I believe Mr. Fitzpatrick's comments are appropriate for what is known at this time. One of NAMI's main roles is to educate about mental illness. He clearly achieves that. I also agree that diagnosing through media reports is inappropriate. Yet my heart yearns for more. Why?
How many parents know the bewilderment and pain of getting that phone call from their child's university that something is terribly wrong? Your son/daughter, who is a top notch academic achiever, is behaving very strangely and needs help.
How many of us have experienced OR our loved ones first major episode when stress levels were "off-the-charts?"
How many of us feel like "we know?" When this young man's brain should have reached maturity at 24 and his frontal lobe executive function blossomed to complement and regulate overall brain function, something went dramatically wrong. And, "we know" because recent brain science tells us, that his chemistry was probably awry long before this tragic and senseless behavioral manifestation.
How many of us know our own loved ones descent into darkness, which began when the instrument of their greatest achievements, and their most intimate friend, THEIR BRAIN, became their ultimate betrayer? Their mental illness captured them, buried who they really are, and drove their behavior. Ensnaring family, loved ones, and our world into our own private hell.
My HEART aches -- for the victims: the dead, the wounded, their families, those who were there... for this young man and his family.
Nothing excuses what happened nor mitigates the unfolding of informed justice. We are all responsible for the behaviors that manifest from our own private hell.
My heart aches. My sympathy and compassion pour forth. I meditate and pray.
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