For those of you following this news - any thoughts?
An intelligent, gifted young man in his early 20s who gradually goes from wealthy overachiever to loner, begins exhibiting eccentric, antisocial and delusional behavior, culminating in an obsession to murder a perceived culprit of his own and society’s ills.
Most media I am reading seem puzzled by this crime, yet not one site has even questioned whether it could have been the product of MI, specifically a disorder on the SZ spectrum that typically manifests exactly at this stage of life in young men. I hope he gets a complete psych workup before the case proceeds any further.
The news has reports every day of incidents and tragedies that show strong possibilities of being in this realm.
There is so much evidence that our country has a mental health issue that isn’t being recognized much less addressed.
The Hinkley’s didn’t know. In our Family to Family class one family found out when they got a call from Bellevue. They had no idea their child was anywhere near New York, much less that he was psychotic and attacking people on the streets of New York.
I immediately thought he seemed delusional and paranoid with his outburst. I did not see one news article question his mental health. Maybe others could see the signs in their loved ones before a horrible tragedy happened, if someone in the news made mention of it. So wrong to ignore severe mental illness like it doesn t exist.
His demeanor while in police custody certainly rang a familiar bell with me. Billy would be extremely agitated and abusive while in police custody. I think they would have beat the hell out of him or killed him if not for my father and me always showing up for him.
I didn’t ignore my sons SMI and was unable to get him the help he needs- he stopped his medication and started using weed and mushrooms- no matter how I tried to get him baker acted etc- along with the police marchment act and a baker act he still refused his meds- was and is psychotic and delusional- he’s been in jail a year for attacking his neighbors yet the lawyer and judge can not do anything to help him because he refuses all help- he will be homeless for the first time and is 47 years old- I watched in horror the train wreck that was happening and had no power to stop the inevitable- I didn’t cause it, can’t control it nor can I cure it- unfortunately in our society there is little help for the SMI.
My immediate thoughts exactly. Additionally, he was probably high on something, during and the following days afterwards. He was probably coming down off his “high” after the arrest, which exacerbated the apparent mental illness and reaction towards the police and whoever else he was screaming at. Just my thoughts, I’m certainly no expert.