You are making the mistake assuming when they are medicated they are at a loss of reality. As one of my good friends has the illness and so do many people in his support group that Ive actually attended, I can assure you they are completely in touch with reality. As a matter of fact in most cases you wouldnt even know they were sick aside from watching them take a handful of pills every day.

Fair enough. I'm not a psychologist so can't really debate the point it just seems like many people stop taking the meds and laziness does not seem like a good explanation. It's possible it's confirmation bias whereby we hear about those who stop when they do something bad but never hear about the majority who are properly medicated.

I know it's never going to change, but it sickens me how the media is sensationalizing this. I really wish news web sites would show photos of the victims or establishing shots of the crime scene, or anything but that demonic grinning Joker face photo of the shooter. This is exactly what he wanted. Also not calling the 71 deaths a record would help. It's like they are putting a target out there for the next sicko to go for. If they passed a law that prevented mass killers' faces from being shown in the media in the immediate aftermath of events like this I wouldn't hate it.

^ Quite.

Bryung is correct, many schizophrenics are capable of normal lives with the proper amount/type of medication and support.

For some reason, schizophrenia follows the the rule of thirds: approximately 1/3 of those diagnosed resume normal/almost completely normal functioning with few residual issues after their first psychotic break, 1/3 recover partially, and 1/3 struggle with various levels of the disorder pretty much for the rest of their lives.

And with any disorder that is characterized by neurotransmitter imbalances, people who require medication to maintain stability, then choose (for whatever reason) to stop or reduce their medication, and susceptible to a whole host of potential side effects, including delusions and hallucinations (depending on the disorder and medication).

I have no idea if the shooter in this case was schizophrenic, but he's in the right age range for a first psychotic break.

Final note: The mentally ill are statistically LESS likely to be violent or criminal. They're MORE likely to be victims, not perpetrators. The media focus on cases like this lead people to believe that people with X disorder are violent/criminal, but that's not true at all.

12 died

I mean, there could be tonnes of cases where people who are properly medicated still act out but I dont know of any (mind you I havent researched it that much). As you said, you arent a professional in this area and neither am I but I am more familiar with it than most people. From what Ive learned it leads me to believe the one's taking improper dosage or taking themselves off the medication seem to be the ones having issues. Now people not getting the right dosage or the right med is a fairly common problem. I heard time and time again people saying things like "Ive been having these negative thoughts" or "I feel like people are staring at me" and the insta response of the therapist is usually lets increase the dosage or add something to it. BUT imo to have murderous thoughts and act them out would make me think he took himself off the meds or maybe he hasnt even been diagnosed yet.

Thats the reason why I assumed schizo right away. It reminded me of my friend and some of the violent outbursts some of these people at the support groups would have before being medicated and what not. I actually only attended 4-5 meetings and it was to try and understand what happened to my buddy since we grew up together. It was very weird to see someone transform like he did.

From what I gather from his court case, they found him criminally responsible because he took himself off the drugs

I just read SGT RJ's response and this caught my eye. This is actually a very good point as its very common for this age group to have their first 'outbreak'

Very good point to keep in mind at times like these.

I know they said the guy bought 6,000 rounds of ammo. Is that a large amount to purchase? It sounds like a lot but I wasn't sure if the media was just hyping that number. How many bullets does one have to buy for someone to notice it's a large amount? If someone were to buy an AR-15, how many bullets would he purchase as well assuming he's just using it for target practice or whatever?

+1

Maybe, but strange how he just knew the exaict names of the last few spree killers by heart

maybe because his sister was almost killed by one ?

Oh, yeah, conspiracy theories are exactly what this subject needs.

wat? I've never heard of this or seen any evidence of it? The news would go completely ape **** if there were copy cat mass murders within a week of a major event like this? Has this actually ever happened that anyone can recall?

According to reports I'm reading citing people inside the jail, it seems like he STILL believes he is a criminal mastermind/villain like the Joker. One guard said something along the lines of "he thinks he's acting in a movie," noting that all the guy does is spit on everyone and everything he can.

The inmates (some who were in the jail and saw the guy brought in but were released this morning) said the jail went to the length of not only putting him in solitary (obv), but covering up all the windows to his cell. Perhaps he's trying to act out the role after he got arrested and, despite the fact that he obviously won't miraculously escape by planting a bomb in an inmate's stomach, the police don't want to give him his jollies with any sort of attention.

There is a scene in one of the movies where the joker enters a crowded room of civilians, shoots the ceiling and then starts running around putting a 12 gauge in people's faces.

Hmm the $ thing is interesting. He was collecting unemployment I think and it actually wouldn't be that hard(for him) to get 20k+ in credit cards. It would just be a matter of getting the charges to go through.

Keep that Alex Jones crap the **** out this thread.

And keep that Alex Jones crap the hell out of the Politics version of this thread too.

Can we talk about how this happened at a Batman premier, which has become a franchise committed to glorifying exactly this type of random violence as some kind of meaningful endeavor? You know, like how they guy called himself "the Joker" and how this scene and his apartment boobie-trap could have actually appeared in the movie?

I'm not that much older than most of you, but didn't like the Joker movie and wasn't going to see this one mainly because I found the knife-to-mouth monologues and crowd-slaughtering storylines excessive, indulgent, and basically in poor taste for a movie which is obviously going to be seen by every child in the country. I was further offended that people enjoyed that "chilling" violence so much they missed how otherwise horrible and nonsensical that movie was.

Or are we still going with the "this could have happened at any movie" line?

And remember, no trolling--it's in the rules.

that (now deleted) $$ thing may have been one of the dumbest posts ive ever read on 2+2

Do some googling on proximate and ultimate causation and you will get your answer.

That's a gross misunderstanding of TDK and a terrible argument. Blaming the movie is just... People are crazy sometimes.

Whoa, hadn't read this:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...ick-Joker.html

Ridiculously close shave there.

Perhaps he was hoping the apartment would blow, distracting police and emergency medical response with a massive explosion while he shot up the theater.

That may be why he said something about the booby traps when they caught him - he presumed that the bombs/devices/whatever had already gone off.