At last! An intelligent comment.

In the face of this tragedy, we struggle to comprehend how a human being could do such a thing. To find answers, we look at what we know to be true of Cho’s past, combine it with what we can interpret or re-interpret from the bits and pieces found in his dorm and elsewhere and “discover” that, indeed, he is an inherently different sort of human being than the rest of us. And the pattern that seems to be emerging in this young man’s life and death is consistent with the common patterns that are sketched out by decades of research into past instances of mass murder.

Well, if there are common patterns, why (we ask and hope) can we not identify the early signs or stages of the pattern and perhaps avoid or prevent the horrible conclusion? The problem, it seems, is that the early patterns are probably not terribly unlike the life experiences of tens of millions of people across North America. Only a small handful of these will arrive in the place where we found Mr. Cho and we really don’t know what might have made the difference for him, what might have pushed him over the edge, as it were. Sure, we can retrospectively “explain” how he came to this behaviour, but retrospective explanation and prospective prediction are very different things.

Still, we find some comfort in these explanations. And we wish that we could learn to predict before another life is lost to such tragedies, but we can not.

The great frustration is that nothing substantial came out of the multitude of concerns expressed by staff and students. Maybe the tragedy couldn’t have been averted. Even so, is there a way that individuals such as this can be helped before we have another massacre?

You’re absolutely right, Marianne, that is the great frustration. And yes, we do, as a society, need to find better ways to help all those who experience distress before they meet their own tragedies including, hopefully, those very few who might see fit to force their tragedy on others.

Yes, there is not really a way to force someone into counseling, unless there is a conviction for something. Frustrating that we can’t predict the future, or force counseling on those who might need it.

Using my imagination, perhaps some low level of counseling might be required for all students by the school, but I don’t know how that gets paid for. I’m not sure it would be legal to require it. Some schools have students do an MMPI or something - I have no idea what they do with it - they probably don’t either.

In the real world, terrible things happen. Despite our craving for the illusion of a permanent state of safety from all harm, there is no such thing. When bad things happen, we become like small children, who expected our parents, our government, our institutions to protect us from any and all harm. What government, organization or person could possibily have that kind of power? They try to do it to presidents, stars and kings, and it becomes and insulating envelope - a barrier from the outside world. If you had the money, you could probably retreat into some protected bunker somewhere - but is that how we want to live?

There are no guarantees. There is no ultimate insurance. Mental health means realizing how the world is and choosing to go on living in it anyway.

Thanks for your entry Dr. Grohol. It’s good to see a glimmer of rationality amidst all of the raving and doomsaying. Even I’m a bit guilty of this - good to have a few folks to bring us all back to earth.

Thank you Dr. Grohol for this article. My concern is that the media and others will sensationalize this tragedy by making assumptions about the “profiles” of a school shooter. I agree, just because a person is quiet and angry does not make them a murderer. No doubt the young man was disturbed and needed counseling (which was also not a guarantee that this tragedy would not occur).

Conclusions will be drawn quickly. Is this the right thing to do ?

We have heard that it is stated all too often that the Schizophrenics and alike are detached from reality. If this is the case, then those who make this statement are therefore ” ATTACHED ” to reality such that this relative
statement has a sound foundation.

If attached to reality, or in touch with reality, then one clearly knows what reality actually is !

With this being the case, anyone “in-touch” with reality can therefore describe the structure of reality. Yet despite this being the case, I have yet to meet anyone who has been able to claim to understand the mechanics of reality even in the slightest, but instead they have confined their interests within the field of Psychology, thus displacing themselves far far away from having any actual direct connection to reality, nor being truly in-touch with reality.

Instead they are in touch with conformity and or a group consensus. This then leads to problems.

If someone is outside of the conformity, the person is classified as ” Detached “. These detachments may be caused by errors in the functioning of the mind, or by being truly attached to reality thus being outside of the limits of mere conformity.

The end result is that a mind that is truly in touch with reality, is rejected and classified as an unstable or limited mind.

An example of this is the mind of Albert Einstein. His thought processing was outside of the norm. As the result of this, to some of his early teachers it was crystal clear that Albert Einstein was no other than a backward person, a slow learner, a mentally challenged person, and a person that without doubt had no academic future to look forward to.

Einstein’s thought processing was outside of the boundaries of global conformity.

At a later date he proved them wrong and they then proceeded to classify him as a genius and were just as sure and certain of their new conclusion at this new extreme, as they were when concluding the exact opposite extreme many years before hand.

In most cases of classifying of another, it is done in a manner that screams outwardly that certainty is part of the package. At the same time, it is obvious that certainty can be supported by no other that all that surrounds that which one is certain of. Therefore, to be certain of just one thing alone, one must know of absolutely everything else as well that extends outwardly from it.

Thus the question comes to the surface, is it justifiable to classify another as someone who is detached from reality ?

If one properly understands what has occurred, then no stone is left unturned. If understanding is absent, then a person is simply labeled instead.

“Yes, there is not really a way to force someone into counseling, unless there is a conviction for something. Frustrating that we can’t predict the future, or force counseling on those who might need it”.

And anyone would agree with that.

But then he adds: “When bad things happen, we become like small children, who expected our parents, our government, our institutions to protect us from any and all harm. What government, organization or person could possibly have that kind of power?”

Well governments have the power to stop guns from becoming available to almost anyone. If the mentally ill had no easy access to guns they would still kill, you might reply, and one would have to agree, but the truth is that although there are crimes committed by these people by other means it is virtually impossible to kill as many as in this case with any other form of weapon.

Just because someone is quiet does not mean they are killers. Also University counselors make mistakes. I saw one at WMU in Kalamazoo Michigan and they mis-diagnosed me, they put me on prozac, I then became very aggressive and violent when my family doctor took me off it. My own doctor discovered that I am Bipolar, I never should have been on prozac, it made things worse. I also now have some permanent brain damage and slur my speech a lot when I talk. I do not have good memory anymore and now have to take Lamictal for the rest of my life. This university ruined my brain. Luckily I can still do math. I am not violent and could never hurt anyone or myself. I am just moody and very sensitive to things. I feel for others, I love animals and life. Just because someone has a mental disorder this does not mean they are dangerous. Bipolar people feel things with more intensity then normal people do. Music sounds more intense to me then a normal person. Yes we get moody but not all of us are dangerous. I love my friends, family and my co-workers and would never hurt anyone. I can not stand violent movies or horror movies. Get a Grip people, and stop putting us all in a categorie of freaks out to kill, we are not all dangerous, only the ones who do not get help.

Rae
Michigan

If dangerous people are to be helped, say like Cho, then first of all someone needed to be able to reach him. Forceing him to a counselor would probable only made him more angry. He needed some love and understanding from someone he could trust.Someone who could have convinced him not by force to seek some help. He was looking through angry eyes at a world that hurt him and he got his revenge, its really sad that someone did not try and be his friend and help him. My guess is that he was stereotyped and that people were afraid of him because he was different,this sort of attitude only causes more hurt and anger. When someone is retarded, autistic or paranoid etc., they need a friend, and confidant to confide it, once they can trust someone, they can begin to seek help. Many counselors will get personally involved, many patients need them to be a friend and not just an analyst. When people are afraid of being your friend because they label you as different, it hurts and it causes great anger. We are all too judgemental of different people, this needs to change if we are to help people like Cho. Just because someone does not see the world like you do, does not mean they are a bad person. Many of us with disorders are good people. Maybe the people around Cho gave him no choice but to become further isolated to protect himself from any further ridicule because he was so different. He needed someone to reach out to him. Please do not pass judgement on what you do not understand.
I am so sorry for the victoms and for CHo that he could not get help.