Originally Posted by
RexBanner
Yeah because that would have completely nullified the sounds of the screams in the cabin and the frantic shouting and hammering of the captain on the flightdeck door. Don't make excuses for him, anyone who is able to ignore that and carry out such an act is a psychopath. He may have had depression but a clear lack of empathy and remorse makes him a psychopath and so does carrying out mass murder. Depressed people don't tend to take 150 innocent people with them.
The term psychopath has a specific meaning and Lubitz doesnt fit it. A sociopath generally is not a criminal. Many successful businessmen are sociopathic. They have no qualms about ruining lives in a different way.
Not making excuses, but as I have dealt with many suicidal people I just want to introduce into the discussion how distorted the thinking can be. It may have been in his mind that "My life is not worth living, so what makes the life of anyone on board worth living?" Another scenario is that he was just comfortable in his little office at the front of the aircraft and took the aircraft into the mountains perceiving nothing but what was going on in his mind.
Depression has a very large spectrum, possibly one of the biggest catch-all diagnoses. It can range from simple reactive depression where the sleep is disturbed to suicidal and what would be called murderous intentions. Sometimes it depends on your job or what you are familiar with. If its firearms you may go on a killing spree. Depressives dont generally kill 150 but have certainly been known to kill as many as they thought or had the physical capability to do so. Women with post-natal depression sometimes kill their own children. They are not psychopaths but ill.