PBS Frontline reports Sensory Processing Disorder-Adam Lanza

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Please read second linked article below, before answering the poll. The video from the PBS Front line show is linked below in the first link, but lasts close to an hour, if one is not interesting in watching it. Sensory Processing Disorder SPD description is provided in the third link, and the description of behaviors associated with SPD from the DSM5 optional criterion element is quoted and linked below in the fourth link, if one is not familiar with it.

One interesting and maybe positive thing that came out of the PBS Frontline program on Adam Lanza and linked associated article below was information that Lanza was diagnosed with Sensory Processing Disorder at age 6.

http://www.courant.com/news/connecticut ... full.story

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/newtown-sh ... d=18532645

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sensory_pr ... g_disorder

https://sfari.org/news-and-opinion/news ... -disorders

The article linked above in the second link does not blame that disorder on his violent behavior, but draws attention to a condition that is part of issues associated with ASD, and of course cannot be completely separated from ASD, where even the DSM5 criteria will now include an optional Criterion element for the observance of behaviors associated with Sensory Processing Disorder, in the RRBI Criterion.

The same applies to symptoms of ADHD, Pragmatic Language Impairment, Hyperlexia, Non-verbal Learning Disorder, and Behavioral Addictions that are all potential sources of the observed behavioral impairments that can lead to the diagnostic label of an ASD, that can be biological and/or potentially cultural/environmental in origin.

Lesions in the right hemisphere of the brain and standard intelligence testing is used to screen for non-verbal learning disorder, and changes in the structure of the brain have been studied in behavioral addictions, but there are not necessarily these type of indications in brain scans among individuals with hyperlexia, ADHD or pragmatic language impairment.

And more recently abnormal brain growth was found specific to males with regressive autism.

In some ways ASD is a combination of one or more of theses various defined disorders and conditions. There is not a clear co-morbid boundary that separates what inherently leads to the behavioral impairments that will now be commonly defined in the DSM5 as impairments in developing and maintaining peer appropriate relationships, social emotional reciprocity, and non-verbal impairments.

Many of these related behavioral impairments for a DSM5 ASD diagnosis can be found in these associated disorders/conditions listed above alone without a diagnosis of ASD.

While there is now a common triad of social communication behavioral impairments required for a diagnosis, and RRBI's that can be met from patient history alone, resulting in impairments and limits in every day life functioning, what it is that is ASD constitutes one or more or even all of the potential associated disorders and conditions listed above, that rarely two people share identically on the broad spectrum that exists today.

This results in different ways of thinking and processing the world for many people on the spectrum that are completely foreign to the life experience of those on the spectrum that don't equally share symptoms of these other disorders/conditions related to the spectrum.

And that is of course not even but a small fraction of related disorders/conditions that can result in the behavioral impairments that are defined as ASD in the DSM5.

It would take a conference of hundreds of individuals on the spectrum to adequately communicate these different ways of thinking and processing the world for even an approximation of a representation of what it is like to live on their island of the spectrum, sharing as few as one observed specific behavioral impairment out of the three broad elements in the social communication criterion that are now considered a mandatory part of observed behavioral impairments required to meet a DSM5 diagnosis.

There is still no clear medical record of diagnosis of ASD for Lanza, but the history of his life, well before his part in the horrible tragedy, in the PBS Frontline program was an excellent representation of the real life difficulties people with just sensory processing disorder have in navigating the world with what can be an invisible disability to those around them, that others without this disorder cannot possibly relate to.

The non-verbal and verbal impairments, impairments in social-emotional reciprocity, and difficulty with developing and maintaining peer appropriate relationships and RRBI's, are not necessarily invisible difficulties. Sensory Integration Disorder can be a hidden world of distress from others, and for some likely a cause of some of the observable behavioral impairments.

But sensory processing disorder behavioral symptoms are an optional issue for a diagnosis that only some share on the spectrum that others off or on the spectrum could not possibly understand by any single component of it if they don't share it, whether it is visual, auditory, tactile, olfaction, gustatory, vestibular, proprioception or a combination of one or all of the above.

I don't think any analysis will ever be conclusive as to what made Lanza snap, seeing as he's dead. Furthermore, are there any real medical records to prove this find, or is the media once again blowing smoke up society's *ss at the expense of other people's livelihood?

It's clear that Lanza wasn't all there, but at this point it doesn't make a lick of difference what he may or may not have had because that's not necessarily the determining "psycho factor". In the end, it'll be other innocent people with mental or neurological problems that'll suffor at the hands of society's bs, regardless of what Lanza had, simply because people have this idea of "mental/neurological problem = psycho". In the end, it solves nothing, and creates more problems for the minority to have to deal with.

Whether or not Adam Lanza had Sensory Processing Disorder had very little to do with him committing violence. My best guess is that the main contributing cause was that he had a scorpion-in-the-bottle relationship with his mother, straight up.

I have SPD, and I'm not violent. I wish the media would just shut up and tell the truth about SSRI's. Yes, I read the article and think it's socially irresponsible reporting.

He was on SSRI's, which have a known link to violence, something that the corporate media isn't reporting, in spite of multiple peer-reviewed studies. SPD had nothing at all to do with it.

There is no link between SPD and rampage killings, but there is also no link between psychiatric medicine and rampage killings. There is the potential for side effects including violent behavior, but no studied influence as a pro-causal factor for rampage killings. In fact, 14 out of 24 patients that had stopped taking their psychiatric medications committed rampage killings in the largest study to date spanning 50 years by the New York Times in the year 2000.

There is actually more evidence that not taking psychiatric medications is a factor in rampage killings as taking them, but no conclusive evidence that either factor is THE causal factor for rampage killings, as they are rare and require what may be described as a storm of many different causal factors that lead up to and ultimately result in one of these rare and troubling crimes.

http://www.nytimes.com/2000/04/09/us/th ... all&src=pm

As the article detailed SPD is still not considered a DSM disorder, and it is only theorized that it is a neurological disorder, however anyone that experiences it understands it is real ad often very challenging.

I was surprised it was reported coded separately in an IEP because I was not aware of it listed as a category of disability required for an IEP. It is usually either associated with ADHD or ASD that are both categories of disability that qualify for IEP assistance. But there are people assessed with it without either of the other two disorders.

The article provided a great deal of information on SPD that was not specific to anything associated with the crime, and specifically identified as not associated with the crime. It's not any more likely that people are going to associate ADHD with Rampage killings than SPD. However, ADHD is associated with substance abuse that is the main factor behind violence among all individuals studied with or without conditions described in the DSM manual.

But even substance abuse is not considered a major factor for rampage killings. In the study linked in the last post, the cited factor most often preceding the crime was loss of relationship or job, which obviously doesn't usually result in any crime at all, in real life.

Rampage killings are part of the chaos of life, that will never be solved with one logical answer. That is the part that makes the continued speculation on causal factors an endless and random process as well.

I wondered what people here might see as the major factor behind rampage killings and did a poll that I will link below, and the majority opinion was loss of a social role, which seems in alignment with what the New York Times suggested as a major factor among many other potential factors.

http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt218916.html

I don't think anyone should put much stock in a newspaper study, regardless of how prestigious they are.
The only studies that are qualified to give conclusive evidence are those done by specialists in the fields of medicine, specifically by all theoretical causes (an Autism/AS specialist, a drug specialist who is also a specialist of psychiatric medicine, a psychologist who specializes in psychopathy, etc.), and given as a scientific study on a large scale (say 500,000 or more people) to come anywhere near a "causal factor".

Quite honestly though, logic dictates that the fact that these kinds of psychotic killings don't happen very often, would seem to be a huge indicator of the possibility that nothing mentioned in this thread is a "causal factor". Any logical person would at least analyze what all these psychos have in common and do a study based on that evidence, instead of shooting in the dark as to what the reason could be.

What is the primary motivation that is recordered that most pscyho killers have? Revenge, plain and simple, and that's not a mental defect of any kind, instead it's a human emotion (and frankly a weakness in the species) that gives people a reason to ignore right and wrong and willingly, and consciously, choose to commit violent crimes. This is something that (by sheer numbers alone) is more inherent in the average, everday person, than anyone else.

Sources:
Vengence Kills

Motivation behind mass killings

Revenge and notoriety are prime factors

All of these tell of revenge being one of the most common reasons for mass killings. These acts are typically premeditated, meaning it was planned out beforehand, days, even months ahead of time.



What do I think is the problem? Simply put, normal emotion, coupled with bad choices. As such, we will never stop these occurences from happening, it's just (as you said) part of the chaos of life.

yeah i guess this is a be careful what you wish for situation i always rant on the least understood by the public part of autism is the sensory issues and i wished that more people knew about them but i didnt want them to be associated with a killer. and no matter how much damage control they do saying most people with condition arent violent people will always remember the one that was.

People aren't going to associate ADHD with violence because most people are familiar enough with ADHD.

So, if we can respond matter-of-factly, patiently, decently each time this sad and tragic case is brought up (or at least most of the times for we are human), I think we can help this educational process along.

There is a link between SSRI's and rampage killings if people have committed them while on SSRIs...also withdrawl can happen when someone stops taking an SSRI and other types of meds which could certainly potentially contribute to violent behavior. I know what SSRIs and klonopin do to me and it's nothing good. It's probably not usually the only factor, just one factor.

Also though 24 isn't a very big sample size at all...not to mention that study sounds suspicious, its intresting 14 out of 24 people participating in a study would go on a rampage killing makes me wonder what all went on during this study...but then I am skeptical of The New York Times credibility. I think how much meds are a factor depends on if they effect that individual negative or positively. Not even sure there would be an ethical way to conduct such a study using test subjects is it peer reviewed.

The study was an historical analysis of actual rampage killings after they happened. Over 100 killings were studied, and close to half were diagnosed with a mental illness. There was only information available on 24 that were actually prescribed medication and taking it at some point in time. This study is very respected and has been the source information for studies that have continued to present date. There is more information on those studies in the link I provided on the major factor in rampage killings.

There are 10's of millions of people taking SSRI's in the US for everything issues ranging from pain to depression; violent behavior is an extremely rare side effect, but this is one of many risks of treatment in many treatment medications. The drugs are considered one of the safest drugs available for mental illness, with the fewest side effects. They don't work for me either, but they work very well for others.

Right wing radio talks show hosts and others are using this as a Red Herring to move the attention away from gun control. There have even been claims that 80% of people that committed rampage murders were on SSRI's. No doubt that at least 10% were, since they have been widely available, because that is close to the percentage of people in the rest of the 20 or so million people taking them in the general population.

And for those that support gun rights there are close to 300 million guns in the US, with an extremely small percentage used in rampage killings, but never the less almost every rampage killing studied was done with a firearm, so that is one consistent correlation that exists. And the main target of corrective legislation, along with mental illness, as there is close to a 50% correlation there according to the New York Times study. But, never the less these events are so rare, they are not predictable based on any correlated factor, or even combination of factors.

Last edited by aghogday on 22 Feb 2013, 1:11 am, edited 2 times in total.

Revenge over the loss of social roles and relationships is the factor cited in the New York Times study as a common precipitating factor in the rampage killings. But most people that lose social roles and have ideation of revenge don't act upon that ideation.

Society will not allow nothing to be done about the issue, whether anything in reality could be done effectively to alter the frequency of the incidences. The targets are guns and mental illness, because they are the only two factors that legislators can address for change. They certainly cannot insure that everyone keeps their job, relationship, social role, and control revenge ideology. Although, greater opportunity for employment couldn't hurt.

Aggressive behavior is studied associated with ADHD, and has been associated with SPD. Violent Crime is not clearly associated with either factor, as factors by themselves. I think the most effective thing is to direct people toward research or leave the links, as most everyone these days has trigger happy google fingers, and don't have to stop with the media for additional information. The more factual information that is available the better informed people will be, with the reduction of the potential of new myths that have no basis in science.

The topic article is the only article I have found highlighting this issue in Lanza so far, and it immediately validated that SPD is not associated with violent crime. Which is good, and may likely be the course for future responsible media representations of associated conditions in people when these relatively rare and tragic events happen.

http://adhdnet.com/wp/papers09/Retz_2009.pdf

http://www.macmh.org/publications/ecgfa ... lation.pdf

I agree, though legislators only care about control in the end, and their laws would restrict the rights and freedoms of people who've done nothing wrong and it would change nothing. If people with a mental/neurological history were to be forced to take medications, or if they're imprisoned in some facility because they could snap, or if people who own guns were to be forced to turn them over simply because the guns could be used, where's the justice in that? The point I guess I'm trying to make is: Where do we draw the line and say "no, that's not right, this is not justice, this is discrimination based on traits in individuals, and based on whether or not someone owns a gun"? How long are we to bend over and take it, from society's sense of "justice", before we defend our rights and freedoms?

It is true that society won't let this go, and I'm not saying they should, but we have to be conscious of the fact that society is gunning for us, and they won't drop the noose and run away unless we fight back (obviously figuratively speaking lol). Society needs to realize that people with those similarities aren't necessarily killers, it's about as ridiculous as saying all white guys are potential threats, simply for the reason that other white guys have committed crimes, when in reality it's about as complex as people themselves because there is no real pattern for individual thought in relation to society's thoughts as a whole.

I also agree with the employment opportunities, I think that would bring crime down in general as well.

It is very beneficial that the DSM5 ASD definition is including Sensory issues as an optional criterion element in the RRBI section. This will probably do more for the recognition of what SPD is than any other factor, presently, and may eventually provide clinical information that leads to an actual DSM diagnosis of SPD alone so it will be easier for those with this disorder without a diagnosis of ASD or ADHD, or other associated disorder in the DSM5, to receive IEP's in the school environment, be assessed under the ADA, and for insurance purposes for effective therapy, when desired or needed.

It's pretty obvious from watching the full report on Adam Lanza that he had challenges in his life from this SPD issue, but there was no recognition of violent tendencies as a result specific to that challenge in the report. This kid was probably the last person anyone thought would ever be involved in a shooting spree, when he was in school, based on his SPD difficulties.

You know what would be even more beneficial? If the DSM-5 included SPD itself. They make it seem as though sensory issues ONLY happen if you have an ASD.