"Investigating the Minds of Mass Killers"

"In fact, the sort of young, troubled males who seem to psychiatrists most likely to open fire in a school — identified because they have made credible threats — often don’t fit any diagnosis, experts say. They might have elements of paranoia, deep resentment or narcissism that are noticeable but don’t add up to a specific disorder, according to strict criteria. And there’s no good evidence that mental health treatment would have made a meaningful difference...

“The really scary ones, you have a gut feeling right away when you talk to them,” said Dr. Deborah Weisbrot, the director of the outpatient clinic of child and adolescent psychiatry at Stony Brook University. She has interviewed about 200 young people, mostly teenage boys, who have made threats. “What they have in common is a kind of magical thinking, odd beliefs like they can read other people’s minds or see the future, or things that happen in their dreams come true.”"

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