Last week's shooting at Fort Hood was a criminal act of senseless violence against innocent victims who'd done nothing to harm their assailant. As the FBI, army officials, police investigators and forensic psychologists continue to piece together the events and motives behind this brutal act, many of us scratch our heads wondering what could have led a seemingly quiet, caring army psychiatrist to snap and decimate his own colleagues.
In the world of psychology, it can be tempting to analyze and diagnose criminal behavior as if it were ultimately understandable or even excusable. Nothing excuses the senseless killing of another human being. Yet mass killings at work have happened on more than one occasion. Indeed, one day after Nidal Malik Hasan opened fire at Fort Hood, Jason Rodriguez returned to his former place of employment in Orlando, Florida and randomly shot seven people.
What, if anything can we learn from these events? While Hasan's case involves many complex issues, there are four key factors that seem to be in operation:
• Alienation
• Isolation
• Psychological deterioration
• Desperation
Alienation - In Major Hasan's case, his feelings of workplace alienation seem to have begun after 9/11. As the media reports, he complained of experiencing anti-muslim harassment in the military after 9/11. He hired lawyers and tried to get discharged from the army, only to learn that he could not break his contract. Hasan strongly and vocally opposed the wars in Iraq and Afganistan, yet continued to serve as a counselor to traumatized soldiers returning from both of those areas.
Isolation - All profiles of Nidal Malik Hasan describe him as a loner, with few friends. Hasan lived by himself and kept to himself. He did not interact much with his peers in medical or academic settings, except to engage in heated arguments disputing the wars in Iraq and Afganistan. It appears that within his insular existence, Hasan built a virtual world - one that led to increasingly violent and extreme tactics. Isolation made him sicker.
Psychological deterioration - Reports say that during his time at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Hasan became increasingly angry and militant in his views. One account states that during a lecture he gave at Walter Reed that was supposed to address a medical issue, Hasan delivered an extremist interpretation of the Koran, which included violent imagery assigned to anyone who was a non-muslim. His anti- American rants at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Maryland between 2007 and 2008 caused one colleague to complain to administrators.
Desperation - This final factor does not defend what happened. Desperation added fuel to Maj. Hasan's extremely disturbed state. Unlike Jason Rodriguez who'd been dismissed and felt that he was "left to rot," Hasan's despair had to do with being deployed. He didn't want to go, and he could not discern that he had a choice.
The shootings at Fort Hood raise many questions. One of the primary workplace questions is: what recourse does an employee have if he or she senses that a co-worker is seriously disturbed? Where do we go with our complaints? How do we handle someone whose behavior triggers an internal alarm? Hopefully, the tragedy of Fort Hood will force us to devise policies for addressing potential disasters involving workplace violence before it's too late.
