The Mystery of Stephan Paddock’s Brain was published in the days following Mr. Stephan Paddock’s October 1st, 2017 mass killings spree of 58 people and leaving 851 injured. The article delves into the possible biological and psychological components which could have played a role in his decision-making processes. Given that the article was published less than a week after the shootings, it is plausible that the author did not have the proper diagnostic information to make educated assumptions about Mr. Paddock, which he concedes from the very beginning.
David Eagleman is a writer, neuroscientist, and works as an adjunct professor at Stanford University. His understanding of the brain and what may drive an individual to commit such a heinous …show more content…
Paddock’s movements and tendencies leading up to the attack. Diagnosis requires 2 of the following symptoms for 1 month, delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, grossly abnormal psychomotor behavior, and negative symptoms. Eagleman identifies that schizophrenia is a young person’s disease indicating that onset of noticeable symptoms often occurs much before Paddock’s age (64 years old). The course of schizophrenia does usually first appear in late teens to mid-30s and given his lack of medical treatment and records, there is no indication that he had been dealing with these types of symptoms prior to the attack. This of course is not an absolute range and is susceptible to outside factors which may cause the onset of schizophrenia at any age. The diathesis-stress relationship would be the most likely explanation for Paddock. This model identifies that people have a biological predisposition that may develop into full blown schizophrenia under certain kinds of stressors or events are also present. Given his extreme gambling habits, issues with money could have been a stressor to trigger schizophrenic tendencies however, given his background in money management and business related to auditing, accounting, and real estate investing. Given a proper autopsy, the biological model would indicate neurons using dopamine would fire too often in conjunction with abnormal brain structure including enlarged ventricles, …show more content…
Eagleman uses the term psychopathy when discussing this possibility, although not a clinical term. He likely uses this to relate to the general population and avoid more technical definitions that most people would not fully understand. He mentions that Paddock’s father had a criminal history and was claimed to have “psychopathic” tendencies although a lack of evidence solidifying these speculations. He identifies that these types of disorders are heritable at least through studies of twins but most mental issues are a combination of nature and nurture. Paddock’s history of divorce (2 divorces, and in a relationship prior to the shooting) seems consistent with actions of someone with a personality disorder, especially one that involves social relationships or the lack
David Eagleman is a writer, neuroscientist, and works as an adjunct professor at Stanford University. His understanding of the brain and what may drive an individual to commit such a heinous …show more content…
Paddock’s movements and tendencies leading up to the attack. Diagnosis requires 2 of the following symptoms for 1 month, delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, grossly abnormal psychomotor behavior, and negative symptoms. Eagleman identifies that schizophrenia is a young person’s disease indicating that onset of noticeable symptoms often occurs much before Paddock’s age (64 years old). The course of schizophrenia does usually first appear in late teens to mid-30s and given his lack of medical treatment and records, there is no indication that he had been dealing with these types of symptoms prior to the attack. This of course is not an absolute range and is susceptible to outside factors which may cause the onset of schizophrenia at any age. The diathesis-stress relationship would be the most likely explanation for Paddock. This model identifies that people have a biological predisposition that may develop into full blown schizophrenia under certain kinds of stressors or events are also present. Given his extreme gambling habits, issues with money could have been a stressor to trigger schizophrenic tendencies however, given his background in money management and business related to auditing, accounting, and real estate investing. Given a proper autopsy, the biological model would indicate neurons using dopamine would fire too often in conjunction with abnormal brain structure including enlarged ventricles, …show more content…
Eagleman uses the term psychopathy when discussing this possibility, although not a clinical term. He likely uses this to relate to the general population and avoid more technical definitions that most people would not fully understand. He mentions that Paddock’s father had a criminal history and was claimed to have “psychopathic” tendencies although a lack of evidence solidifying these speculations. He identifies that these types of disorders are heritable at least through studies of twins but most mental issues are a combination of nature and nurture. Paddock’s history of divorce (2 divorces, and in a relationship prior to the shooting) seems consistent with actions of someone with a personality disorder, especially one that involves social relationships or the lack