Psychotic break may have sparked massacre

As US military investigators try to piece together what led a 38-year-old staff sergeant to commit Sunday morning’s killing spree, psychological experts agree a psychotic break or underlying mental illness may have been behind the massacre.

Such a barbaric action would normally be preceded by strong signals that something is wrong, signals that, in this case, may have been missed or gone unreported.

“This could have been signalled by erratic and changed behaviour in the soldier including strange or unusual behaviour, insomnia, weight loss, talking nonsensically or incoherently, making threatening statements and using drugs,” said Dr Jeffrey Lieberman, chairman of psychiatry at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and director of the New York State Psychiatric Institute. “Rarely do such incidents of extreme behaviour occur without some preceding signs.”