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Likely Motives of Larry Gene Ashbrook
USPP
Unit for the Study of Personality in Politics
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Profiles
The Likely Motives of Fort Worth Church
Shooter Larry Gene Ashbrook
Aubrey Immelman
September 20, 1999
Wedgwood Baptist Church shooter Larry Gene Ashbrook appears to
fit the profile of individuals described in the psychopathology literature as
"schizotypal" personalities, a pattern described in the fourth edition of the
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) of the American Psychiatric
Association (1994) as "a pervasive pattern of social and interpersonal deficits
marked by acute discomfort with, and reduced capacity for, close relationships as well as
by cognitive or perceptual distortions and eccentricities of behavior" (p. 641).
Public speculation concerning Ashbrook’s
motives converged – incorrectly, I believe – on paranoia and even schizophrenia
as possible explanations for his rampage. An exclusive focus on these clinical symptom
disorders unnecessarily narrows the conceptual basis for reconstructing the development
and dynamics of the mental state that culminated in Ashbrook’s tragic final act. A
fuller understanding of the internal forces that drove Ashbrook requires due consideration
of his underlying personality pattern.
As noted by Theodore Millon (1996),
"[a]ll patterns of pathological personality . . . comprise deeply etched
and pervasive characteristics of functioning that unfold as a product of the interplay of
constitutional and experiential influences. The behaviors . . . that evolve out
of these transactions are embedded so firmly within the individual that they become the
very fabric of his or her makeup, operating automatically and insidiously as the
individual’s way of life" (p. 609). For this reason, an exclusive focus on
Ashbrook’s paranoia at the time of the shooting is to offer a truncated version of
the mental state that set the stage for the commission of his indiscriminate, chaotic act
of mass murder.
"Present realities," writes Millon
(1996), "are often mere catalysts that stir up . . . long-standing habits,
memories, and feelings [rooted in personality]. . . . Sooner or later they may prove to be
the person’s undoing" (p. 609). Thus, statements by authorities the day
after the shooting, that Ashbrook was "emotionally disturbed" and "seemed
to have a problem with religion," are not particularly useful. Following is an
annotated summary of Millon’s comprehensive account of the clinical features of
schizotypal personality disorder.
Expressive behavior: Eccentric
"What is most distinctive about
schizotypal personalities is their socially gauche [including unrefined and boorish
behavior] and peculiar mannerisms, and their tendency to evince unusual actions and
appearances. Many dress in strange and unusual ways, often appearing to prefer a
‘personal uniform’ from day to day. . . . The tendency to keep to
peculiar clothing styles sets them apart from their peers. As a consequence of their
strange behaviors and appearances, schizotypals are readily perceived by others as
aberrant, unobtrusively odd, curious, or bizarre." (p. 634)
Interpersonal conduct: Secretive
"[Schizotypals] prefer privacy and
isolation. Unable to achieve a reasonable level of interpersonal comfort and satisfaction,
they may have learned to withdraw from social relationships, to draw increasingly into
themselves, with just a few tentative attachments and personal
obligations. . . . [They tend, over time, to drift] into increasingly
peripheral vocational roles, finding a degree of satisfaction in unusual and clandestine
social activities." (pp. 624-625)
"[T]he social achievements of the typical
schizotypal usually indicate an erratic course, with a failure to make normal progress.
Academic and work histories show marked deficits and irregularities, given their
intellectual capacities as a base. Not only are they frequent drop outs, but they tend to
drift from one job to another and are often separated or divorced, if they ever married.
Their deficits in achievement competence derive from and, in part, contribute to their
social anxieties and feelings of unworthiness." (p. 625)
"If they do sustain a conversation, they
may press it beyond the appropriate or suitable, digressing into highly personal, odd, or
metaphoric topics. More commonly, they lack the spark to initiate action or to participate
socially, seemingly enclosed and trapped by some force that blocks them from responding to
or empathizing with others. This inability . . . to become a member of
a real society, and to invest their energies and interests in a world of others, lies
at the heart of their pathology" [emphasis added]. (p. 625)
Cognitive style: Disorganized
"Crucial to the pathology of schizotypals
is their inability to organize their thoughts, particular in the realm of interpersonal
understanding and empathy. . . . They attribute unusual and special
significance to peripheral and incidental events, construing what transpires between
persons in a manner that signifies a fundamental lack of social comprehension and
logic. . . . As a consequence of their misrenderings of the meaning of
human interactions, they construct idiosyncratic conceptions regarding the thoughts,
feelings, and actions of others. . . . They interpose personal
irrelevancies, circumstantial speech, ideas of reference, and metaphorical asides in
ordinary social communications. . . . Owing to their problematic
information gathering and disorganized processing, their ideas may result in the formation
of magical thinking, bodily illusions, odd beliefs, peculiar suspicions, and cognitive
blurring that interpenetrates reality with fantasy" (p. 625). The general
inability of schizotypal personalities to organize their thoughts accounts for
Ashbrook’s so-called "rambling writings," whereas their characteristic
cognitive blurring of reality and fantasy provides a frame of reference for
Ashbrook’s apparent obsession with serial murder and his unfounded belief that he was
a suspected serial murderer.
Individuals with schizotypal personality
disorder "develop superstitions, referential ideas, and illusions, and engage at
times in frenetic activity. . . . [because they] have enough awareness
. . . of life to realize that other people do experience joy, sorrow, and
excitement, whereas they, by contrast, are empty and barren. They desire some
relatedness, some sensation, and some feeling that they are part of the
world about them. . . . Their recurrent illusions, their magical and
telepathic thinking, and their ideas of reference may be viewed as a coping effort to fill
the spaces of their emptiness, the feeling that they are ‘going under’ and are
bereft of all life and meaning." (p. 625)
"Alienated from others and themselves,
they too may sense the terror of impending nothingness and of a barren, depersonalized,
and nonexistent self. Such feelings prompt them also to engage in bizarre behaviors,
beliefs, and perceptions that enable them to reaffirm reality. It is for this reason among
others that we observe that ideas of reference, the clairvoyance, the illusions, and the
strange ideation that typify the schizotypal." (p. 626)
It seems plausible that the death of
Ashbrook’s father in July may have intensified and exacerbated his "terror of
impending nothingness and of a barren, depersonalized, and nonexistent self,"
escalating his bizarre behaviors, beliefs, and perceptions in an increasingly frenetic
effort to affirm reality.
Self-image: Estranged
"Owing to their unsatisfactory social and
cognitive dysfunctions, most schizotypals evidence recurrent social perplexities as well
as self-illusions, depersonalization, and dissociation. Many see themselves as alienated
from the world around them, as forlorn and estranged beings, with repetitive ruminations
about life’s emptiness and meaninglessness. The deficient cognitions and
disharmonious affects [emotions] of schizotypals deprive them of the capacity to
experience events as something other than lifeless and unfathomable phenomena. They suffer
a sense of vapidness in a world of puzzling and washed-out objects. . . .
[M]any schizotypals see themselves to be more dead than alive, insubstantial, foreign, and
disembodied." (p. 626)
Object-representations: Chaotic
"The inner world of the
schizotypal. . . . is almost random, resulting in an ineffective and
uncoordinated framework for regulating the patient’s tensions, needs, and goals.
Perhaps for the greater part of their lives, . . . [this psychic framework has
been] only fitfully competent for accommodating to their world, binding their impulses,
and mediating their interpersonal difficulties." (p. 626)
"When motivated or prompted to relate to
others, schizotypals are frequently unable to orient their inner dispositions in a logical
manner; . . . they become lost in personal irrelevancies and in tangential
asides that seem vague, digressive, and with no pertinence to the topic at hand. They are
out of touch with others and are unable to order their ideas in terms relevant to
reciprocal social communication. The pervasive disjunctiveness of . . . the
scattered, circumstantial, and autistic elements of their thinking . . . only
further alienates these . . . [individuals] from others." (p. 626)
Regulatory mechanism: Undoing
"[S]chizotypals are often overwhelmed by
the dread of total disintegration, implosion, and nonexistence – feelings that may be
countered by imposing or constructing new worlds of self-made reality, an idiosyncratic
reality composed of superstitions, suspicions, illusions, and so on. The more severe
attacks of depersonalization may precipitate psychotic episodes, irrational outbursts in
which these patients frantically search to build a sense of reality to fill their vacant
existence" [emphasis added]. (p. 626)
Morphologic organization: Fragmented
"If one looks into the organization of
the schizotypal’s mind, one is likely to find highly permeable boundaries among
psychic components that [in well-adjusted personalities] are commonly well
segregated. . . . As a consequence of these less than adequate and poorly
constructed defensive operations, primitive thoughts and impulses are usually discharged
in a helter-skelter way, more or less directly and in a sequence of desultory actions. The
intrinsically defective nature of the schizotypal’s internal structures results in
few reality-based sublimations and few successful achievements in life. These defects
make the patient vulnerable to further decompensation – even under modest degrees of
stress" [emphasis added]. (p. 626)
"The inner structures of the schizotypal
may be overwhelmed by excess stimulation. This is likely to occur when social demands and
expectations press hard against their preferred uninvolved or withdrawn state. Unable to
avoid such external impositions, some schizotypals may react either by ‘blanking
out,’ drifting off into another world, or by paranoid or aggressive outbursts."
(pp. 626-627)
In the case of Larry Ashbrook, it is easy to
see how the loss of his sole social support system in the death of his parents could have
precipitated the more-or-less complete breakdown of his already fragile coping mechanisms,
resulting in an insidious spiral of personality decompensation and, ultimately, a floridly
delusional, paranoid, psychotic episode of tragic proportions.
As Millon writes, "[W]hen external
pressures . . . are especially acute, they may react with a massive and
psychotic outpouring of primitive impulses, delusional thoughts, hallucinations, and
bizarre behaviors." According to Millon, "[m]any schizotypals have stored up
intense repressed anxieties and hostilities throughout their lives. Once released, these
feelings burst out in a rampaging flood" [emphasis added]. "The backlog of
suspicions, fears, and animosities has been ignited and now explodes in a frenzied
cathartic discharge." (p. 627)
Mood/Temperament: Distraught
Larry Ashbrook appears to fit the profile of
the "actively detached" schizotypal subtype. The prevailing mood of these
individuals is agitated and anxiously watchful; they are "excessively apprehensive
and ill at ease, particularly in social encounters." Millon notes that many of these
reticent, apprehensive schizotypals "exhibit a distrust of other persons and are
suspicious of their motives, a disposition that rarely recedes despite growing
familiarity." (p. 627)
Fort Worth Star-Telegram city editor
Stephen Kaye has reported that when Ashbrook visited him at the newspaper’s downtown
office in August, he was "very cordial" and "very apologetic for bothering
me." Ashbrook’s diffident manner suggests that he indeed had an active-detached
(i.e., avoidant) schizotypal personality, rather than, say, an antisocial or paranoid
personality disorder, as his violent rampage may erroneously lead one to believe in
retrospect.
Summary and Formulation
To paraphrase Millon (1996), avoidant
schizotypals have given up hope of gaining affection and security. To defend against these
anxiety-arousing feelings of emptiness, meaninglessness, and hopelessness, they substitute
rational thinking – which would bring them face to face with the "devastating
terror of nothingness, the feeling of imminent nonexistence" – with "a
‘make-believe’ world . . . of fantasized persons and objects to which
they can safely relate" (p. 629). Larry Ashbrook’s July 31 and August 10
letters to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram just weeks before his rampage offer some
clues to the content of the "make-believe" world of his, in which he is a serial
murder suspect under surveillance by CIA operatives.
Ultimately, however, the tragic consequences
of Ashbrook’s failure to secure public affirmation of his delusional fantasies
("It is obvious that you are uninterested in my story. . . . Is it
because you think it implausible or unimportant?" he wrote in his Aug. 10 letter to
the Star-Telegram), Ashbrook was overwhelmed by depersonalization anxiety. Millon
(1996) writes that when schizotypal individuals are "overwhelmed by the dread of
total disintegration, implosion, and nonexistence. . . . [t]hese severe
attacks of depersonalization may precipitate wild psychotic outbursts in which the patient
frantically searches to reaffirm reality." (p. 623)
As his tenuous controls crumbled, as pressures
mounted beyond tolerable limits, it seems that the only remaining option in
Ashbrook’s troubled mind to restore his fragile psychic cohesion and affirm the
reality of his existence was, in effect, to merge fantasy with reality by joining his
shadowy "pseudocommunity" and enacting his primitive anxieties in a wild and
chaotic spree of vandalism and mass murder in the real world. Millon (1996) writes,
"To counter the anxieties of depersonalization and derealization, they may be driven
into excited and bizarre behaviors, contrive peculiar and hallucinating images, and shout
utterly unintelligible but beseeching sounds, all in an effort to draw attention and
affirm their existence as living beings. They may maneuver irrationally just to evoke a
response from others, simply create a stir to prove they are real and not a mirage of
empty, floating automatons such as they sense themselves to be." (p. 629)
The pathetic irony of Larry Ashbrook’s
life is that he had a real existence. He fired real bullets, injured and killed
real victims, and inexorably touched real lives.
References
American Psychiatric Association. (1994). Diagnostic and
Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.
Millon, T. (1996). Disorders of Personality: DSM-IV
and Beyond (2nd ed). New York: Wiley.
Page maintained by Aubrey Immelman,
USPP director
www.csbsju.edu/Research/Ashbrook.html
Last updated
April 22, 2007
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