Inside the Mind of the Fort Hood Shooter
Major Nidal Hasan, the army psychiatrist who allegedly murdered 13 people and wounded 29 more at Fort Hood, apparently had been trying to contact al Qaeda and had attended the same mosque as the radical imam Anwar al Aulaqi. He reportedly was torn between being a Muslim and serving his country in a war against Muslims. He seems to have written on the Internet that he felt suicide bombers could be heroes, sacrificing their lives for the greater good.
All of this may mean Dr. Hasan was a terrorist, but it also might mean he was insane. I have never met Hasan, but I know as a forensic psychiatrist that a surprisingly large number of delusions—fixed and false, sometimes very bizarre beliefs—that psychiatric patients sometimes exhibit are religious in nature. Hyperreligiousity can be one of the symptoms of bipolar disorder or schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder (among other conditions). This is why the cliché of a delusional person, as depicted by Hollywood, is frequently someone who believes he or she is God or the devil or a prophet.
Mental illness can hijack our core and strongly held beliefs and behaviors and turn them into grotesque symptoms. This isn’t just the case for our spiritual beliefs, but also for our sexual behaviors, which can also be sent into hyperspace by conditions like those I have named. People vulnerable to mental illness can end up selling sex, buying sex, gambling away their homes and, yes, committing horrible acts of violence in a pathological perversion of the religious belief system that had previously sustained their humanity and sense of connectedness to their fellow man.
Again, I don’t know whether Major Nidal Hasan was simply a terrorist or a mentally ill person, but my point is that much more needs to be uncovered before anyone knows.
After all, it doesn’t make much sense that a terrorist would give as many hints as Hasan to fellow soldiers about his seeming antipathy for America. He may have been “disinhibited,” one of the signs of a mood disorder.
Some radical Islamic terrorists frequent strip clubs, I suppose, but the fact that Hasan reportedly did—staying for several hours at a time— may be further evidence of that sort of disinhibition.
Ultimately, the question of when extreme religious beliefs (especially those connected with murderous intent) constitute mental illness may be one that needs to be answered in this case.
What we need are facts. Did Major Hasan show signs of a mental disorder before the Fort Hood massacre? Does his family have a history of mental illness that would suggest he is more vulnerable to it? When he needed additional supervision while training as a psychiatrist, was that because he was asserting his political/ religious views to patients or because he was unable to refrain from doing so, because he was sick then, too? Was he on psychiatric medicines then or at Fort Hood? Did he prescribe them to himself? If he did take medicines, were they the right ones or the wrong ones? Some can cause severe behavioral abnormalities.
Clearly, it seems to be the case that more should have been done to look seriously at Dr. Hasan’s behavior and his thoughts before he picked up a gun and started shooting. But whether the lens should have been one focused on him as a terrorist-in-army-clothing or one focused on him as a man slipping out of rational thought, into psychosis, remains to be seen.
Dr. Keith Ablow is a psychiatry correspondent for FOX News Channel and a New York Times bestselling author. His book, “Living the Truth: Transform Your Life through the Power of Insight and Honesty” has launched a new self-help movement including www.livingthetruth.com. Dr. Ablow can be emailed at info@keithablow.com.
Tags: al qaeda, Anwar al Aulaqi, bipolar disorder, Fort Hood, hyperreligiosity, imam, Keith Ablow, Major Nidal Hasan, mental illness;, mosque, Muslim, schizophrenia, shooting, suicide bombers, terrorist
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Is this a simple case of cognitive dissonance in which the person could not find a satisfactory resolution?
I am not sure that I agree with your foundational premise that being a “terrorist” is in any way different than being “insane.”
Sometimes, large groups of people collectively (a family, perhaps, or a nation, or a cult, or, perhaps, a religion) exhibit behavior and beliefs that qualify as being, in some sense, “insane.” Nazi Germany, as a whole, comes to mind immediately. And various sub-groups within Nazi German, such as the SS, displayed behaviors and belief-systems that are easily classified as “insane.” The Communist government of Russia many things that were profoundly odd– things that cannot be explained in rational terms, at all. During Stalin’s reign, millions of people throughout the Soviet Union suffered from severe delusions, irregardless of their political opinions.
Using the language and ideas embodied in the DSM-IV, one can easily identify several foundational features of Islam, in its entirety, as being somewhat analogous to various sorts of psychiatric disorders. In my humble opinion, you would have to be more than a little nutty to take seriously the idea that Islam is a coherent religious system. That would be rather like a belief that Naziism is a coherent political philosophy. And I think that the Jihadists are ALL patently insane.
Thanks for this post. It cuts through the current black-and-white pundit chatter that misses an important point: was this guy mentally ill (striken with delusions of grandure, rage and extreme religiosity) or was the US Army truly harboring an officer/doctor who had taken up with al Qaida?
While we’re on the topic, Do you think it is it possible to get an accurate pre-trial evaluation of this trained psychiatrist facing a possible death sentenced?
“Insane” is a legal concept. I think the term you meant to use is “mentally ill”.
This a really intersting post for me. You see I’m from the UK and we constantly struggle with the lack of government help for our troops. Although they assure us that they treat their welfare as a priority we always view them with suspicion.
Now the USA always looked to me that they had a better handle on the psyche of their troops, I suppose that there is always going to be an element that cant be accounted for but reading between the lines here it is as if they wanted to bundle him off to Afganistan just to get rid of him.
This a really intersting post for me. You see I’m from the UK and we constantly struggle with the lack of government help for our troops. Although they assure us that they treat their welfare as a priority we always view them with suspicion. Now the USA always looked to me that they had a better handle on the psyche of their troops, I suppose that there is always going to be an element that cant be accounted for but reading between the lines here it is as if they wanted to bundle him off to Afganistan just to get rid of him.
Why did you use the term “allegedly” murdered 13 people? I don’t think the question is whether he killed the people or not. But why be so politically correct to say “allegedly” — There were over 50 eyewitnesses to testify that yes, he indeed did, KILL those people. Give me a break. It weakens the rest of your article.
Please call it what it is – Terrorism!! I feel pshychaiatrists constantly try to explain away a person’s behavior. I know that people don’t want to believe that this was an act of terror, but it was. Hassan, reported to have not wanted to be sent to the war because he had concerns about fighting against muslims, feels he can open fire on, and kill, Americans – his fellow soldiers! His fellow soldiers are Muslims – he didn’t want to kill them. How is it that he can have such a problem with killing Muslims, but not have a problem with killing Americans. We can’t even say that these Americans he killed were even Christians. I could sympathize if he had not wanted to go to war because he had an issue with killing, but, as he has shown, he had no problem killing. He just had a problem killing Muslims.
Another point, even if he had gone to war he wouldn’t have been involved in combat. He was a psychiatrist! He would have been stationed in some hospital or counseling office far from enemy lines. GIVE ME A BREAK!!
I understand you want to sound politcally correct by saying you need more information before calling this a terrorist act, but how much more information do you need? What will it take? This is a religeous war and Hassan brought the religeous war to an American Army base.
Keith as always very insightful and right on!
John
In my opinion, Hasan was neither a terrorist nor insane. But he is definitely a traitor. There is no universal-agreed-upon definition for terrorism, but I believe the definition of “terrorism” must include “killing innocent non-combatants for political gain.” Killing uniformed military personnel is not terrorism. It’s war. And from the evidence made public so far, Hasan carefully considered and planned this act. So he wasn’t insane either. Hasan is a traitor who deserves the death penalty when convicted.
I don’t think this post was meant to be “politically correct” at all.
One of the things I admire most about Dr. Ablow is his omnipresent desire to find out the “Why?” behind the awful things which many people do.
This case is no exception, and he’s done a brilliant job at seeking out the possible “Why’s” in this situation.
It’s easy and no doubt comforting to believe that there are Good Guys and Bad Guys. Makes everything clear and black and white. But I think reality is a bit more complex than that.
In the words of a wise man I know, “The color of reason is gray.”
Excellent post, Dr. Ablow!
I appreciated the information in your article, however, does it really matter how Dr. Hasan’s mind worked?
I am generally compassionate where it comes to people with serious clinical disorders who are unable to care for themselves. Those who are clearly ill and need to be taken care of should be given any safety nets society can provide, as it is the right thing to do.
Dr. Hasan is charged with taking not 1, but 13 innocent lives (some even argue 14) and wounding many others during the commission of the murders.
Contrasted against the charges, his mental state seems pretty irrelevant.
The debate over his being a terrorist or not also seems largely irrelevant (except for any useful intelligence recovered through the criminal investigation). I think he is a terrorist, but so what?
This tragic event should not be about revenge or hatred of one group or another; however, uncovered evidence should not be ignored either. If, after having been given due process in a court and if found guilty of the charges against him, then in my view, it is wrong to spend an extra penny to support this individual breathing the same air as the rest of us for committing such inhuman crimes.
Dr. Hasan was a practicing doctor in the US Army to the moment of the crimes, not a hapless soul incapable of functioning or choice. He certainly had other choices, yet he went down the worst possible road, choosing to commit mass murder. If found guilty, Dr. Hasan should die for his crimes.