In the interview, he chronicles his son’s descent into madness and multiple visits to shrinks.
Adam was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome, but Peter believes it was schizophrenia.
As his disease became more serious, the dad said, Adam developed a fascination with killing. And though his gun-packing mother never admitted it, she became afraid of him.
In the interview, he chronicles his son’s descent into madness and multiple visits to shrinks.
Adam was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome, but Peter believes it was schizophrenia.
As his disease became more serious, the dad said, Adam developed a fascination with killing. And though his gun-packing mother never admitted it, she became afraid of him.
Kind of heartbreaking to read that. I've experienced mental illness in my own family, and it's almost impossible to comprehend how difficult it is to deal with, but my family's troubles were trivial in comparison to those faced by the Lanza family. I was struck by this passage:
On the anniversary of the massacre, Peter and Shelley finally went through “the stuff,” reading letters of support they previously hadn’t felt able to face. Peter wanted the writers to know how much their words helped him. “There was a woman whose brother shot up a church,” Peter said. “Killed a bunch of people and himself. Saying how sorry she is. There was a woman whose husband stabbed and killed a child. People having Masses said for Adam.” Some included phone numbers and said to call if he needed anything. Other letters were peculiar: one suggested that Adam had been drugged by the C.I.A. and forced to his acts in order to foment support for gun-control legislation. The anniversary itself felt insignificant. “It’s not like I ever go an hour when it doesn’t cross my mind,” Peter said when we met that day.
You have to feel for parents in this situation. Most will adapt to their son or daughters condition even if it's worsening. What do you do? Risk losing your child by reporting changes in their condition, or let it ride knowing that most mentally ill people will never do what Lanza did? It must be a hellish situation.
