Wow. Clearly this man (in the article linked below) was psychotic. The way the reporter covers his hallucinations and delusions are spot on for someone suffering from paranoid schizophrenia. The reporter never mentions schizophrenia, though – amazing! This article is the first one I have read where the reporter/writer shied away from giving a diagnosis as soon as a crime happens.

Trigger Warning on this article – it is a very accurate description of psychosis and made me feel a little muddy in the head reading it because of the memories it triggered.

You can read it here.

I have some questions about this man’s situation. How did he get a gun? (The article doesn’t say if he owned one, bought one, or has always been around them – this seems important). Also, he was having severe symptoms for two years (did I read that correctly?). No one noticed anything bizarre?  Why do people keep slipping through the cracks? What is happening?  What can we do to help people before a tragedy occurs?

This latest tragedy is terrible on so many levels. Once the young man has proper medication, it is likely that his psychosis will clear up, and he will  suffer from tremendous guilt and self-hatred for hurting someone. He will have to live with the actions he committed while psychotic. The other part of this tragedy is for all people with a mental illness; we all look dangerous which is rarely the case. Of course, someone was hurt, and that is always the worst part of any incident like this.

This story saddens me so deeply for everyone involved.  We need better treatment and laws. I simply don’t have all the answers for what the best treatment and better laws would be.