Tennessee Shooter Reportedly Was Mentally Ill

Posted: 7/19/2015  Updated: 7/27/2015, 7/21/2015

Update 7/27/2015

Just read What You Don't Understand about Suicide Attacks Whether in Chattanooga or Afghanistan, the attacks are driven more by psychological problems than ideology—which hints at a solution. The author makes the case that contrary to conventional wisdom many suicide attackers are mentally ill are seeking death. To quote: “According to the conventional wisdom, suicide terrorists are not mentally ill or suicidal—they are psychologically stable individuals who sacrifice themselves for altruistic reasons. As a 2009 article in Psychiatry concluded, “Stressing the importance of social psychology, [our research] emphasizes the ‘normality’ and absence of individual psychopathology of the suicide bombers.” From this perspective, those who carry out “martyrdom operations” in service of radical Islamic ideologies are the product of their contexts. They become the psychological equivalent of the American Marines who were killed in Chattanooga: both sides are willing to risk their lives—and die, if necessary—for a cause they passionately believe in. … However, a growing number of scholars are now challenging these assumptions. Ariel Merari’s research team conducted psychological tests of preemptively arrested suicide bombers and found evidence of suicidal tendencies, depressive tendencies, and previous (non-terrorist) suicide attempts. David Lester found that many female suicide bombers seem driven, at least in part, by post-traumatic stress disorder, hopelessness, and despair. And in several recent articles, I summarize evidence of psychological similarities between suicide terrorists and people who commit nonviolent suicides, coerced suicides, and mass-murder-suicides. … And far from being psychologically healthy, he [Mr. Abdulazeez] reportedly struggled with bipolar disorder, depression, and substance abuse, and expressed suicidal thoughts in his writings.”

Update As Of 7/21/2015

Just read this New York Times article “In Chattanooga, a Young Man in a Downward Spiral”. Quotes from the article (emphasis added): “Mr. Abdulazeez had suffered for years from depression and possibly from bipolar disorder, the family representative said, adding that he had abused alcohol and possibly prescription painkillers and had gained and lost jobs. In his last months, he faced the prospect of both bankruptcy and jail time on a drunken-driving charge.

“I think he knew he was going downhill, and he intended to go downhill, but I don’t think he knew where he’d end up at the bottom,” the representative, who insisted on anonymity to protect the family, said of Mr. Abdulazeez’s final days alive. … Mr. Abdulazeez received a diagnosis of mental illness when he was in his early teens. He was treated with medication in high school and college, but “he wasn’t always good about taking them,” the family representative said. Law enforcement officials confirmed that they too had learned that he had serious psychological problems. … He turned to drugs and alcohol, and family members tried to get him into a rehab program. Despite their fears for his future, they never thought he would become violent, the representative said. … After college, he was “a guy who was sort of bouncing around,” the representative said, at times disappearing for a few days, on a binge with friends. “He was able to get jobs, but never keep them.””

Trigger

Just read “Tenn. gunman used drugs, struggled with clash of faith”. This Washington Post article does not delve deeper into the mental illness of this mass killer. The long article mentions only (emphasis added): “In a statement, his family said Abdulazeez’s mental illness had contributed to the crime. “For many years, our son suffered from depression. ... Abdulazeez had been in and out of treatment for his depression and frequently stopped taking his medication, despite his parents’ pleas for him to continue, said a person close to the family.”

This is unfortunately all we learn from the Washington Post about perhaps the most crucial aspect of why he became a murderer. The WP failed to follow up as usual.

We also learn that this young man was smoking pot, lived at home with his parents and had all these guns at home.

Notes

1. Again and again it is a severely mentally young man who commits these mass shootings. I have blogged here about it several times.
2. Perhaps, the greatest deniers of his mental illness were his parents
3. Mental health care in this country is a total disaster and needs to be urgently improved.
4. One hopes that this young man’s brain will be researched etc. as well as the brains of the other, still living recent mass shooters
5. Why e.g. is it so easily  possible for severely mentally ill people to stop taking their medication? Can this medication not be deposited for long term, gradual release etc.
6. It is totally disturbing that the media almost completely neglect to investigate the mental illness nexus of these killers. It’s a huge disgrace for any media like e.g. Washington Post or New York Times, CNN and so on.
7. To clamor for more gun control whenever these killings happen is such a waste of time and a red herring of enormous proportions! To ignore or turn a blind eye on mental illness is a grand delusion of many!

Please find more, related blog posts here, here, here