Armchair Psych Profile and Treatment

[songline]

I posted this in the documents thread, but it may be applicable here.

AP released a lot of documents relating to his applications to graduate school. It included his resume and his "personal statement", the longest text that I have seen written by Holmes himself:

http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_documents/holmes_application.pdf

I read it all when it was released and just now i read again.

I see basic enrolment type of information and resume.

IMHO they released very little.
I do not see any red flags anyplace here. or anything much at all.


I was not impressed with what they released. – all they did is give us a pacifier.
:moo:

 

[newsleuther]

I read it all when it was released and just now i read again.

I see basic enrolment type of information and resume.

IMHO they released very little.
I do not see any red flags anyplace here. or anything much at all.

I was not impressed with what they released. – all they did is give us a pacifier.
:moo:

You read all 176 pages? It's incredibly in-depth and pretty much shows his entire application process... way more than enrollment and resume. Personal letters of recommendation from his prior professors, personal statements, transcripts, emails between holmes and the professors setting up meetings, the actual notes taken during his interviews by the professors, etc

The fact that there are no red flags, and that his emails and essays are coherent and organized, is what interests me. He obviously did not start really unraveling until the move to CO

 

[songline]

You read all 176 pages? It's incredibly in-depth and pretty much shows his entire application process... way more than enrollment and resume. Personal letters of recommendation from his prior professors, personal statements, transcripts, emails between holmes and the professors setting up meetings, the actual notes taken during his interviews by the professors, etc

The fact that there are no red flags, and that his emails and essays are coherent and organized, is what interests me. He obviously did not start really unraveling until the move to CO

newsleuther; I read it yesterday - not working so I had time, and I was very curious.
I wanted to see something that will tell me more than how smart he was, who sent him letters of recommendation,
the entire enrollment process, and all the letters/e-mails of invitations…and so on. I was combing it for something
from the school hoping to find something related to his therapist….but found nothing - I considered it a pacifier to us.

BBM... I agree with the bold part.

 

[jjenny]

You read all 176 pages? It's incredibly in-depth and pretty much shows his entire application process... way more than enrollment and resume. Personal letters of recommendation from his prior professors, personal statements, transcripts, emails between holmes and the professors setting up meetings, the actual notes taken during his interviews by the professors, etc

The fact that there are no red flags, and that his emails and essays are coherent and organized, is what interests me. He obviously did not start really unraveling until the move to CO

ITA. Clearly he at the very least appeared to be very stable up until recent time.
And was able to impress highly educated people to get into several competitive graduate programs.

 

[newsleuther]

ITA. Clearly he at the very least appeared to be very stable up until recent time.
And was able to impress highly educated people to get into several competitive graduate programs.

I wonder if it was a developing mental illness that starts in your 20s, or if something horrific happened to him in CO that caused him to snap mentally.

Because it seems that not too long ago, he was very coherent and sane.

 

[jjenny]

I wonder if it was a developing mental illness that starts in your 20s, or if something horrific happened to him in CO that caused him to snap mentally.

Because it seems that not too long ago, he was very coherent and sane.

Considering how long it took him to order all the items need to carry out his alleged plan, he didn't just snap.

 

[newsleuther]

Considering how long it took him to order all the items need to carry out his alleged plan, he didn't just snap.

I mean something violent happening to him causing him to snap mentally, permanently.

Not snapping right before the shooting

I know someone who was a victim of a violent crime that was totally normal beforehand, and is now in a mental institution.

 

[jjenny]

I mean something violent happening to him causing him to snap mentally, permanently.

Not snapping right before the shooting

I know someone who was a victim of a violent crime that was totally normal beforehand, and is now in a mental institution.

I think if something violent happened to hm while in Co, press would have uncovered it by now.

 

[rollinginit]

In Dec of 2011, he must have went home for his christmas break. One of his good friends said in an interview that they went to a movie and JH's seemed fine.

Hold on....I will be back with the link.

http://denver.cbslocal.com/2012/07/22/cu-investigating-suspect-james-holmes-deliveries/

Ritchie Duong, a friend who has known Holmes for more than a decade, told the Los Angeles Times that in high school he liked to play cards and video games. They both attended undergraduate school at the University of California, Riverside, where they saw each other once a week to watch the TV show “Lost.”

Duong last saw Holmes in December when they met for dinner in Los Angeles and saw a movie together. His friend seemed fine, he told the newspaper.

 

[songline]

I wonder if it was a developing mental illness that starts in your 20s, or if something horrific happened to him in CO that caused him to snap mentally.

Because it seems that not too long ago, he was very coherent and sane.

I do not think it STARTS in your 20's. I believe it is in your 20‘s when it begins to show.
the damage was there I believe at birth.

 

[jjenny]

I do not think it STARTS in your 20's. I believe it is in your 20‘s when it begins to show.
the damage was there I believe at birth.

What damage is there before the symptoms show up? The diagnosis of schizophrenia, for instance, is based on the symptoms. Not on some brain damage. And by the way, MI, including schizophrenia, is not get out of jail free card. And it doesn't automatically make the person legally insane.

 

[February]

Considering how long it took him to order all the items need to carry out his alleged plan, he didn't just snap.

Hi jjeny...am curious to hear your theory

 

[Roxye]

I think that some people are still not understanding MI and it's process. After I realized I had a problem with my thinking in 95, after my grandmother killed herself, very few people also realized. I masked my feelings for a very, very long time. Those around me never realized the extent of my self loathing. They just thought I was sad. I was dealing. I was coping.

In truth, I wasn't coping at all! My thoughts were consumed with joining my grandmother. NOONE in my life had a clue. It took almost 3 years before anyone in my life realized just how hard I was struggling just to deal with everyday life.

3 years! JH was younger then me, and by all standards smarter then me, before he realized life was spiraling out of control for him.

I don't agree with his way of handling the situation, but I do understand his unraveling! It takes time to see that unraveling. Unless you have people close to you, as I did, it is VERY unlikely a casual person would see this unraveling.

 

[songline]

What damage is there before the symptoms show up? The diagnosis of schizophrenia, for instance, is based on the symptoms. Not on some brain damage. And by the way, MI, including schizophrenia, is not get out of jail free card. And it doesn't automatically make the person legally insane.

BRAIN damage is there from the start. It just does not show up as strange behavior, they are highly functional and intelligent. Often far more intelligent then most.

We have many at WS that have been monitored and medicated and live fine lives, ask them they know.

 

[orora]

Seems more a coherent shift of attitude followed by a deliberate purposeful agenda. He knew what he was doing right til the end, was still high level functioning to build that bomb. Aside from cause, is he really totally amnesiac now? Was thinking of the end catatonic scene in Kpax.

But, any and all of this should have been caught on the building up phase. Whatever caused his attitude shift may come out yet, new meds or drug experimentation would be my suspicion. Prescription changed immediately upon arrest imo. Damage control for the uni can only hold things back so long. There are still way too many unanswered questions.

 

[ladeda7777]

Schizophrenia is of a genetic predisposition combined with environmental exposures and / or stresses. While James was in Riverside, he was an hour and half from home. Now James is in Colorado, and more alone than he's been before. That is a big stressor. How many hours is he putting into study at school? Anxiety/stress/isolation may have been the first symptoms and could/heighten over time. They say James had friends, but what was the quality of those relationships? We don't know at what point he began seeing Dr. Fenton. Was James seeing her for anxiety/depression/stress or had other symptoms more serious already begun? He would've been going for talk therapy, but he would also (most likely) have been prescribed medications. There are whole ranges of prescription medication for mental illness that may have been prescribed. If James had had some of the more serious symptoms he may have been prescribed at that point an anti- psychotic. Some of these medications can wreak havoc on mental capabilities creating more stress for him as his success with school work declined.
I watched the YouTube video someone posted above about the woman with paranoid schizophrenia. A section from that show came from NPR and tried to express what it would be like for someone with schizophrenia. If that depiction of someone with schizophrenia, doing simple chores , and having voices giving you different orders at different times in relation to different things is typical of schizophrenia it really wouldn't take much of a leap to see James Holmes carry out the crime that he committed under whatever delusions he had in those circumstances. But, those crimes would have been committed by the delusions and paranoia.
Everyone wants a motive; everyone wants something to point their hatred anguish and grief at. If there was something that could be understood things might be a little better. If it is schizophrenia then that is where the hatred and anguish should be aimed. It's like a tornado that moved through with heavy destruction. The tornado is gone, and leaves tragedy, grief and loss in its wake. Everyone hopes that more will be learned about tornadoes and that it will not happen to others.
There is evil in this crime/tragedy and I believe the evil is mental illness.

 

[songline]

Schizophrenia is of a genetic predisposition combined with environmental exposures and / or stresses. While James was in Riverside, he was an hour and half from home. Now James is in Colorado, and more alone than he's been before. That is a big stressor. How many hours is he putting into study at school? Anxiety/stress/isolation may have been the first symptoms and could/heighten over time. They say James had friends, but what was the quality of those relationships? We don't know at what point he began seeing Dr. Fenton. Was James seeing her for anxiety/depression/stress or had other symptoms more serious already begun? He would've been going for talk therapy, but he would also (most likely) have been prescribed medications. There are whole ranges of prescription medication for mental illness that may have been prescribed. If James had had some of the more serious symptoms he may have been prescribed at that point an anti- psychotic. Some of these medications can wreak havoc on mental capabilities creating more stress for him as his success with school work declined.
I watched the YouTube video someone posted above about the woman with paranoid schizophrenia. A section from that show came from NPR and tried to express what it would be like for someone with schizophrenia. If that depiction of someone with schizophrenia, doing simple chores , and having voices giving you different orders at different times in relation to different things is typical of schizophrenia it really wouldn't take much of a leap to see James Holmes carry out the crime that he committed under whatever delusions he had in those circumstances. But, those crimes would have been committed by the delusions and paranoia.
Everyone wants a motive; everyone wants something to point their hatred anguish and grief at. If there was something that could be understood things might be a little better. If it is schizophrenia then that is where the hatred and anguish should be aimed. It's like a tornado that moved through with heavy destruction. The tornado is gone, and leaves tragedy, grief and loss in its wake. Everyone hopes that more will be learned about tornadoes and that it will not happen to others.
There is evil in this crime/tragedy and I believe the evil is mental illness.

You are right we do not know WHY James started to see his therapist.
I would say that regardless to the WHY - I'm certain she saw things long ago
that indicated a spiraling down problem, and then a threat.
It won’t matter WHY he started to see her.
It matters that she should have handled it far more responsibly - IMHO

I would like to know WHY at some point, but it will not excuse her.
My big fear is that there is way too much cover up

 

[rollinginit]

I'm just throwing something out there off the top of my head.

Did he work with chemicals in school? Maybe a good chance he overexposed himself to dangerous substances...either by accident or on purpose???

Personally, I am still leaning towards drugs. IMO, maybe he already had a mild MI and it was multiplied by drug use. Everybody reacts different to drugs.

 

[21merc7]

I'm just throwing something out there off the top of my head.

Did he work with chemicals in school? Maybe a good chance he overexposed himself to dangerous substances...either by accident or on purpose???

Personally, I am still leaning towards drugs. IMO, maybe he already had a mild MI and it was multiplied by drug use. Everybody reacts different to drugs.

I'm going with experimental drugs. He was fine until he went to Aurora, at least as far as we know. He was 24 and away from home, he was experimenting. We have the girl with the boom box saying he looked high, and his self photos showing he looked high.

I'm thinking either your traditional street drugs, OR the new ones. I have watched a few youtubes on Spice, Bath Salts, Designer Drugs and Synthetic Drugs. Dear Lord why these even exist I do not know. Worse than PCP ever was! The effects can be immediate, or up to 10 years later, as far as what studies are there. These videos included some of the chemicals that come under various names. Whatever the kid did, it sent any underlying issue, or even non-existent until then, over the edge.

 

[newsleuther]

I'm just throwing something out there off the top of my head.

Did he work with chemicals in school? Maybe a good chance he overexposed himself to dangerous substances...either by accident or on purpose???

Personally, I am still leaning towards drugs. IMO, maybe he already had a mild MI and it was multiplied by drug use. Everybody reacts different to drugs.

My first thought was drugs called research chems. They're not illegal (it's kind of a grey area), but they are not regulated, and they are CRAZY hallucigenics. I'm not talking about Bath Salts, but way, way out there trips that basically put you in another world, like 2CB, DMT, AMT, etc.

http://www.erowid.org/psychoactives/research_chems/

A lot of information there, it's some crazy stuff.

I did DMT once when I was in college and it's some crazy stuff. That particular one only lasts a few minutes and it literally places you into another cartoon world, total dissociation. The newer ones, some of them last hours.

He might have even been interested in how they effect the brain and memories... I know DMT is used to tap into old memories (which will show up in your trip, people from your past, etc), and some people say the brain releases DMT when you die.