Who supports the idea that the Virginia Tech Shooter might had a form of autism and why so?

Question

Jeffrey Dahmer was diagnosed as asperger. Violence is possible within autism as an obsession.

Answer 1

Edited to add more info:

As for Jeffrey Dahmer.......I searched him and he also had aggression, anthropophagia, antisocial personality disorder, Asperger's disorder (a form of autism), cannibalism, fetishism, necrophilia, paraphilia, schizoid personality disorder.
(http://www.autismwebsite.com/crimetimes/05c/w05cp13.ht)

So clearly ...Autism did not cause him to become a serial killer.

He obviously did not even receive proper intervention w/ treatment and therapies.

By any means ...I am not defending him. I just want to make Everyone aware that Autistic children are not violent.

The only time my 4 yr. old son used aggression..........was towards himself. With behavioral therapy, children can become productive adults in our society.
(My son is mostly non-verbal ...he uses PECS (pictures to communicate) He also uses sign language ...occasionally he'll say a word or two.






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I just want to make clear Autism does Not Equal a shooter

There are various classifications and degrees of autism and may go unrecognized, especially in mildly affected children or when more debilitating handicaps mask it.

Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are a group of developmental disabilities defined by significant impairments in social interaction and communication and the presence of unusual behaviors and interests. Many people with ASDs also have unusual ways of learning, paying attention, or reacting to different sensations.

The thinking and learning abilities of people with ASDs can vary – from gifted to severely challenged. ASD begins before the age of three and lasts throughout a person's life. It occurs in all racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic groups and is four times more likely to occur in boys than girls.

As far as we know, there is no known evidence that Cho Seung-Hui was even Autistic.

If he was autistic he most likely had Asperger’s syndrome which is a form of autism.

Answer 2

Yes, I think the media should have shown the video of Cho Seung Hui. I don't think showing Cho Seung-Hui's video by the media is glorifying his actions. When I saw on television that 33 people were killed in a mass shooting at Virginia Tech University, the first thing that came to my mind was, how could someone do something so horrible. I think that question was answered when NBC and other media stations showed the video of Cho. The airing of the video really showed how disturbed Cho was. He was a delusional man, who need help. I also don't agree with the statement that the video will prompt copycat killers because to my recollection, there was no video of the Columbine shooters. Yet there were other school shootings after the the Columbine shootings. The bottom line is that there are disturbed people out there and if they are going to commit mass murders, seeing the video of Cho is not going to change anything, other than(and this is what really concerns me) thinking of a way to out do what Cho has done.

Answer 3

I am skeptical. I think it is more likely this is an example of misdiagnosis.

He was clearly mentally ill. Either the family was unwilling to admit that & choose to claim he was autistic instead, OR he was BOTH autistic AND mentally ill.

But autism was not to blame for this tragedy.


Where do you get the idea Dahmer was autistic? He was a sociopath. Can you site a source? If you check, the source probably says something like "may have had autism" or "had some of the symptoms of autism."

http://www.aspiesforfreedom.com/showthread.php?tid=6828

Answer 4

I don't agree with autism/Asperger's being used as an excuse for any criminal activity. People with all forms of autism are just as capable as "normal" people to realize shooting is a bad (wrong) thing. I have Asperger's and Bipolar disorder. I don't go around killing people. The shooter was evil, regardless of any "condition" he had.

Answer 5

form of autism not sure. i'm sure he had been depressed i mean he was a loner....most the victims were rich kids...he said in that video thing that the rich kids have to much or something along those lines...also he was upset no one really paid attention to him.
but its possible he had autism...however he could have just been so depressed/paranoid/whatever but something mainly created in his mind[dunno what the name for something like that is?]


what sort of scares me is that-i can kind of understand WHY he would kill all those people. that can't be good,huh? lol i mean i would never ever ever in a million years do something like what Cho did...but it would have made perfect sense to HIM to do so...

Answer 6

I sure don't support that.
I think it could have been Narcissistic Psychopathic Disorder,
especially if he blamed others for making him do it, could not take responsibility for his own life, felt bad that no one paid him the kind of attention he wanted (need for narcissistic demand), and thought this was appropriate. I also think it could have been schizophrenia or demon possession or severe depression (like the kind that makes you psychotic-like and he just went off the deep end, especially if he wasn't loved the way he needed or wanted). But I'm not a psychiatric doctor (even though I have studied psychology and find it interesting) and I did not know him personally and do not have enough details on his personality before this happened to say it was this or that.
I feel really bad for his victims, including him.

Answer 7

That is a different way of looking at it, Gotta go to K-mart.
My son is being tested for Autism.

Answer 8

I do Believe he was not mentally right .But come on we blame that so much on Everything and then they get away with it.He killed 33 people.We need to pray for his family and the victims family and the wounded.May they all rest in peace.

Answer 9

Where did you read this???

I have not heard anything about Cho having any kind of formal mental health diagnosis. Please cite your sources before engaging in this kind of discussion - it only spreads rumors and false information if there is nothing to support it.

Answer 10

while it is possible, i believe it is far more likely that he had some sort of anti-social, paranoia-related mental disorder such as schizophrenia. he was on anti-psychotic type drugs at the time, but they obviously didn't help much.