Odd details of madness

CNA talks about the guy with schizophrenia who killed 18 in Maine:

The Reserve unit told the sheriff's office that Card, a 40-year-old sergeant, had reported "hearing voices" that tormented him with accusations of paedophilia and of having a small penis, and that he had threatened to "shoot up" the Saco drill centre and other places, according to an incident report released by the sheriff's office.

At least one soldier who was friendly with Card told his unit leaders that Card's behaviour was so alarming that he feared "Card was going to snap and commit a mass shooting", according to the Army Reserve unit's September email released by the sheriff's office....

In the Sagadahoc County sheriff's account, his office agreed not to make direct contact with Card after his teenage son and ex-wife reported their concerns on May 3, in which they told a deputy that Card's anger and paranoia worsened after he got a hearing aid in February.

They said Card had recently picked up 10 to 15 handguns and rifles he had stored at his brother's house and that they feared his anger if Card learned they had contacted the police, an incident report said.

You can read the rest of the report to hear how half-arsed was the attempt to find him and remove access to a mini arsenal of guns. 

But it is interesting how his "hearing voices" worsened after he got a hearing aid.   It's a common feature of modern schizophrenia that sufferers rationalise a technological reason why they can now hear what they couldn't before.  I'm pretty sure that's what happened to Evelyn Waugh when he had a bout of hearing voices and put it into mildly fictionalised form in a book.   I did a brief post about this once before - back in 2011 - and it links to an article about this.

This always makes me wonder about how it's odd that this rationalisation is not recognised by the sufferer as a clear sign they are starting on a mental illness.   (Along the lines of "hey, I never used to believe telepathy was possible, and I have heard that people with madness often think it's a new technology, just like I am wondering.  Am I going mad?)   Although I guess it's also quite likely that most people who come down with schizophrenia have not read accounts of it.   

I know, that's not how mental illness works, but I still like to hope I would recognise it...