Soccer Dad

When is there a danger?

Years ago there was a fellow at work who could be described like this.

The violence-prone individual is more likely to have enduring personality pathology, such as a paranoid, schizoid, narcissistic, or antisocial personality, and a long history of difficult interpersonal relationships. He may ruminate about perceived slights or injustices for months or even years. Because he is often a loner, he has no circle of friends to correct his misinterpretations of other people’s intentions and behaviors. Because he looks at the world from a very egocentric point of view, he is unable to correctly perceive the effect of his behavior on other people. The emotion he feels is not everyday anger but profound and intense hatred of those who have allegedly demeaned or wronged him. His thinking is so faulty that he can justify assaultive behavior on the basis that he is the innocent victim (Beck, 1999).

The problem is that the fellow in question never exploded. I'm assuming that this general description fits a lot of anti-social people. Yet not every one of them explodes in a fit of murderous rage.

When I had concerns for my safety and the safety of others at work I called a counseling hotline. What I was told is that no one can be forced into treatment unless he/she makes a specific threat of violence. (Saying, as the co-worker did, that he'd "... knock xxxx's block off" didn't qualify.)

Still at the time it was a little disconcerting that there was nowhere to turn for relief from this disturbing individual. It sounds somewhat like Prof Barbara Oakley's complaint about an unusual student.

When I complained about Rick to the dean of students, I was told there was nothing to be done — after all, “students have rights, too.” Only after appealing to that dean’s boss and calling a raft of fellow professors who had also come to fear Rick’s strange behavior was I able to convince the administration to take grudging action; they restricted his ability to loiter in certain areas and began nudging him toward the classes he needed to graduate.

In a strange way, I could see the administration’s point. Rick looked fairly ordinary, at least when away from his sleeping bag and pet cockroaches. It must have seemed far more likely that Rick could sue for being thrown out of school, than that I — or anyone else — could ever be hurt. The easiest path, from their perspective, was to simply get me to shut up.

Again "Rick's" behavior was disturbing but was it necessarily portentious of violence?

Now Dr. Helen writes in the case of Cho, he was evaluated and found to be mentally ill. Yet he was released.

I guess what bothers me is that while those demonstrating various antisocial behaviors are more likely than the general population to become mass killers, it doesn't necessarily follow that those (antisocial) people are likely to become mass murderers. What then is the tip-off? Is it, like I was told, a specific threat? Or is there something more subtle? Is it possible to know before it's too late?

Antisocial Behavior

Blogdigger tags: Virginia Tech Massacre, Antisocial Behavior.