Hate and Mental Illness
Claudewell S. Thomas, MD, MPH, DLFAPA, is an established psychiatrist who is currently retired ,, He received his medical degree in 1956 at SUNY Downstate College of Medicine and specializes in social psychiatry, public health psychiatry, and forensic psychiatry. Dr. Thomas was board certified by the American Board of Psychiatry... more
The state of Maine has been terrorized by an individual who has a history of mental illness. This person was diagnosed as suffering from paranoid schizophrenia and was apparently in the state system of care. In the past week, this former army sharpshooter shot and killed 18 people and wounded 15 or more before committing suicide by gun. He was the author and owner of racist and anti-semitic literature as well as a Nazi and neo-Nazi admirer and supporter. It would appear that the slaughter inflicted was the big event of his life and his major contribution to MAGA and the race war in America.
Schizophrenia in any form is a serious and disabling illness but it can be treated and anti-semitic, anti-black, misogynistic, white supremacist thinking is not pathognomonic of the illness. Certainly, gun ownership should be denied to those acutely ill, and the age of onset of acute illness, between 18 and 25 should be a consideration. The acting out of violence is more likely to be male behavior than female but this is subject to time and place.
Copycat behavior can take place at any time but to the elderly, I would recommend avoiding places of mass gathering for awhile.
