Adam Lanza: More Sad Details

From the December 27, 2013 Norwich Bulletin:

Lanza was diagnosed in 2006 with "profound autism spectrum disorder, with rigidity, isolation and a lack of comprehension of ordinary social interaction and communications," while also displaying symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder, according to Dr. Robert A. King, a professor at the Yale School of Medicine Child Study Center.

But he also told investigators that he observed nothing in Lanza's behavior that would have predicted he would become a mass killer.

Read more: http://www.norwichbulletin.com/article/20131227/NEWS/131229747/?tag=2#ixzz2omaME0OV

This isn't news, completely.  But:

Kathleen A. Koenig, a nurse at the Yale Child Studies Center, told investigators that Lanza frequently washed his hands and changed his socks 20 times a day, to the point where his mother did three loads of laundry a day.

This certainly sounds likes OCD.  But I find myself wondering at least a little.  My brother Ron, once his schizophrenia was fully in effect, was showering five or six times a day.  This is not an unusual behavior; schizophrenics are convinced that they smell very badly, hence the frequent showering.

The nurse, who met with Lanza in 2006 and 2007, said Lanza's mother declined to give him prescribed antidepressant and antianxiety medication after she reported that he had trouble raising his arm, something she attributed to the drug.

Koenig unsuccessfully tried to convince Nancy Lanza that the medicine was not responsible, and the mother failed to schedule a follow-up visit after her son missed an appointment, police said.

Read more: http://www.norwichbulletin.com/article/20131227/NEWS/131229747/?tag=2#ixzz2omaRnfVk

Unfortunately, the side effects of some of the psychiatric medicines are ugly, and even if there was no connection to Lanza's inability to raise his arm, I can see why Mrs. Lanza might well have thought there was a connection.  But this was years before this tragedy.