Adam Lanza would burn himself "to feel something"

[riverwalker]

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/nancy-lanza-feared-son-adam-worse-article-1.1221505?localLinksEnabled=false

EXCLUSIVE: Nancy Lanza feared son, Adam, was ‘getting worse’; told friend ‘he was burning himself with a lighter’Less than a week before her son would launch his horrifying attack on Sandy Hook Elementary School, gun-loving mom Nancy Lanza knew "she was losing him" and that "he was getting worse."

A drinking buddy of Lanza told The Daily News that her son Adam had long been troubled and rarely came up in conversation.

"She just looked down at the glass and said, 'I don't know. I'm worried I'm losing him,'" said the bar pal, who did not wish to be named, of the ominous conversation at the bar My Place in Newtown, Conn.

"She said it was getting worse. She was having trouble reaching him."
<more>

(article also says Nancy was into falconry):
She "was a country girl" who loved to hunt with a falcon that would scare game she'd blast out of the sky.

[Brickbat]

1. So very said.

[FarPoint]

2. She had plenty of money

to secure quality care.

[Brickbat]

4. He was older than 18; it's difficult to impossible to get treatment for an adult who doesn't want

it.

[agracie]

6. So very true because...

until a person like that does something REALLY awful, he cannot be forced into treatment. Trust me on that.

[Brickbat]

8. Yep. I know.

[FarPoint]

15. It will be interesting to see if the family

sought psychiatric care in his teens....Seems like the family was in denial....she did take him and his brother to the shooting range as a family activity.

[malaise]

16. True but you could tell him to seek treatment or leave your house

You may be an adult but if you're financially dependent on me, then I do have a say.

[Brickbat]

25. True. It's difficult to get that point, however. Tought love isn't tough only on the person with a

problem. She could have told herself that she was going to kick him out in the new year. Or tomorrow.

[rainlillie]

19. That's so true. My aunt has been trying for years to get help for her adult son.

The system sucks and changes need to be made.

[sasha031]

29. a family can go to court and have someone committed for a period of time

to psychiatric hospital so that they can get the help they need.
After that time more than enough care could be arraigned.

At least it would of been something.......

[Brickbat]

37. The burden of proof to get an adult committed against his will is very, very high, and the outcome

can be a denial.

[Hekate]

5. If your child is 18 years or older, your hands are tied. You can do nothing.

I've had 2 friends whose kids became schizophrenic/had a psychotic break in their late teens. One family had ample money, the other was a single mom with none. Both tried their hardest. Both were equally helpless.

Chew on that in the darkness of the night, my friend. Our system is broken or nonexistent.

[agracie]

9. But why were the guns not locked up you ask ?

Well, none of us really know what took pace in that house that morning. Perhaps Mom was forced to unlock the guns... and we know the rest.

[undeterred]

12. She was shot asleep in her bed according to one report.

[rainlillie]

21. Damn! There are too many exhausted, desperate familes out there

Who are trying to get help for their loved ones. Due to the persons age or lack of insurance they can't get it.

[JohnnyLib2]

23. Certainly true in my state (KY).

And, I wonder if the (presumably) murderous fantasies would have surfaced during an involuntary evaluation anyway.
The guy was adrift in the most profound sense.

[proud2BlibKansan]

3. Why the HELL would she have a stockpile of guns?

You think she'd be concerned he would harm himself.

[agracie]

11. Trust me she was concerned about herself too. That's why...

I think the guns were locked up. We'll see...

[loyalsister]

28. I am mystified by that too

She talked about being concerned that he was burning himself, why did it not register that maybe he might take the burning a bit further and shoot himself in the arm to feel pain?

[sasha031]

31. that's what I keep asking

[Sekhmets Daughter]

33. I read that she was Doomsday Prepper...

She stockpiled guns, ammunition and food.

[CreekDog]

7. she could have at least secured her weapons

twenty children are dead from her irresponsibility.

[Buns_of_Fire]

10. Damned shame the little bastard didn't use a flamethrower instead of a Bic. nt

[cascadiance]

13. Didn't feel anything? Perhaps another reason that SyFy channel didn't air Haven on Friday night...

Nathan's character also "doesn't feel anything" either... I wonder if he was doing this if he was timing this event with this film too. Spooky.

From the sounds of it the show's plot struck too close to home and too soon after this happend.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/haven-episode-pulled-wake-newtown-402738

Wondering if they will air it any time soon! I wonder if they'll still show the season finale next Friday without airing this episode.

Reminds me of how this last fall they found a hog farmer that was killed by his pigs the weekend after they aired an episode of Copper on BBC where a body was disposed in a similar fashion. Again... Spooky!

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2012/10/farmer-eaten-by-hungry-hogs/

Wondering if Lanza watched this show, and perhaps if there was anyone culpable in the hog farmer death too...

[CraftyGal]

22. Please remember that there was such a case in Canada.

I lost 2 friends to Robert Pickton. So glad most of the coverage, at least on CNN, that the focus has stayed on the victims. Please remember that Nancy was a Victim!


The way most people remember Georgina and Brenda are as prostitutes, which is not the way I remember them.

[cascadiance]

27. That's pretty horrible. Sad for your loss of friends!

And it does call out more attention to the death of the Oregon farmer being thought as an accident, but perhaps foul play influenced by what they saw on TV (which is my concern in both of these cases).

If later they could find foul play in that case and tie it to that episode of Copper, and find that Lanza was influenced by what he was anticipating being on Haven later that night, perhaps that direct correlation could have scholars study more directly how our culture of violence influences these horrible events, and find better ways to deal with it.

Nancy Lanza may have been too careless with firearms, and perhaps shouldn't have owned them, but you are right that she was a victim, and didn't deserve to be shot any more than any of those other kids and people did.

[Happyhippychick]

14. Hey Nancy, here's an idea: why not get rid of your fucking arsenal if you feel your son is losing it

[FarCenter]

17. I keep waiting for the psychiatrist's notes to surface - The grocery store press should dig them up.

Nancy knew that a mother's love was not enough for her youngest, emotionally detached son.

"I asked her if she was getting him help and she said she was," the friend recalled.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/nancy-lanza-feared-son-adam-worse-article-1.1221505

Although I still wonder whether the school psychologist was helping or advising somehow?

[FarCenter]

20. Schizoid Personality Disorder

- Schizoid Personality Disorder: These individuals avoid social intimacy, have little interest in relationships, and have limited emotional range - often manifest as blunted affect. It is not the same as schizophrenia, although there is a familial association between the two. There is also a familial association between schizophrenia and insensitivity to pain.

http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/12/diagnosing-adam-lanza/266322/

Given his reported insensitivity to physical pain, as reported by one of the high school staff, this seems most likely.

[Shiraz]

26. It is possible for

crossover disorders. Could be both.

[intaglio]

38. Sorry folks delete requested n/t

[JohnnyLib2]

24. Cutters, burners, extreme tattoos or piercing.....

We sure would have a lot of people locked up on this basis.......

[geomon666]

30. Sounds like Borderline Personality Disorder

Treatable but the mom decided she wanted to spend that money on her gun collection instead.

[patrice]

34. That's what I was thinking, and I have met a few and their children (!), until I read this, link:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/13/magazine/can-you-call-a-9-year-old-a-psychopath.html?pagewanted=all&_r=2&

[HiPointDem]

32. 'a drinking buddy' said so. to the daily news. ok, well, there's a reliable source. eat it up.

[FarCenter]

35. Good for the Daily News. The NY Times is never going to publish the truth that he's bat shit crazy.

[HiPointDem]

41. thanks doc

[fujiyama]

36. I don't know...Maybe it's just me...

But If I had a son that was mentally unstable and burning himself with a lighter to "feel" , I might - just maybe lock up my fucking guns - or keep them out of the house altogether.

I think there are a lot of people in this country that are so paranoid and insecure that their need to hold on to their guns trumps even their love for their children.

We're a country of damaged goods.

[Daemonaquila]

39. Going after her for FALCONRY? Get a life.

Amazing. Whoever wrote that has NO CLUE. Frightening birds up and then blasting at them? Fail. That's not how it's done. You'd be as likely to shoot your falcon accidentally as it's giving chase. The bird makes the kill. Quit making crap up.

[kestrel91316]

40. Wow. Apparently she thought that teaching him all about guns and providing access

might help him with his severe psychiatric problems?

Parenting FAIL.