Adam Lanza DID NOT HAVE ASPERGER SYNDROME

It makes me angry when people thoughtlessly say he had Aspergers syndrome, because at this point in time its never been proven and the some of the symptoms he was exhibiting were far from what you find in the disorder. Yes Aspergers can coexist with other illnesses but I dont think he had it, and certainly not the classical kind.

I agree, although one might argue that a major indicator is social isolation, possible sensory sensitivity issues along with his preoccupied obsession with serial killers. But thats it. However, none of these alone are an indication of Aspergers because many other illnesses have the same characteristics. He was smart, but had serious issues. The social isolation could be from psychosis, especially in the last 3 years before he acted out. Sensory issues are just casual reports from the few who knew him, not yet solidly proven. The serial killer obsession could fall into OCD or Aspergers, but it could have been fueled by psychotic level thought quality. The picture of him is another indication of something outside of Aspergers. His eyes are very vacant and disconnected. Serve depression? Some type of dissociation? Psychosis? Im not talking about not making eye contact as with typical autism but rather something very amiss.


The Adam Lanza case if fascinating from a clinical/developmental psychology perspective. I am constantly analyzing any new news updates / looking for new info. Many, many complex psychological and psychiatric symptoms are present and I have read almost every single theory you can imagine as to what went wrong in side his head. If I had to pick I would lean more toward undiagnosed schizophrenia rather than autism of any kind. But its still a guess at best.

At this point what we all need is more info on Lanza, especially his early years. Hopefully medical records will go public along with people coming forward who knew him as to what they saw. I think that will show more of a promise as to what he had. One thing is certain, a lot of people missed a lot in him.

UK - "Loughborough Plot" just saw on TV today, quick Google search produced:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... rough.html
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/cr ... 53971.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/ ... hears.html

Here we go again...

The "condition" has not been added/mentioned on the other 2 major broadcasters' sites:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-le ... e-24366342
http://www.itv.com/news/story/2013-10-0 ... ons-trial/ (AS was mentioned on TV though)

If this is real then I do have a few comments:
So, alienation without consequence? right... Once triggered, stopping appears impossible without intervention making "perpetrating" and "facilitating" pointless arguments. I doubt the right questions will be asked, finding the trigger is more important than macro managing the cascade failure. The information and materials isn't hard to get hold of once committed. What should be focused on is the intent of action rather than choice of expression.

If you're a clinical psychologist then FML.

You're right of course and I get so tired of hearing about 'criminals with aspergers'. It's ridiculous.

I didn't think anything published about Lanza sounded anything like Aspergers. It sounded to me like he had a psychotic disorder. It also sounded like his mother was in denial about it. Ideally, Lanza would have gotten treatment for psychosis and the shooting never would have occurred. Treatment would have helped him cope and he wouldn't have needed to be violent. I think of him as a really tortured, neglected soul.

And yes, I wish people would stop saying stuff like that about Aspergers.

But I also wish they'd stop saying schizophrenics are invariably violent too! I have researched such crimes for years and have never found any crime in which a schizophrenic who was getting proper, consistent treatment for his illness, committed a serious crime.

vector4truth wrote:Adam Lanza was never officially diagnosed with Asperger syndrome. This news article officially states that Adam Lanza's mother and brother merely speculated that he had Asperger syndrome, and that he didn't have a confirmed diagnosis of Asperger syndrome. Please read this: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-204_162-57559600/aspergers-not-likely-to-make-people-violent-experts-emphasize/

Furthermore, Dr. Elizabeth Laugeson, an autism specialist at UCLA stated that "The vast majority of people with Asperger's are law-abiding citizens that don't act violently against others. I think it would be [b]sad to vilify a community because of the action of one person who hasn't been confirmed to have the diagnosis."[/b] There is no way that someone with Asperger syndrome or autism could have POSSIBLY carried out a mass shooting at an elementary school, or anywhere else. Nor could a person with Asperger syndrome or autism have shot a 6-year-old over 60 times People with Asperger syndrome are far too benign, pacifistic, and empathetic to go on mass shootings. As a clinical psychologist who as worked with ppl w Asperger's and autism, I KNOW THIS!!!! Also, refer to this article:http://www.healthzone.ca/health/article/633688

Most likely, Adam Lanza was either a psychopath or a paranoid schizophrenic, and many articles have indicated that he could have been both. Highly conceivable.

[quote="vector4truth"]Adam Lanza was never officially diagnosed with Asperger syndrome. This news article officially states that Adam Lanza's mother and brother merely speculated that he had Asperger syndrome, and that he didn't have a confirmed diagnosis of Asperger syndrome. Please read this: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-204_162-57559600/aspergers-not-likely-to-make-people-violent-experts-emphasize/

Furthermore, Dr. Elizabeth Laugeson, an autism specialist at UCLA stated that "The vast majority of people with Asperger's are law-abiding citizens that don't act violently against others. I think it would be [b]sad to vilify a community because of the action of one person who hasn't been confirmed to have the diagnosis."[/b] There is no way that someone with Asperger syndrome or autism could have POSSIBLY carried out a mass shooting at an elementary school, or anywhere else. Nor could a person with Asperger syndrome or autism have shot a 6-year-old over 60 times People with Asperger syndrome are far too benign, pacifistic, and empathetic to go on mass shootings. As a clinical psychologist who as worked with ppl w Asperger's and autism, I KNOW THIS!!!! Also, refer to this article:http://www.healthzone.ca/health/article/633688 [/quoteautism has problems with empathy that leads to problems with social cognition. MY friend in high school and 2nd cousin had aspergers, I know a HFA that is so clueless with empathy he can't figure out why I don't like him or it could be his lack of common sense. Adam lanza probably suffered from a mood disorder or personality disorder. Not to say someone on the autistic spectrum could not be ostracized because they are different and end up angry which could cause them to commit a crime.

Speculations are not facts. I think the best thing is to read about Asperger sydrome and learn that its a disability that can cause all kinds of problems including social isolation and even some personality problems which can have complex quality. Some autistic people may experience hardship and even become criminals. There is no doubt that there were some killing sprees caused by autistic people.

AutisticPsychopath wrote:You are just ingorant. Not having an official diagnosis doesn't automatically mean you don't have Asperger's Syndrome. It is a biological condition, just because you get diagnosed doesn't mean it magically appeared. Adam Lanza showed strong traits of Asperger's and doesn't match the criteria for psychopathy. Just because you kill someone doesn't make you a psychopath, you obviously have no knowledge on this at all and citing random news articles suggests this further. Most psychopaths actually never kill someone. Finally, just because you have Asperger's doesn't mean you are unable to kill or do terrible things. Many mass murderers such as Adolf Hitler or Ted Bundy had Asperger's Syndrome.

Not sure about the mass murderers you mentioned (I know in the case of Hitler the autism expert Michael Fitzgerald is convinced he had Aspergers, but it's not really possible to diagnose a dead guy and also other psychiatrists had other suspicions). But besides that I agree with your post.

i hear some ppl now think it was due to ssri's (and a lot of mass shooting can be)

AutisticPsychopath wrote:Many mass murderers such as Adolf Hitler or Ted Bundy had Asperger's Syndrome.

You seriously think those two had Asperger's Syndrome? Adolf Hitler was an excellent public speaker who knew exactly how to inspire the people and convince them to follow him, and Ted Bundy was a charming, well-liked guy who no one ever expected would hurt anyone. Both of them had really good social skills, there is absolutely no way they were on the autism spectrum.

Jeffrey Dahmer, though, could've been on the spectrum.