 'but future science will enable us to do this' i really don't think that this will be the case. the current diagnostic categories are conceptually confused and do not map onto real distinctions in nature. the distinction between 'mentally ill' and 'not mentally ill' is similarly confused and doesn't map onto distinct categories in nature. with respect to predicting behaviour... we really don't do so very well and a considerable amount of the predictive leverage we have already is probably due to confirmation bias / self fulfilling prophecy.

the best predictor of future violence... is past violence...

but that being said often people do change.

the trouble is that we simply don't know whether someone is likely to be a risk or not. we guess... but not so good at it. rather like... trying to predict the weather.

I am not following this event as it is way too stressful. http://psychcentral.com/news/2007/04...crease-stress/ Please take care to not overwhelm yourself.