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jared-loughner

Posting strange and paranoid messages on the Internet and fixating on the end of the world, accused gunman Jared Lee Loughner appeared to be more driven by a delusional mind than a real interest in politics, mental health experts said Sunday.

“I doubt people who say this is about politics have a good understanding of mental illness,” said Dr. Bob Dolgoff, medical director of Alta Bates Summit Medical Center’s mental health division. “It could be conspiracy theories or men from outer space. The important thing here is, why wasn’t he in treatment?”

Loughner, 22, was charged Sunday in the shooting of 20 people at a political event outside a supermarket in Tucson. Six of the victims died, and 14 were wounded, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords – with whom Loughner may have become obsessed.

Despite his ramblings on YouTube about “informing conscience dreamers about a new currency,” and despite his anti-social behavior, Loughner apparently received no diagnosis of mental illness.

Instead, he lived at home with his parents after being suspended from college – where educators say they conditioned his return upon him seeking help.

“People call it ‘the schizophrenic in the back bedroom.’ His parents were probably pulling their hair out,” said Liz Rebensdorf, a retired psychologist and president of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill’s East Bay chapter. “Unless there’s a crime committed, it’s very difficult to force someone into treatment.”
Laws sought on mentally ill

In California and Arizona, people believed to be mentally ill can be hospitalized involuntarily only if they’re considered a danger to themselves or others or if their illness has left them severely disabled. Only a judge can force someone to undergo treatment. Parents cannot.

To ease the process, some mental health advocates are pushing for wider implementation of laws such as California’s Laura’s Law, which was enacted in 2003 to make it easier for authorities to force patients to take medication. Funding and civil rights concerns have prevented the law from being enforced in most California counties.

As experts note, people suffering from psychiatric disorders often do not cooperate with treatment. They don’t understand that they are mentally ill, or they don’t like taking pills. Their family members, meanwhile, are often reluctant to report problems because they don’t want to involve the police and the criminal courts.

Only about one-third of those with schizophrenia succeed in long-term treatment of the disease, Rebensdorf said. They stick with their medication and therapy, and resume normal, independent lives. The other two-thirds often end up homeless or in board-and-care homes, in a cycle of setbacks.

Violence is not a common symptom of schizophrenia or other mental illnesses, experts said. In fact, those with psychiatric disorders are more likely to become the victims of violence, or turn the gun on themselves.

Loughner’s eccentric behavior included an obsession with the supposed Mayan prophecy that the world will end in 2012, according to a classmate who posted about Loughner on Twitter. His YouTube videos included paranoid discussions about mind control, illiteracy and the gold standard.
Suspect’s contact with police

Loughner’s troubles caught the attention of authorities last fall at Pima Community College in Tucson, where he was a student. His erratic behavior in the classroom and at the library led to five contacts with the police, college officials said.

In September, police found a YouTube video, which has since been removed, in which he claimed the college is “illegal.” Administrators suspended Loughner on Sept. 29. Police delivered the letter of suspension to Loughner at his parents’ home, where he lived, and spoke with both Loughner and his mother and father.

A follow-up letter to Loughner from administrators said that he would not be able to return to college unless he received clearance from a mental health professional.

By that point, at least one of Loughner’s professors and several students had expressed concerns about his behavior. The Washington Post printed several e-mails that a fellow student, Lynda Sorenson, sent to friends.

“We have a mentally unstable person in the class that scares the living crap out of me,” Sorenson wrote. “He is one of those whose picture you see on the news, after he has come into class with an automatic weapon.”

After his suspension, Loughner did not attempt to return to school, college officials said.

Despite growing concern about his mental health, authorities may not have been able to force Loughner to seek treatment even if they had made an attempt, said Dr. Chris Carson, chief executive of Connections AZ, which runs the Urgent Psychiatric Care Center in Phoenix.

That’s because in the months before Saturday’s shooting, no one appears to have been aware of any specific threats made by Loughner that might have justified his involuntary commitment under Arizona law.

“I believe it is impossible to accurately predict violence in anybody, really,” Carson said. “And this is a guy where there was never any violence.”
Arizona’s political climate

Carson said he wondered whether Loughner was also affected by the political climate in Arizona, where dissatisfaction with the federal government runs deep and elected officials are regularly the targets of threats and vandalism.

“I think the atmosphere lends itself to this kind of thing,” Carson said. “That’s my own belief – that’s not a professional belief.

“But you look at Dallas 1963” – the site of the assassination of John F. Kennedy – “and it was highly charged politically. They were spitting at JFK and Jackie. It was a highly charged place. Those things affect people, affect events. And Arizona is a highly charged place.”

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17 Responses to “Jared Loughner: Focus on delusions, not politics”
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