http://www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?section=root&name=ViewWeb&articleId=11165Melting Down But Still in Charge
Dick Cheney should take a leave of absence before he accidentally hurts us all.
By Garance Franke-Ruta
Web Exclusive: 02.17.06
Dick Cheney may have appeared calm and collected during his interview with Brit Hume on Fox News Wednesday night, but reports from those closest to the vice president paint a picture of a man who has spent the past week in extreme emotional straits. The New York Times quotes Ben Love, a West Texas rancher staying on the Armstrong ranch, saying Cheney was "just crushed” when he saw him at dinner after the shooting. He wasn’t much better the next day. "I could tell he was still upset,” Kenedy County Chief Deputy Sheriff Gilbert San Miguel told the Corpus Christi Caller-Times, describing Cheney’s mental state during his 8 a.m. Sunday police interview. “He was very, very upset." Bush called the shooting “a deeply traumatic moment" for Cheney, reports The Washington Post, and described the vice president as “profoundly affected” by it. Meanwhile, a “source close to Cheney” told CBS News yesterday that the vice president is in a "state of meltdown."
...Symptoms shooters develop after the fact in situations like Cheney’s would include tremendous guilt, an increased sense of vulnerability, anxiety (particularly around hunting in the future), intruding thoughts, flashbacks of the event in which he can see every little detail and feels like he’s reliving the event in slow motion, an even greater-than-normal desire to be alone, sleep difficulties such as insomnia or waking up in a cold sweat, and emotional numbing. “He may start to experience feeling nothing, not just for Harry, but for himself and for his family. Nothing at all,” explains Kates. “That’s very common for someone who is in a shooting.” ....
Web sites that describe “police trauma syndrome” note that shooters can experience sound and time distortions during and after the critical incident, making it hard to describe accurately what happened, and sometimes even hallucinations after the fact, or a feeling of being haunted, though this is more common in situations where the shooter has been under threat himself or killed someone. Some develop “John Wayne syndrome” after the fact, taking excessive risks in a self-destructive way, while others are subject to self-doubt, compulsions, alcoholism, overeating, and gambling. Their job performance and family relationships can deteriorate, and they can fall prey to episodes of depression and helplessness, with occasional suicidal thoughts.
Non-police shooters oftentimes share similar symptoms that police, who are authorized to shoot, experience less often: “Mark of Cain” syndrome, in which shooters come to see themselves as tainted or otherwise permanently marked, especially if the shooting received widespread publicity. Whatever Cheney experiences, his political persona is unlikely to shift, say the experts, though he also will very likely no longer be the same person in his private life.
.....
Garance Franke-Ruta is a Prospect senior editor.
© 2006 by The American Prospect, Inc.
THE AUTHOR THINKS THIS WOULD BE A BAD THING? I RESPECTFULLY DISAGREE. IT MIGHT SAVE THE MAN AND THE COUNTRY FROM IRREDEEMABLE EVIL.
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