James Holmes may have Aspergers?

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I really hope he doesn't have Asperger's, because the media would focus on that and it would probably do a lot of damage to the aspie community. Ignorant people might start thinking Asperger's could lead to crime.

I want to make clear that a disorder can never be a direct cause of criminal behavior. Some disorders might make it more likely for you to commit some sort of crime, but there are a lot of intermediate processes between having a disorder and committing a crime. For example, many (undiagnosed) psychopaths have never committed a crime even though having the disorder makes you (a little) more likely to commit one. Being a criminology student, I have done some research on the prevalence of crime among people with autism. Though there are few studies, most seem to imply that people with (classical) autism are even likely than "normal" people to become involved in crime and people with Asperger's syndrome are no more likely than others to commit a crime. Unfortunately, the media seem to think otherwise.

ill say this much (and yes i have been diagnosed with AS) when i was 17 after experiencing years upon years of peer induced hell in school from 1st grade on i finally snapped when i was 17 and nearly made a big mistake akin to columbine. thankfully things worked out the best they could and looking back on what i nearly did (im now 30) it could of been a horrible mistake but plain and simple, Asperger's does not mean innocent nor does it mean psychopathic, every person has their breaking point and some go to more extremes than others. in my case no one got hurt and i spent 6 months in a juvenile facility. i guess what im trying to say is there are those of us with extremely intense emotions that lack an outlet and when tortured long enough even the most timid will lash back. ill revisit this later after i get some sleep as it is nearly 7am here and im still awake but people need to stop viewing AS as some kind of gift or burden, it is what it is and its not black and white, given the appropriate circumstances anything can happen.

p.s. im not saying he was bullied by his peers but there are those out there that see the world as falling to s**t and it can drag them and their mentality down with it or it could even stem from them witnessing atrocities happening to others who knows im just saying with the intense emotions and inability to constructively express them with many who have AS i wouldn't be the least bit surprised that under the right circumstances where normally someone likely an NT might throw a fist or shout an AS with the same degree of inner pain and frustration is likely to take things way out of proportion and to extremes, at least this is what i've noticed in not only my youngr self but many i know personally with AS. ill be back later or feel free to contact me on facebook as i am horrible at trying to organize and express my thoughts in anything outside of real time conversation. thank you

http://www.facebook.com/Alishaneder.D.Rychder

now i attempt to sleep

I don't think it has to do with morals but rather the type of crime. People with no mental illness at all commit horrible violence but of a different type. If it's one individual against another individual, there tends to be a motive such as money or anger. There is also the tribal violence that you cite of one group attacking another group (Nazis) or one group attacking individuals (Salem Witch trials). People start wondering about mental illness when a violent crime doesn't fit into either of these two very large categories that most other violence does.

I would put gang violence, terrorism and all attacks against people who belong to a disliked group in the tribal violence category.

So I don't think bringing up mental illness posibility is because this was violent- violence is very common- but because it deviates from the "normal" violence that has a mundane motive or is tribal/group violence. Since Holmes' defense team has literally no other possible defense to use, expect this to be discussed in all media for the entire trial. All we're really doing now is guessing at which mental illness his defense team will use. But mark my words, they absolutely will use one. And whichever one they pick will be part of the public discourse for months, whether it is accurate or not.

Last edited by Janissy on 24 Jul 2012, 7:20 am, edited 1 time in total.

I'm not sure if Holmes has Asperger's but within an hour of hearing this story I knew the media would eventually jump to this conclusion. In Australia the man who was responsible for the Victorian bushfire had HFA and couldn't put out a fire in his car, yet the media labels him as the most dangerous killer in history. Or something to that effect. Because people died and thousands of dollars of property was damaged they needed someone to blame, even though it was caused by an accident.

Also, I can understand why people snap after being bullied. After being almost mugged my paranoia has sky rocketed so much I think I might end up hurting someone innocent, because I think everyone out there is going to get me.

I think his behaviour could have been caused by stress and drugs. After completing a neuroscience Phd he still couldn't get a job. That's got to be a real blow to your self esteem. He could have been AS, APD, ADHD or any of those other disorders or even NT.

It's horrible what happened and I'm just glad I live in a country where guns are banned. The criminals shoot each other and there's never been any attack on this scale. I'm not even sure our marines use AR-15s.

Sociopaths (the environmentally triggered psychopath) are also masters at deception.

I'm not sure if he is, or if AS. All I know is I know people that get f***ed up on drugs. Let's just say I wonder whether they have AS, ADHD or Bipolar - and then I remember the cocktail of drugs and alcohol they've been on for the last 20 years.

semi-automatic weapons have never been illegal in the US. There was an "assault weapons ban" that ban certain semi-automatics because of appearance and also limited the number of rounds a magazine could hold but it was ironically his "high capacity" magazine that may have jammed his rife.

I'm not sure that magazine capacity is really much of a limiting factor with semi-auto. Full auto when you're using it for cover fire or the such yes but not semi. One can change a magazine to a fresh one really fast. As far as that goes I can load my pump shotgun as fast as I can shoot it.

I don't know that bullyicide is relevent here, as it was in Columbine. The media has so far uncovered nothing in his past pointing to bullying. You can't assume this was bullycide just because everyone so far interviewed says he was a quiet, smart loner. However, if there is anything like that in his past, the media and his defense team will find it.

Normal people don't go on shooting sprees unless they are a member of a group that is doing that. I don't think this is "capacity for violence" versus "inherently non-violent" but rather the way in which the violence happens. People with no mental problems at all have barged into crowded areas and shot the place up. But that happens just in the context of tribal violence: group A attacking group B. If he was a member of a terrorist group and his armed terrorist friends were with him, mental illness would never be mentioned.

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Last edited by Mayel on 24 Jul 2012, 8:22 am, edited 2 times in total.

Not if you're referring to actual psychosis as that certainly is not a state of mind that typically would last for months or leave one with the ability to carefully plan out a theater massacre. But if you mean psychotic in the general public use of the word way then maybe, but I doubt most people who plan out things like this and carry it out are in a state of psychosis based on the psychology classes I've taken and other information I've read.

Uhh the only problem with that is psychopath is not an actual diagnoses...the closest disorder to psychopathy would be Anti-Social PD, but most people with that disorder don't go around shooting people either. Also considering aspergers is a type of autism I am skeptical that people with autism are more likely than other people with autism to commit crimes based on having autism.

Great, so no sense in even fighting the stigma then I suppose.

Normal people don't usually go on shooting sprees, but they can be pushed to that extreme. Also most 'psychopaths' are normal and from what I hear get along in life just fine......except for the ones who end up showing their true nature rather than just using it to succeed in business or whatever.

I also remember that he had a poster in his room of a song called "soldiers of misfortune" (by a band called Sacrifice) and for him the lyrics probably really did have a literal meaning:

Lyrics

I actually haven't read the lyrics until now and they are heavily centered on the theme of going insane.

He could've been delusional. Being delusional you can still be high-functioning and you can put all your efforts into your delusion. Or it is something like this: source.

I meant to say a study pointed out people with autism are less likely than normal people to commit crime but forgot the word "less". The difference is very small though and a different study doesn't show any differences except a higher prevalence of arson but the most important conclusion is that we aren't any more likely to do bad things than NT's.

About psychopathy, it can be diagnosed with the Psychopathy Checklist, Revised (PCL-R) which was developed by a man called Robert Hare who owns full rights to the use of the test, which is why it's not included in the DSM-IV (I don't know about the new version). It's true that there's a partial overlap with ASPD, about one third of people with ASPD would qualify as a psychopath.

Psychopathy is an actual diagnosis. Discussion of its existence as a diagnostic entity goes back to Hervey Cleckley's book The Mask of Sanity originally published in 1941, and updated later. It's not a diagnosis in the DSM-IV, however this is not the same as not being an actual diagnosis. This tool - the psychopathy checklist-revised - was created by Robert Hare as a means to identify psychopathy in people.

ASPD is not psychopathy, although most psychopaths are diagnosable with ASPD. Not everyone who is diagnosed with it is a psychopath.

Anyway, most psychopaths don't go around shooting people, but psychopaths are significantly more likely to engage in violent behavior than most people.

Last edited by Verdandi on 24 Jul 2012, 5:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.