Quote:
Originally Posted by Dion
Lanza had Aspergers Syndrome which is not a mental health disorder.
Joe McGinniss, the well-known author and the father of a son who has Asperger’s, is among the many who wrote to me.
“The suggestion that Asperger’s might be a clue to why this happened is offensive to me,” he said in a telephone interview Tuesday. “It’s misleading to suggest that quiet people who don’t pick up on social cues are more likely to become killers.”
Dr. Ami Klin, an expert on autism at the Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, said that any tie between the Newtown shootings and Asperger’s or autism “is an enormous disservice” to those whose lives are affected by these developmental disorders, which should not be confused with mental illness.
“Any human condition can coexist with violence,” he said, but no correlation should be drawn.
In fact, he said, those with Asperger’s “are much more likely to be victims rather than victimizers.”
http://publiceditor.blogs.nytimes.co...with-violence/ |
He may have had Aspergers syndrome. The facts don't link to any mental disorder at this time. There hasn't been anyone coming forward saying that he was diagnosed. This is a problem right there. So many people have said that he may have had odd tendencies, was secluded etc. Yet this boy, so far as we know, never was seen by a mental health professional in his life. That's one of the main issues of why access to care in the USA needs to be addressed. We don't know anything about him because no one ever tried to help him.
I agree though with the comment that linking Aspergers to being more violent is ridiculous. It's trying to link causation with no association.