Did any of the 'School Shooters' have a history of depression?

Factual Questions
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Mods - I really mean for there to be a General Question here, but if it turns out that there is not please reroute this to the appropriate forum. I tried, but I may not have succeeded.
While reading Slashdot this afternoon, specifically this article, I noticed that a few people mentioned depression as a possible factor in school violence.

Also, having recently been diagnosed for depression, I have been looking back on my youth and discovered that even at 13 or 14 I had all the ‘symptoms’ of depression. I mentioned to a friend recently that I wished that someone had noticed this in me when I was young. If someone had just told me that the way I felt was not normal, and that there were ways (medications, therapy) to feel better, I would certainly have jumped at the offer. However, at that time depression was just for grown-ups. Any kid who wasn’t apple-cheeked and happy was considered to just be having ‘growing pains’ (hormones, not wanting to grow up, etc.).

I feel confident in saying that many of the things I did (I was a bad kid) would not have happened. Many, many of the awful fights with my family, the running away, the lashing out with violence. I sincerely feel like help for my depression sooner would have made my life choices MUCH different, and my life now would be completely different.

In addition, I have a 12 year old son who is bullied. I know there is no way for him to completely avoid this fate, as he has red hair (Hey, Cheeto!!), has learned to be a smart ass from his mom, is small and skinny. He also sticks up for the other underdogs out of a sense of camaraderie, which of course leads to more bullying.

Factor in the fact that depression can be hereditary, and you’ve got one concerned bunnymama on your hands.

So I wondered, does anyone know whether any of these kids had a history of depression, or are/were they actively in depression when they did what they did? If so, were they being treated for it somehow, or were they just written off (as I was) as being in the 'terrible teens?

Thanks in advance,
3Bunnymama

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[Moderator watch ON]

In the interest of keeping this in GQ, three bunny mama, how about we consider the question to be whether any of them was diagnosed (either before or after the shooting, but by a genuine psychiatrist) with depression, rather than “show a history of” depression. “Diagnosis” keeps us dealing with well-defined terms, as opposed to “history” which could mean almost anything.

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I see what you mean, Chronos, thanks. ‘Diagnosed’ will be great.

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According to [ulr=“http://www.davidicke.net/emagazine/vol1/colorado.html”] this at least a couple did have a history of psychiatric counseling, and proscribed medication for conditions.

Please do not construe this to mean that any/all such students will go on to do this, though. If I can get OT a moment, continue to work with your child, their school and any attending support services, we do the best we can.

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most of them, though, were probably terrorized in school, had problems keeping up in school, and felt overwhelmed, so they thought they really didn’t have much going for them, and saw fit to make the most of it by taking out the kids that made them suffer at an early age, and, in their mind, made them screw up their school life by giving them undiagnosable mental scars.

that’s what I think, anyway

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Thank you for the answer, wring.

The article seems to be very anti-medication, blasting both Prozac, ssri’s in general and Ritilin. The author seems to be blaming the *drugs intended to treat * the depression for these kids violence, rather than the depression itself. Interesting.

Have you seen much of the rest of the site? David Icke has some rather fanciful ideas about things. The ‘ruling class’ in particular:

No disrespect intended, but I’m not sure how credible a site this is…
Ad Noctum - You have a good point. I was only curious to know whether or not depression had been a factor in these tragedies at all.

Thank you all,
3Bunnymama

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Nope, didn’t look deeply into it at all. Won’t attempt to justify the conclusions, but the hard data about prior history should be accurate. I’ll continue to look (I was unwilling to simply say ‘yes, I recall that being said’, cause I don’t think that’s particularly helpful, and not what you asked.).

Re: the prozac etc. people (on both sides) feel very strongly about it. Won’t get into my personal stuff, since it’s anecdotal and probably not relevant. But, that’s why I added the “we do what we can”, (as a parent).

The fact that you’re keeping your eyes open demonstrate that, to me.

here’s a Georgia case, where the attorneys claimed that the shooter was under treatment for bipolar disorder, and had a history of depression, tho’ it’s not clear that the treatment predated the shooting.