Psychiatrists Say Norwegian Mass Killer Insane

Courts in Norway have determined that Anders Behring Breivik suffers from paranoid schizophrenia. He killed 77 people and wounded 151 in two attacks July 22 in Oslo and on the nearby island of Utoeya.


 Verden Gang Nett and other Norwegian media reported the decision.

“Paranoid schizophrenia is one of several types of schizophrenia, a chronic mental illness in which a person loses touch with reality (psychosis). The classic features of paranoid schizophrenia are having delusions and hearing things that aren't real,” according to the Mayo Clinic.


 Two psychiatrists compiled a 243-page report for the Norwegian Board of Forensic Medicine.


 The BBC said although the 32-year-old remains insane it is not clear whether his trial will go ahead as planned in April.


 Breivik inhabited his “own delusional universe where all his thoughts and acts are guided by his own delusions.” In the past it was frequently diagnosed as a split or multiple personality, but in fact it is a shattered image or personality.

 In most countries victims of such a psychotic illness end up being hospitalized in mental wards, even if they were convicted of murder.


 A key element in many locations is not whether the defendant can tell right from wrong but whether he or she can control the behavior that resulted in physical violence.


 Years ago psychiatrist Karl Jung said that for every one such sociopath who is known there are ten others not discovered.


 In some cases paranoid schizophrenics are more capable of appearing to act normal than others suffering different symptoms.


 In Breivik’s view he was fighting a cultural Marxist and Islamic invasion.

Many of the dead were youngsters attending a summer political party on the island.

First published on Technorati http://technorati.com/blogging/article/courts-judge-norwegian-mass-killer-insane/