Wrote a post on my website about E&D psychology

Hey. I own a website focusing on personality disorders that I created a little while ago. Today I published a post about mass shooter psychology and focused on Eric and Dylan, their lives and psychological profiles and you know, offered my 2 cents about it all. If you have a little time, please read it and leave a comment on the blog because who knows more about Columbine than people on Columbine forums, eh? Im genuienly interested about what you think, not just self-promoting but if you're interested in personality disorders and psychology in general then you're more than welcome to have a look around the site!

Eric/Dylan post: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

I really like the article and I also will look more into the Blog, because I am very much fascinated about the subject of Disorders and Mental Illnesses.

But there are also some points, I disagree with you and at that point I have to admit that I'm a totally autodidact amateur, when it comes to psychology, so please correct me, if I am talking absolute bullshit. I don't if you study or work in psychological areas, I just assume you  probably do, because it would make sense to create such a Blog, if you do.

From what I have read, its definitive possible for a psychopath to feel insecure and weak in the inside. Some psychologist, sadly I don't remember who, did not classify Psychopathy as a disorder, but a "life-strategy". So to diagnose someone with Psychopathy it is rather necessary how the person behaves, than how the person feels. If someones behaves psychopathic, than he is psychopathic, or at least have psychopathic traits. And psychopathy itself is nothing more than a strong prominence of psychopathic traits. Thus someone can cry, feels sorry for something and be nice to people- as long the great part of his behaviour can be classified as psychopathic, he can be classified as psychopathic.

I again remember you- I do not study psychology nor I work in that area. What I have wrote here may be entirely wrong. Its just what I have read and how I understand Psychopathy.

Also I also sometimes read about Borderline-Personality Disorder but I never really understood it. I still can not really imagine how someone with Borderline behaves, what he feels etc. I would be glad, if you could explain me, why do you think that Eric had Borderline-traits?

You also say, that Dylan might be Bipolar. I also think that his diary shows signs of heavy mood swings and depression, but I'm not so sure about Mania. From what I know, people with Mania tend to be radically impulsive, extrovert towards other people and unstable  in their behaviour. By nearly accounts, Dylan is described as shy, even withdrawn and quiet. That doesn't seem to fit with Mania, I'm not sure about that. Maybe it is possible to be slightly manic? In the sense that someone is only manic in the inside but he does not let this feeling overcome his behaviour? That would fit to what Dylan expressed in his diary. But I don't have enough knowledge about this topic to know if this kind of Bioplar-Disorder exist at all.

Aaaaand last but not least you described Dylan as schizoid. There already was a thread about discussing if Dylan had Schizotypical Personality Disorder in the old board and I posted it here again: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
I think STPD would even be more accurate than SPD, because the schizoid diagnosis only could explain his withdrawing behaviour, while the schizotypical diagnosis also could explain his paranoia and delusional thinking.

Just my two cents.

Edit: Ah, if you want to, I also can post this at your blog, of course.

Hey, first of all I am glad you took the time and checked out the article. I don't study psychology in an university nor do I work in a psychological field but I have researched personality disorders and psychology in general for roughly 6 years now (im 22 years old). I have also researched and am familiar with the psychology of most infamous mass murderers and school shooters, since the topic has always interested me.

You are right about the fact that a person with Antisocial personality disorder (a psychopath or a sociopath) can and does feel weak and insecure on the inside. That does not, however, mean that Eric was a psychopath because he felt weak on the inside like many others. I do concede that he might have been a malignant narcissist which is a diagnosis not far from a psychopath, the fact that he created REB as his False Self and strong, ruthless and rebellious Alter Ego supports that diagnosis. But I definitely don't agree that psychopathy is a "life-strategy" or a choice. These people can not feel empathy and they can not love. They don't feel much of anything when their relatives die for instance, any sadness that may occur is almost always related to their own interests or well-being (if they were financially dependent on them for example), sometimes they can get a little sad when remembering the times they spent together, im sure, but its all in their head because they don't FEEL anything in the sense that "normal" people experience emotions. It is all rooted in their childhood, not to mention the older than dinosaurs nature vs. nurture debate.

Now on to why I think Eric might have been Borderline. First of all, I am not sure about that by any means as post-mortem examination is always difficult. That said, sufferers of Borderline Personality Disorder fear abandonment, I think that is very evident in Eric because deep down he craved attention, friendship and longed belong but on the outside, he was giving people to whom he was not even acquinted with mean looks and wouldn't engage in conversation with them even if they wanted to etc. I see a lot of myself in Eric regarding this trait, and some other traits aswell to be honest. I also think that he feared abandonment from Dylan, that is one reason he desperately wanted to prove that he really was REB in several situations. Another personality trait of Borderlines are relationships full of drama. Eric had drama in practically every relationship he was ever in, Brooks Brown and the girl he faked his suicide for spring to mind in a second. I also think that Eric suffered from identity disturbance and emotional instability which are Borderline traits. Another trait is inappropriate fits of intense anger which Eric expressed regularly. He also seemed to suffer from emotional instability and paranoid thoughts. I can't be sure of him having BPD (the full-blown disorder) post-mortem but I personally do believe he did.

About Dylan being Bipolar Disorder... it is a complex disease that varies from person to person. Actually, the depressive stage in bipolar patients can last YEARS without Mania. But I do believe Dylan may have had mania at some point, if indeed he suffered from the disorder, which we do not know for sure and never will which is too bad.

I think you mean Schizotypal PD not Schizotypical? In fact, I think you're right. Schizotypical PD does describe Dylan to a T and there for better than the diagnosis of a Schizoid, I will have to change that in my post. Thanks!

You are very welcome to post a comment at my blog but im afraid your last one was too long fot that.

deadpoet wrote:

I think you mean Schizotypal PD not Schizotypical? In fact, I think you're right. Schizotypical PD does describe Dylan to a T and there for better than the diagnosis of a Schizoid, I will have to change that in my post. Thanks!

Ah, yeah you're right. The german name for the Disorder is "schizotypische Persönlichkeitststörung" and I confused that.

Hale-Bopp wrote:

Some psychologist, sadly I don't remember who, did not classify Psychopathy as a disorder, but a "life-strategy".

R.D. Laing.