Friends, teachers tell of Loughner's descent into world of fantasy

[woo me with science]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/12/AR2011011206630.html?hpid=artslot


Friends, teachers tell of Loughner's descent into world of fantasy


By Amy Gardner, David A. Fahrenthold and Marc Fisher
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, January 13, 2011; 12:00 AM

He played late-night marathon games of Monopoly with his buddies. He went with friends on family vacations. He would hang with pals at IHOP on Fridays. He had a girlfriend. He laughed and he loved and he knew things - about jazz, cars, fantasy games.

And then Jared Loughner slipped into a world of fantasy that was no online game. Slowly but steadily, his intelligence warped into a distorted, disconnected series of obsessions. He developed an illogical fascination with logic. Math, grammar, logic - the systems civilization has developed to make sense of the world became the means through which he expressed the confusion and pain in his increasingly lost mind.

The first sketches of suspects in horrific killings are usually scattered images of hate - an almost superhuman anger trained at others. But as the portraits gain detail, they generally reveal some toxic combination of frustration, abuse, illness and loss. Loughner, those around him say, had the whole package.

A picture of Loughner gleaned from interviews with more than two dozen friends, classmates, teachers and neighbors, as well as from his own writing in online forums, shows no evidence that politics or government were among his defining or enduring obsessions. Rather, his deepest, most disturbing questions were about the very nature of reality: He appeared to have lost any clear sense of the line between real life and dreams or fantasy.

(more at link)

[gatorboy]

1. So when was the turning point?

Generally these types are angry because they go through most of their school life a loner. This guy though seems to have had a good number of friends in school -girlfriends even! So where did it go wrong?

[jtown1123]

3. I don't think mental illness generally has external triggers (except for maybe PTSD)

we won't know if it was genetic or what until he is examined.

[woo me with science]

5. Schizophrenia typical age of onset is 18 in men, 25 in women. nt

[NMDemDist2]

2. which forums? n/t

[woo me with science]

4. I have seen in several articles that he was a regular on several gaming boards. nt

[slackmaster]

7. Read the article

It does mention one forum by name.

[slackmaster]

6. A fan of Philip K. Dick

Interesting piece.

K&R

:kick:

[Javaman]

8. I had read in an early article about him that he was into "Lucid Dreaming".

I have read a bit about the subject in my time and thought it interesting but never really "delved" into it.

It involves the concept of controlling ones dreams. Being in a state of awareness within the dream and thus controlling the action.

Now lets extrapolate a bit.

Suppose he was really good at it? Then suppose he was so good that it began to interfere with his normal sleep pattern.

As a result, he became sleep deprived.

He may have been getting adequate sleep but not deep enough to rest the mind.

There have been all sorts of published studies regarding sleep deprivation. All of which clearly show those who are sleep deprived for long enough periods of time show psychotic behavior.

Now suppose this guy was so into it and had been very good at it, that it began to change the chemical make up of his mind. To the point where it induced an almost permanent state of sleep deprivation.

Aka he was no longer able to sleep normally.

Much like how any hardcore meth or heroine addict become addicted because their pleasure center of their brains become so fried due to the drug supplying that pleasure and them seeking a better and better high. The body basically shuts down the production of these pleasure inducing chems. Perhaps people who are very good at "lucid dreaming" experience something along the same lines.

The control of a fantasyland which is much better than reality starts to intrude into real life.

To the point where the two are interchangeable and are not longer able to be distinguished to the brain.

And like a drug, the living in the fantasyland, where you control all, triggers a response in the brains pleasure center where you need more and more of the "lucid dreaming" in order to satisfy your needs.

Just a guess.

[woo me with science]

10. I think one of his friends actually reported that he was so obsessed with lucid dreaming

that he was spending most of his time trying to sleep.

I have had a couple of intense lucid dreams, and they were quite an experience. I can see how lucid dreaming could become an obsession to someone with serious mental health problems.

[Greybnk48]

9. One of his girlfriends' interviews belies the claim that

there was no evidence "that politics of government were among his defining or enduring obsessions," by revealing that he often went into rants about the government! It seems as far back as high school. That, and the fact that he shot a politician at a political rally, instead of an actor, or author, or teacher, or doctor, or clown, etc.

I just don't buy this apolitical spin.