Agency: Schools helped Adam Lanza's mom 'appease' him, mental health issues not well treated

[Subdeacon Joe]

http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/283451901.html

 

 

 

HARTFORD, Conn. — The school system unwittingly enabled Adam Lanza's mother to "accommodate and appease" him as he became more withdrawn socially, according to a state report issued Friday on the man who carried out the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

The Office of the Child Advocate report identified missed opportunities to provide more appropriate treatment for Lanza, whose social isolation and obsession with mass killings have been detailed in police reports that concluded the motive for the shootings may never be known.

A thread running through the 114-page report, which refers to Lanza as "AL," is the effort on the part of his parents to accommodate his disabilities, rather than adhering to specialists' recommendations for extensive special education support.

"Both AL's mother and his educational team shared a goal of managing and accommodating, rather than securing treatment for, AL's disabilities, and likely this approach was fueled by a lack of critical information and guidance," the report said.

 

I heard one guy on the radio news, "It wasn't his mental illness that predisposed him to violence, It was his untreated mental illness that predisposed him to violence."

 

Um....what the heck is the difference?

[Utah Bob #35998]

The difference is that millions of people who are undergoing treatment are able to function well in society. Left untreated, it gets much worse. Doesn't always lead to violent behavior but theres a much bigger chance if there is no therapy at all.

[Subdeacon Joe]

The difference is that millions of people who are undergoing treatment are able to function well in society. Left untreated, it gets much worse. Doesn't always lead to violent behavior but theres a much bigger chance if there is no therapy at all.

 

Either way, it's the mental illness, treated or untreated, that predisposed him to violence. The chances of him acting on it may have been less, but the tendency was still there.