James Holmes: Social Pariah, Drug Addict or Psychotic Illness?

Addiction to killing game playing can make you become far more socially isolated. Mania can come on slowly and yes it does have an effect on the games you play. When i was manic playing games such as farmville had a more realistic feel to them than just being a type of fantasy game. It brought it more to life and the mania did cause a special effect that i cannot really explain. If you look at Diablo 3 he was playing in which they talk on forums about buying up ammo and weapons, also talk about wearing shields. They become super hero's. Affinity strength and power which happens in mania. His value system he had for his kills you find are in the games. Each time they kill in the game it gives them self worth and they add up their kills. It's not the type of game to play if a person suffers from OCD of harm as the compulsions and mania of schizo Affective would have a dangerous effect. They make human capital in one of the games and destroy worlds. Also in mania movies we watch on TV have a type of psychic link to the actors or a character which is also found in comics. The burnt notes, starting chaos as in the Joker who has strength and affinity but the psychiatrist didn't help him from his compulsions. Utter frustration. The chafs Batman wore in the comic books, so both the games and film had affinity of power of being dressed to play a part. The internet also plays around with your brain chemicals according to psychiatrists and can make the mania worse and cause the inability to sleep.

Chris thank you for your insight and more importantly thank you for sharing it. I can learn a lot from you as a student working toward a degree in Forensic Psychology and a person enveloped by family members suffering the echoing effects of mental illness. Your comment, "When I was psychotic, I knew the things I was doing were ‘wrong’ according to society. But I also felt that I had a higher calling and that societal rules did not apply to me," floored me.
I was raised by a mother who has bi-polar mood disorder. My youngest brother had an undiagnosed mental illness, he died in 1999 while crossing an interstate. One older brother was clearly mentally ill but spent time in prison rather than a mental health facility. In 2007, he ultimately murdered our 77-year-old father and chased our mother with an axe. NOW he is in a mental institution.
My goal is to become a tool for the court to get help for those who need it without having to become a danger to self or others. How long does society have to live, or die, with this archaic standard?

[...] people identify picture B (James Holmes, the “Batman Killer”) the most readily as a symbol of mental illness. They are not wrong, of course. Holmes has, it [...]

I agree with everything you said. I believe you left out one thing. The man could also be evil, just plain evil, and we must accept that as true also. What ever the problem is the treatment will be the same, and there in lies the problem. Insanity must be treated differently , not placed in general population, but in a facility trained to handle the criminally insane. A person that has gone so far can not expect to be set free ever, but they do not deserve to be treated like the evil. They need to be where they are kept on their medication, come to terms with what they did and then given some type of work that is constructive and helps to pay for their incarceration. That turns them into contributors to society instead of sucking the breath out of society. They can at least live in a way conducive to feelings of worth instead of shame. Now if they are evil, then the courts know how to handle that, except I don't adhere to the philosophy of death. As a Christian I am bound to bring life. Thank you for your words.