Lanza and Breivik

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I am a norwegian 45 year old female with asperger syndrome, and here in Norway there have been some speculations going on whether A.B. Breivik (who commited the 22. july 2011 tragic shooting that killed 77 persons) has asperger syndrome.

All of the psychologists and psychiatrists who actually have TALKED with Breivik, says NO.

But still the speculations linger on......there have been at least one article (that I know of), that has tried to link both Lanza and Breivik to the asperger diagnosis.

I think this is bordering on herassment of us with asperger syndrome, as a group.

And one of Breivik's victims, who died, was a 15 year old girl, Benedichte, with asperger syndrome. Her last words only minutes before she was shot, were to her mother: I love you all.

It is harassment. Scapegoating. People grabbing for reasons and the media grabbing for ratings (and apparently my hopes that it's only the American media are empty).

Toss in the fact that at least two of Adam Lanza's victims-- one boy and one girl-- were autistic as well, and that they were described by their families as loving, wonderful children...

It's very depressing. I'm frightened-- not of my diagnosis, but of what society is going to do to me and to my family because of it.

Also I don't see how this harassment solves anything it is just causes more problems.

Didn't they also think Breivik had schizophrenia at some point? And probably several other diagnoses? I think they always will try to put some diagnosis on these people. It rarely does any good, all it does is harass the people with the diagnoses.

Lamza was a confused kid who happened to snap; Breivik is something entirely different. Mixing the two will hardly shed light unto anything.

Yes, some psychogists and psychiatrists, both here and abroad, tried to put all kinds of diagnoses on Breivik. It was kind of a media show, the whole court case. In which norwegian court psychiatry in retrospect also has been self critical for lacking ethical perspectives.

I think it has been extremely hurtful and damaging to us who have the diagnosis asperger syndrome. Particularly also because it was unneccesary, as asperger syndrome is not a mental disease that renders a person insane and unable to take responsibility for criminal actions. They didnt even NEED to mention asperger syndrome in court.

In Norway, however, it actually takes a lot to be considered SANE, in fact, in the court system. Because there is a humane approach to sentencing people with mental illnesses. If one has a mental illness, one should not be held legally responsible, but be offered psychiatric help, in Breivik's case, this would have been at a high security facility. And although he only was sentenced to 21 years in jail, he will probably never get out of jail, that is most unlikely. He WILL stay in jail until the day he dies, because the court found him sane, but evil, that is, having at least one personality disorder (narcissism). And also scoring high on another personality disorder, which I seem to remember was something called dyssocial personality disorder.

The court decided that THOSE were the valid diagnoses, although the psychiatry teams had two different conclusions, the OTHER team claimed that he suffered from paranoid scizofrenia.

Both these personality disorder diagnoses is somewhat like calling a person evil or psychopathic. And cannot be treated within the psychiatry.

It seems to me, that this is a problem all across the world, that people with criminal activities are being attempted to be linked to the asperger diagnosis.

its not speculation, Breivik was diagnosed by his court-appointed psychologist.

Funny, I just saw a video that says he was pronounced "sane" by doctors. There was no mention of AS or Autism.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTMprMveoYU

Sorry but I think proof is required on your statement of his diagnosis.

Besides, even if he was diagnosed with AS it doesn't prove anything whatsoever. The fact is, no-one who commits mass murder is "running on all engines" if you know what I mean, and aren't like anyone else on the planet.

Nope. Thats untrue. He was diagnozed with paranoid skizofrenia by one of the court appointed psychiatric teams, and with narcissistic personality disorder and traces of dyssocial personality disorder by the OTHER team of court appointed psychiatrists.

The asperger diagnosis was excluded by BOTH teams.

AND: he was pronounced sane by the COURT. So the judges agreed with ONE of the teams, and disagreed with the OTHER.

I think the media just tries to link the lack of social skills associated with ASD/ADHD with the countless hours both these men spent watching violent movies and video games. However, there is also not one shred of evidence that these things are the cause of these murderers doing what they do. In any case, its just an easy way for the media to deceive people who do not understand autism into thinking that it is a mental disorder that drives people to be violent.

I actually believe that it is in fact that which is the underlying problem, social exclusion which in turn leads to anger and depression and hence the vengeful attitude of these people who believe they are doing the right thing because society has supposedly wronged them in some way.