A table of mass shooters and their mental illnesses

This is a table comprising of mass shooters and their respective mental illness. I'm only going to write down the confirmed diagnosis. If you think that I've left important bits out, please tell me. Feel free to comment your own but it must be confirmed by reliable media outlets and sources. If your submission is a speculation (so not confirmed), a theory or just a debate, please state that.

Robert Lewis Dear, Jr. | Delusional disorder
Seung-Hui Cho | Selective mutism, Major depressive disorder
Adam Lanza | Autism spectrum disorder, Asperger syndrome, Obsessive compulsive disorder
James Holmes | Schizotypal personality disorder, Schizoaffective disorder
Chris Harper-Mercer | Asperger syndrome
Robert Hawkins | Oppositional defiant disorder, Attention deficit disorder, Conduct disorder, Major depressive disorder, as well as drug related disorders
Jeffrey Weise | Depression (an unspecified type)
Jared Lee Loughner | Paranoid schizophrenia
Kip Kinkel | Paranoid schizophrenia, Major depressive disorder

P.S. I'm fully aware Eric and Dylan aren't on this. It's because I cannot find a solid diagnosis for each of them.

I think the fact that Dylann Roof could have disorders is questioned. But still, I found an article from the NY Time stating:

Quote :

That motion cited findings by Dr. James C. Ballenger, the court-appointed psychiatrist who evaluated Mr. Roof in jail in mid-November, that he “suffers from Social Anxiety Disorder, a Mixed Substance Abuse Disorder, a Schizoid Personality Disorder, depression by history, and a possible Autistic Spectrum Disorder.”
The document also revealed that the defense offered evidence of an autism diagnosis at a competency hearing on Nov. 21 and 22. The hearing also featured testimony “that the defendant’s high IQ is compromised by a significant discrepancy between his ability to comprehend and to process information and a poor working memory,” the motion states.

Nothing that serious in comparison to those mentioned above.

By all evidence, Lanza also sufered from some psychotic disorder. In a forum private message sent to another forum member, Lanza admitted to having hallucinations.

eyutytuheu wrote:

P.S. I'm fully aware Eric and Dylan aren't on this. It's because I cannot find a solid diagnosis for each of them.

Diagnosing dead people (or making a formal diagnosis of someone who was not under observation) is itself seen as an irresponsible thing to do in psychological circles.

I do think we can at least offer eductaed guesses and speculation. Dylan's writing alone imho strongly points to depression and this would also be corroborated by what his friends said and what he himself was reported to say during the massacre.

I myself many years before have put forward the idea that, based on his writings, Dylan might have been schizotypal. However there's certainly no way to be sure. I also recognize that its quite possible that Dylan wrote most of his diary when drunk, which would further distort his writings and may make them seem pseudo-schizotypal.

As for Eric - the notion was put forward taht he was psychopathic and indeed we can spot behavior pointing to possibly psychopathic traits. But he also presented behavior (strong emotions, tears, insecurity), which are not psychopathic. I'm not sure he was "psychopathic enough" to qualify for a formal diagnosis, but he sure seems to have had more psychopathic traits than an average joe.

Sabratha wrote:

I also recognize that its quite possible that Dylan wrote most of his diary when drunk, which would further distort his writings and may make them seem pseudo-schizotypal.

Yeah, and maybe he wrote in his diary when he needed to, that is when he felt bad and needed to express his emotions. This is what I do and if I died tomorrow and people read my diary, they would think I was crazy, depressed and dangerous and that the "me" in my diary is so different with the "me" they knew. But I am not crazy or dangerous or depressed, it is just that I feel the need to write when I am sad or angry so I tend to make things look worse than they really do. And people usually don't write to say "I'm ok.", so you just have the bad things, not the good or at least not bad. But that's said, I do think Dylan had issues, you cannot do a shooting if everything is normal and fine anyway.

Sabratha wrote:

I myself many years before have put forward the idea that, based on his writings, Dylan might have been schizotypal.

Interestingly, that's the same conclusion Langman came to. I'm not quite sure if I buy it though.

Michael Ryan: Suspected schizophrenia or psychosis
Nikolas Cruz: Depression, autism, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
Elliot Rodger: Pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS)
Tim Kretschmer: Clinical depression
Marc Lépine: Suspected personality disorder, possible psychotic
Charles Whitman: Brain tumor (astrocytoma, possible glioblastoma multiforme)
Martin Byrant: Intellectual disability, possible conduct disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity and autism

Sabratha wrote:

By all evidence, Lanza also sufered from some psychotic disorder. In a forum private message sent to another forum member, Lanza admitted to having hallucinations.

eyutytuheu wrote:

P.S. I'm fully aware Eric and Dylan aren't on this. It's because I cannot find a solid diagnosis for each of them.

Diagnosing dead people (or making a formal diagnosis of someone who was not under observation) is itself seen as an irresponsible thing to do in psychological circles.

I do think we can at least offer eductaed guesses and speculation. Dylan's writing alone imho strongly points to depression and this would also be corroborated by what his friends said and what he himself was reported to say during the massacre.

I myself many years before have put forward the idea that, based on his writings, Dylan might have been schizotypal. However there's certainly no way to be sure. I also recognize that its quite possible that Dylan wrote most of his diary when drunk, which would further distort his writings and may make them seem pseudo-schizotypal.

As for Eric - the notion was put forward taht he was psychopathic and indeed we can spot behavior pointing to possibly psychopathic traits. But he also presented behavior (strong emotions, tears, insecurity), which are not psychopathic. I'm not sure he was "psychopathic enough" to qualify for a formal diagnosis, but he sure seems to have had more psychopathic traits than an average joe.

When I read about the schizotypical disorder I am thinking about the way he dressed , it doesn’t seem odd to me but in the context of where he lived it may have. But also I would love to know the things he said that made him seem goofy and awkward. Devon talked about how he made jokes that were dark and sometimes inappropriate. He also had extreme reactions to certain things which I can relate to and that comes from for me the abuse, bullying and feeling ostracized but also being a gifted kid and taking any slight to my intelligence to heart.

QuestionMark wrote:

Sabratha wrote:

I myself many years before have put forward the idea that, based on his writings, Dylan might have been schizotypal.

Interestingly, that's the same conclusion Langman came to.

IIRC, I first expressed my theory on the old forums sometime in late 2007 or early 2008, before Langman published his book. Its unlikely that Langman frequented our forum when he formulated his ideas. I honestly think there's no link here, other than both me and Langman having similar academic backgrounds.

I think its just that - we both studied the same things during our university years and we both read the same DSM-IV diagnostic manual. So we saw the same things when we read his journal. The fact that we both came to a similar idea separately does not make this theory any more conclusive though.

QuestionMark wrote:

I'm not quite sure if I buy it though.

As I said: It is just a theory and one that will never be conclusively verified or disqualified, since he is dead. The diary alone feels schizotypal, but that's it - its just writings. Maybe if we had a mental health professional interview Dylan's friends and family we would get more evidence to support this theory or debunk it, but I doubt even that would be conclusive.

This is my position on the matter - "Shizotypal Dylan" is a theory and I think it is a possible one that should be considered. However at the same time I myself do not hold any conclusive evidence. He may have been schizopytal, or maybe he was just a depressed imaginative kid who wrote weird stuff when he drank too much.

Jose Reyes:
While not diagnosed, his psychologist noted he showed signs of autism and depressive disorder

UncontinuedProcess wrote:

Michael Ryan: Suspected schizophrenia or psychosis

Michael Ryan also displayed some of the classic symptoms of asperger syndrome as well.

Ziamber II wrote:

UncontinuedProcess wrote:

Michael Ryan: Suspected schizophrenia or psychosis

Michael Ryan also displayed some of the classic symptoms of asperger syndrome as well.

Well I can imagine that if you have schizophrenia you'd probably have a few similarities with autistic people as well.

Ziamber II wrote:

UncontinuedProcess wrote:

Michael Ryan: Suspected schizophrenia or psychosis

Michael Ryan also displayed some of the classic symptoms of asperger syndrome as well.

I'd love for someone to explain to me how Michael Ryan was schizophrenic. Because as someone who would classify them self as an expert on that case i have yet to see any evidence of such, never mind aspergers

Ziamber II wrote:

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Were you attempting to show me evidence that Michael Ryan had schizophrenia? Because not only did that article tell me what i already knew, it actually debunked the idea of Ryan having schizophrenia. I'm mildly confused.

D-FENS1993 wrote:

Ziamber II wrote:

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Were you attempting to show me evidence that Michael Ryan had schizophrenia? Because not only did that article tell me what i already knew, it actually debunked the idea of Ryan having schizophrenia. I'm mildly confused.

I think he's posting it to support your hypothesis.

Randy Stair: Depression, Gender Dysphoria, Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder.

Tommy QTR wrote:

Randy Stair: Depression, Gender Dysphoria, Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder.

This is all just theorized right? To my knowledge he was never diagnosed with anything.

QuestionMark wrote:

Tommy QTR wrote:

Randy Stair: Depression, Gender Dysphoria, Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder.

This is all just theorized right? To my knowledge he was never diagnosed with anything.

Yeah he hasn't been officially diagnosed but he said in his videos that he has Depression, Gender Dysphoria and Bipolar, I'm just guessing Schizophrenia as he says EGS is real and they talk to him.

Anders Breivik: Asperger syndrome, Tourette syndrome, narcissistic personality disorder and possibly paranoid psychosis

Halcyon666 wrote:

Anders Breivik: Asperger syndrome, Tourette syndrome, narcissistic personality disorder and possibly paranoid psychosis

Wait Breivik had Asperger's? I never knew this.

Tommy QTR wrote:

Halcyon666 wrote:

Anders Breivik: Asperger syndrome, Tourette syndrome, narcissistic personality disorder and possibly paranoid psychosis

Wait Breivik had Asperger's? I never knew this.

Yeah, he was mentally evaluated by someone after the shooting. I was surprised to find that out along with him having Tourettes.

Aaron Alexis: Paranoid schizophrenia, psychosis
Richard Durn: Depression
Kipland Kinkel: Dyslexia, major depressive disorder, paranoid schizophrenia

David Gonzalez (not a mass shooter) was diagnosed with Paranoid Schizophrenia at 19

David Sonboly had depression and Autism

Elliot Rodger was diagnosed w/PDD-NOS (ASD). He was also depressed & his father suspected he might had OCD. Additionally, he was prescribed risperidone, an antipsychotic medication used in treatment for bipolar disorder and/or schizophrenia

Alex Hribal (school stabber, not shooter): Depression and Schizophrenia

Patrick Purdy was diagnosed with anti-social personality disorder at age 22. He also had slight mental retardation.

Sabratha wrote:

By all evidence, Lanza also sufered from some psychotic disorder. In a forum private message sent to another forum member, Lanza admitted to having hallucinations.

Interesting! This forum is really a treasure trove of information.

eyutytuheu wrote:

I myself many years before have put forward the idea that, based on his writings, Dylan might have been schizotypal. However there's certainly no way to be sure. I also recognize that its quite possible that Dylan wrote most of his diary when drunk, which would further distort his writings and may make them seem pseudo-schizotypal.

Even putting aside his being drunk, I go back and forth on whether his diary really was evidence of schizotypal personality disorder. Dylan was sort of an "artistic"/"intuitive" type, and maybe he was just writing in an abstract/poetic style as sort of a free-association expression of his feelings and ideas. A lot of "creative" types write stuff like that which seems similarly nonsensical to any outsider reading it. Especially when teenage angst is involved. It's anyone's guess as to where to draw the line between having an "inner world" and being delusional, or how literally he believed in the stuff he was writing.

Quote :

As for Eric - the notion was put forward taht he was psychopathic and indeed we can spot behavior pointing to possibly psychopathic traits. But he also presented behavior (strong emotions, tears, insecurity), which are not psychopathic. I'm not sure he was "psychopathic enough" to qualify for a formal diagnosis, but he sure seems to have had more psychopathic traits than an average joe.

I never believed he was. Psychopaths don't hate themselves and Eric clearly hated himself. They aren't generally suicidal...quite the opposite...for example, Ted Bundy was trying to bullshit his way out of being executed until the very last moment, and it seemed like he truly believed he might get away with it. Psychopaths don't get depressed...they don't have the capacity to get depressed. Eric was obviously depressed and even it seems like, tried to get help for his problems (ie. writing he had suicidal and homicidal thoughts on his intake form) but wasn't taken seriously. Eric also seemed to be very over-sensitive and "triggered" easily for lack of a better term, which is kind of the opposite of psychopathy, isn't it? He also had a lot of attention-seeking behavior.

Also, Eric was said to be a normal happy kid until middle school, by people who knew him before he moved to Colorado. That points to something that had a later origin.

Personally I believe he most likely had a Cluster B personality disorder and I'm surprised people don't raise that possibility more often. It fits with all the symptoms I mentioned, and also fits with what we know of his history, because it could have been triggered by bullying/rejection and also by moving so often (and maybe other aspects of his upbringing as well).

downwardspiral wrote:

Sabratha wrote:

By all evidence, Lanza also sufered from some psychotic disorder. In a forum private message sent to another forum member, Lanza admitted to having hallucinations.

Interesting! This forum is really a treasure trove of information.

Just to be clear, I wasn't the person he wrote the private messages to. But that person had later made them public and shown screenshots of these PMs. Lanza was having hallucinations and also mentioned some sex stuff. My memory is vague on the details of the sex stuff (I *think* they sounded like he had pedophilic tendencies), but I clearly remember the hallucinations and reading taht I thought: "He was clearly psychotic".

I think if you ask around, maybe someone will still have screenshots of Lanza's PMs.

downwardspiral wrote:

Even putting aside his being drunk, I go back and forth on whether his diary really was evidence of schizotypal personality disorder. Dylan was sort of an "artistic"/"intuitive" type, and maybe he was just writing in an abstract/poetic style as sort of a free-association expression of his feelings and ideas. A lot of "creative" types write stuff like that which seems similarly nonsensical to any outsider reading it. Especially when teenage angst is involved. It's anyone's guess as to where to draw the line between having an "inner world" and being delusional, or how literally he believed in the stuff he was writing.

I'm *agnostic* when it comes to him being schizotypal. I think its a good theory and I never found any facts that would debunk it. But at the same time, his writings and actions can also be explained without considering him a schizotypal. I think we'll never know, but I think its useful to keep this theory at the back of your head when one is researchign and trying to interpret this shooting.

Quote :

I never believed he was. Psychopaths don't hate themselves and Eric clearly hated himself. They aren't generally suicidal...quite the opposite...for example, Ted Bundy was trying to bullshit his way out of being executed until the very last moment, and it seemed like he truly believed he might get away with it. Psychopaths don't get depressed...they don't have the capacity to get depressed. Eric was obviously depressed and even it seems like, tried to get help for his problems (ie. writing he had suicidal and homicidal thoughts on his intake form) but wasn't taken seriously. Eric also seemed to be very over-sensitive and "triggered" easily for lack of a better term, which is kind of the opposite of psychopathy, isn't it? He also had a lot of attention-seeking behavior.

I'm not sure Eric hated himself really. His writings seem far more narcissistic than neurotic. I also do not think he was depressed, though his writings are influenced by Dylan and vice versa so you can find some themes in Eric's writing, but I feel they are "loan words" from Dylan's depressive vocabulary.
Dylan likewise has "loan words" from Eric's writings. They clearly were big influences on one another.

The suicide angle is a valid point though and certainly a "green flag" when we consider psychopathy. But we also have numerous "red flags".

To sum it up quickly and in layman's terms: My own take on psychopathy is that it is not an isolated disorder like schizophrenia. Rather it is a spectrum (like narcissism and other cluster B disorders) that goes from 0% to 100% "textbook psychopath". As strange as it may sound: Most people are at least tiny bit psychopathic.
As for clinical definitions, I think Robert Hare's is the most adequate one.

I do not think Eric was a 100% textbook psychopath that "ticked all the boxes". But I do think he was much closer to 100% than he was to 0%. Its safe to say that he had far more psychopathic traits than what is average in the general population.

Quote :

Also, Eric was said to be a normal happy kid until middle school, by people who knew him before he moved to Colorado. That points to something that had a later origin.

I don't want to get into the "sociopathy vs psychopathy" quagmire. But personality disorders are rarely clearly observed before teenage years. Back in my day, psychology pretty much made it an axiom that "personality disorders cannot be diagnosed before adolescence"

Quote :

Personally I believe he most likely had a Cluster B personality disorder and I'm surprised people don't raise that possibility more often. It fits with all the symptoms I mentioned, and also fits with what we know of his history, because it could have been triggered by bullying/rejection and also by moving so often (and maybe other aspects of his upbringing as well).

Which one of the cluster B disorders do you mean? I'm guessing either NPD or AsPD?