I wish we could do studies on the brains of mass shooters

[vercetti2021]

We do studies on sports related injuries, brains during the end of life cycle, studies on dementia and Alzheimer's.

I wish we could studies on the brains of mass shooters to see what the hell is firing off in there that blocks all logical and emotional responses.

[SoCalDavidS]

1. Do Gun Humpers Too

Simply more proof that Americans don't give a shit about human life. Thoughts & Prayers (tm) will make it all better.

What's 5, 10, 20, 50 more dead, when our guns are at stake?

Shithole country. Other industrialized countries look at us and think exactly that.

[Sky Jewels]

6. Agree.

Sadly.

[RockRaven]

2. If we listen to what they have to say about themselves, many seem to be "groomed" by right wing,

conservative, racist, homophobic&transphobic, incel&misogynist, Xian, gunhumper propaganda. They consume, then repeat/spread the same before their shootings.

Maybe we should just take them at their word when they say out loud who they are.

[XorXor]

12. I think it's deeper than that

Those descriptions might fit the the most recent batches of these mass shooters in the US, but if it wasn't that then it would it be something else. It's similar to how islamic terrorist zealots take people who are disillusioned with the world and use them for their own purposes. They are exploited by those who push the propaganda, or in some cases exploited by the cultural phenomenon they are apart (incels, alt-right/far-right crazy-land, etc...) There is something that makes some people more susceptible this sort of behavior.

It seems similar to how it's common to find terminally online people who take extreme political views. These people can be either right or left, but often times they sound very similar in the tone. Sometimes they come to the same conclusions, but their path to getting there is for different reasons. I've seen people in these groups switch from two radical opposing sides. Which is odd. Is there something in the way their brains work that drives them to the extremes, but which extreme they go to depends on their environment, lived experiences, and who they know? They seem like they are running the same software with the same functions and actions, but they have different views of the data.

I'd want to know what drives some people but not others to the extreme. I've been on the internet since I was 12 years old. I've read and seen some crazy stuff. I've interacted with people who have extremists views. Despite all of that, I've never been drawn into any dark places like many are. I'm sure that goes for the majority of people who are reading this. So, what's different?

Then again, I'm just an idiot on the internet with no idea what I'm talking about.

[jmbar2]

3. I learned a new concept that might be applicable - dysregulation

Schools are seeing an increase in kids being violent and out-of-control, generally resulting from trauma in the home - poverty, homelessness, domestic abuse, etc. They're so overwhelmed by stressors at home that they cannot handle the stresses of school.

Seems like our whole society is becoming dysregulated.

Personally, I think it is a combination of childhood trauma, and adult trauma due to the enormous stressors of trying to make a living when so many jobs don't pay a living wage. Someone with an unstable upbringing grows up, and simply can't figure out how to create a stable and predictable life. They are under unrelenting stress with no apparent solution.

Fuck capitalism. It is destroying the world.

[raccoon]

7. Thanks for posting that chart.

[GPV]

8. We're scrambling to fit that into our teaching, but days are short and requirements are many.

[keep_left]

4. Autopsies are indeed performed on mass shooters...

...and sometimes their brains are studied in detail. Stephen Craig Paddock, the perpetrator of the 2017 Las Vegas massacre, is one such example.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/09/us/las-vegas-attack-paddock-brain-autopsy.html

Unfortunately, that particular autopsy didn't show much beyond the fact that Paddock's brain appeared to be aging abnormally rapidly in some places, likely the result of burning the candle at both ends for decades. He really wasn't taking care of himself (heavy drinking, untreated hypertension, and based on the autopsy results, he was likely a smoker as well).

[Sky Jewels]

5. I think they'd find that

these overwhelmingly male murderers feel entitled to control others. Taking lives is the ultimate act of control.

[PuraVidaDreamin]

9. One common finding might be a very small amygdala-

Abstract

Background: Reduced amygdala volume has been implicated in the development of severe and persistent aggression and the development of psychopathic personality. With longitudinal data, the current study examined whether male subjects with lower amygdala volume have a history of aggression and psychopathic features dating back to childhood and are at increased risk for engaging in future aggression/violence.

Methods: Participants were selected from a longitudinal study of 503 male subjects initially recruited when they were in the first grade in 1986-1987. At age 26, a subsample of 56 men with varying histories of violence was recruited for a neuroimaging substudy. Automated segmentation was used to index individual differences in amygdala volume. Analyses examined the association between amygdala volume and levels of aggression and psychopathic features of participants measured in childhood and adolescence. Analyses also examined whether amygdala volume was associated with violence and psychopathic traits assessed at a 3-year follow-up.

Results: Men with lower amygdala volume exhibited higher levels of aggression and psychopathic features from childhood to adulthood. Lower amygdala volume was also associated with aggression, violence, and psychopathic traits at a 3-year follow-up, even after controlling for earlier levels of these features. All effects remained after accounting for several potential confounds.

Conclusions: This represents the first prospective study to demonstrate that men with lower amygdala volume have a longstanding history of aggression and psychopathic features and are at increased risk for committing future violence. Studies should further examine whether specific amygdala abnormalities might be a useful biomarker for severe and persistent aggression.

K[link:https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23647988/|

[jmbar2]

10. That makes sense

Combine a brain anomaly with modern stressors and you get a ticking time bomb.

[Midnight Writer]

11. But why here, in the USA, so much more so than in other countries?

People all around the world have the same condition, people all around the world have stressors, people all around the world live with poverty, neglect, fear, abusive childhoods.

Yet this explosion of senseless mass shootings and gun violence is happening more here, in the USA, than in the rest of the world.

[Corgigal]

13. Why not?

Like we do for former football players.

Unsure if we will ever see physical injury. My theory is they are just suicidal people , who instead of turning inward, turned outward. Same pain, presents 180 degrees differently.