Aaron Alexis
Since the FBI released its opinion that Washington Navy Yard mass murderer Aaron Alexis was delusional, many have been asking how this was possible. They see the evidence of his careful planning, as well as the clips from surveillance videos showing him moving and reacting in decidedly tactical ways.
The fact of the matter, though, is that it is quite possible, and not unusual with mass killers we and the FBI have studied, going back many decades. The way we would attempt to define Mr. Alexis is to place him somewhere along what we call the “paranoid continuum.”
At one end we place the simple paranoiac. We’ve probably all met people like this – men and women who may think someone has it in for them and interpret much of what happens to them in terms of that belief. More common, even, are those who just believe that what occurs is a lot more involved and complicated than the rest of us do, and that nothing just happens. To be fair, most of us will find some of these tendencies in ourselves if we’re sufficiently honest and reflective.
At the other end of the scale would be the paranoid schizophrenic. Individuals with this morbid condition cannot trust their own senses. They may hear voices, hallucinate, and believe the world and/or specific groups or factions are out to get them. Many of us think of schizophrenia as “split personality,” what the psychiatric community refers to as “multiple personality disorder,” which is actually an extremely rare condition. A better definition of schizophrenia would be “shattered personality disorder.”
What most likely afflicted Aaron Alexis and a number of other mass killers, like Charles Whitman, who killed with a high power rifle from the top of the clock tower at the University of Texas at Austin in 1966, is a condition somewhere in the middle of our continuum. This would be what we would call a functional paranoiac. He is operating under a highly organized delusional system that may be convincing if you accept the basic premise.
In Alexis’s case, he believed he was being bombarded by the government with extremely low frequency sound in an effort to undermine his sanity. And when he hit his breaking point of emotional stress, he lashed out.
Was he targeting anyone in particular? It appears unlikely.
Was there any particular significance to this one building in the Washington Navy Yard? Yes. Number one, it represented the government that was afflicting him. And number two, he had access.
What people may find difficult to understand is that individuals of this nature can function with seeming normalcy for extended periods of time, conducting all of the logistical activities of daily living without much problem. Their functionality-irrationality balance can even vary throughout the day. If we are giving a letter to evaluate, we might say, “Based on this letter on this date, we do not believe the writer is a threat. But that could change for any number of reasons.” If someone can do his job effectively, those around him are unlikely to notice any problem.
It is likely Aaron Alexis did not plan to come out of this encounter alive. It is also likely that he considered this the most important action of his life, redeeming him from a plateau of depression and self-perceived insignificance.
We can increase our surveillance and we can try to better secure soft targets. But this is not, at its essence, a security issue or a gun issue. It is a social and mental health issue. And in that realm, nothing is simple.
Good Afternoon Mind-hunters!
Thank you for your warm welcome and kind words of encouragement. I am very eager to keep an open ongoing dialogue with you and your followers. I am very excited by the prospect of enhancing my understanding of criminal behavior, which, up till now, has been mainly informed by psychoanalytic theory. I anticipate quite an enriching experience.
In regards to your post, one can see why readers felt more confused after learning Mr. Alexis managed to maintain a security clearance despite evidence of an unstable mental health history. It’s very disturbing to learn that places we once considered safe, immune are not, and that apparently no one is completely immune, not even our children, from the threat of mass violence.
What’s even more difficult to reconcile, in my opinion, after a tragedy like this occurs, is the lack of priority placed on the issue that requires the most immediate attention, what in the world are we doing about the mental health issues which undoubtedly, is responsible, for underlying reason for the majority the majority of these mass murders, its frequency in occurrence and rise in abhorrent nature. Mental health programs designed to provide crisis management and support services needed to prevent incidents like this from occurring either, do not exist or are inadequate. Mass homicide is on the rise, all each incident gets closer to home. It’s been six years since the V-Tech massacre and to my knowledge, not much has changed, although they had another shooting incident in Dec. 2011. Mental health systems to this day, remain under-funded and there haven’t been any changes in the provision of crisis management, out-patient mental health or support services in VA, nor, the nation.
Hypothetically speaking, if the police had access to mental health services to accurately address the mental health needs at the time of Mr. Alexis’ call for help, isn’t it likely then, there would have been a huge reduction in the probability of a mass shooting to occur? When Mr. Alexis called the police, he was asking for help of some sort… The call suggests perhaps a window period existed, a brief time that Mr. Alexis would have been open to idea of receiving treatment for the symptoms that were clearly terrifying him. In any case, the police were not qualified to assess, diagnose or provide the emotional help he needed. Within less than a month, Mr. Alexis’ paranoia which started with a thought that one man was scheming to get him. His psychopathology was such that he was so strong in this belief, he was certain this man was going to use everything in his power to make sure he completed the job to do away with him, such as even go through the trouble to send him messages using his TV. According to Mr. Alexis, this guy meant business and Mr. Alexis was afraid of him. He was so afraid he actually called the police for protection. When a paranoid symptom like this is left untreated, it’s like not treating a bacterial infection, it’s going to worsen quickly, spread quickly and negatively affect others. We know now, Mr. Alexis’ symptoms did. Based on the events that took place at the Navy Yard Navy Yard, my educated guess is that it did not take long at all before Mr. Alexis became convinced that the man from the airport got the employees at Navy Yard to join him in his plan to facilitate his demise.
Mr. Alexis, by then, could no longer trust anyone. He told no one about what was going on or of the voices anymore because in his mind, whoever he told may be in on the conspiracy. This helps explain why he seemed normal on the outside, but, chances are, on the inside he was afraid for his life. It would not surprising, if, by the time that day came along, Mr. Alexis was certain that his life was in absolute and imminent danger.The cold war was over, the man from the airport and government employees were ready to carry out their mission that day to do away with Mr. Alexis, but Mr. A in his delusion probably believed he was smarter than that. He went to work that day prepared. He wasn’t going to let the man from the airport kill him. He had to be ready for their attempt on his life. I know this is entirely speculation but its the typical progression of a paranoid projection that when left untreated can reach psychotic proportion. As a defense mechanism, paranoia and or projection as you point out in your PC can often serve a purpose, not necessarily always be indicative of psychopathology.But, when paranoia occurs in someone with impaired ego strength, and and is not treated appropriately, symptom progression is usually predictable.
To conclude, the solution doesn’t seem to be conducting more diligent background checks nor is it or changing gun laws and video games. The research is out there, the solution will be found in the provision early childhood prevention programs
Dr. J
Mr. Douglas and Mr. Olshaker:
I think that anytime you have an intelligent person who is self aware and concurrent to that may be schizoid personality of whatever mode it may come in, their is the potential for severe problems because testing and assessment in mental illness relies so heavily on self reporting. The intelligent person affected by psychotic delusions can deny that they exist even as they still believe them. This is why I am so fascinated with the concept of somehow finding alternative modes of testing that have built in flags, such as those for malingering, that would highlight inconsistencies in psychosis and psychopathy. I truly feel that there are not enough quality tools available for risk assessment to be done properly, or for gauges to be measured against self-reporting, not just for risk assessment, but for treatment of general mental health.
Sincerely,
MD Rice
MD Rice
I apologize if you are way ahead of me on this topic but I find this site helpful:
http://www.atapworldwide.org/
Mr. Mininger:
Actually, somehow I have never ran across that site! Many thanks to you for the reference.
Gracias,
MD Rice
It’s like immigration – people come to this country – hate it – and we struggle with should we give them the boot. We are a country of immigrants – right? Except our first immigrants who founded it – loved it.
So – yes – the mental health realm is simple yet not. I agree.
The media should work like this – ok everybody school shootings on the rise, as your pres I advise you to get a guard – make these rules –
Instead they say ban guns everybody
Then the next year 10 more kids die – from guns to bombs in bags –
That’s true. That is the ‘why’ of things. Carefully studied and reported on. Our society does that – figures it out – but doesn’t prevent it. Hires computers instead of mankind – schools, city events, large or high employment workplaces can reduce damage – or realize the ‘how’. We should understand that – make it safe – schools need one door open in the day and some who has keys to use other doors – a security guard buys time at least – to one day when people like this guy realizes everyone had it tough and at least he can only commit suicide alone – after you save the innocents – then u worry about saving the rest. In my opinion – however it’s like Obama – well ‘why’ the ‘gun’ – ban those – instead of using one open door at school and a guard