I'd guess that in that same course he took with the Serial Killer Psychiatrist, they probably covered Bundy, as he is always one of the case studies and, of course, his professor (online class btw) was the woman who got to interview Bundy.
Dorothy Otnow Lewis. Reviews of her classes reveal that Ted Bundy was frequently mentioned and her textbook on serial killers focuses a lot on him. Same lady who tried to testify in Letecia Stauch's insanity defense but was unable to truly provide a diagnosis (or even make sense, IMO).
I believe
this is the book she uses in her class. She doesn't just cover serial killers, she tries to compare and contrast them with other kinds of killers (like David Chapman). At any rate, surely a semester-long class with Ortnow, who considers herself a leading expert on Bundy.
She also includes Shawcross, but in her last decade of interviews, has mentioned BTK and many others as well.
I think he was trying to understand his own fascination with crime. He shares that fascination with many WSers, I think.
But for Kohberger, he probably sensed and worried over his similarities in thought and fantasy to serial killers. Otnow Lewis focuses on the "minds" of killers. Kohberger comes to criminology via the psychology track (which is the most common pathway, IMO). Like some of us, he probably pondered the mistakes that criminals make and noted them, and had quite a large bank of information on how to commit crime.
IMO. What caused him to snap is the unanswered question, although I think he crashed and burned major league big time after arriving in Pullman and being, well, ostracized and disciplined by people who were frightened, half-frightened or very annoyed by him.
Did you read the TapATalk posts? Who else could have written them? The person is using an email known to be associated with Kohberger. I've never read such a detailed, ongoing account of VSS. The details the writer has about VSS are both research based and personal. He also writes about his family and it sure sounds like the same family. He also writes about altercations within the family and his agony over his mental/neurological symptoms.
Those statements include notes about visits to doctors. I don't have them in front of me right now, but I do believe he was diagnosed. He talks about his parents taking him to doctors for it and nothing helped. Eventually, he thinks his diet helps (and this is consistent with what research says about VSS - the diet may or may not help, but sufferers truly need to have a structured framework that allows them to cope with day to day fluctuations in symptoms). In large studies of VSS, there's a lot of adaptation and coping, but never any relief or cure. Some people have it be less worse at certain times of the day (that's what Kohberger wrote on TapATalk).
VSS is not cured, unless he's the single person in the world who has had spontaneous remission (if anyone can find that in the medical literature - spontaneous remission of VSS, please let me know!)
The last decade of research shows that it has nothing to do with the ocular system, but with parts of the brain. It involves more than the snow itself. The majority of VSS sufferers have problems with depersonalization and derealization (both symptoms regarded as "disasociative") These are complex symptoms that I've been studying and trying to understand in various settings for 30 years. Neurological disorders can be profound and a whole bunch of them have some of these core dissociative traits - the same core traits. It's thought to be partly in the amygdala and hippocampus. It should not be minimized.
We are allowed to discuss VSS. I have read nearly the entire available literature since January or so. Here's a recent article:
Rules here say we ought not post the same things over and over, so I won't post the statistics about remission of VSS, but will post a treatment article from 2019 that I haven't posted:
Objective To evaluate pharmacologic treatment options for visual snow and to report prevalence of comorbid diseases. Methods Medical charts of patients with a diagnosis of visual snow at the neurology outpatient clinic were reviewed on prescribed medication, and comorbid migraine, tinnitus, and...
n.neurology.org
Interesting, the person on TapATalk (who the owner of WS agrees is Kohberger) does mention taking one of those drugs. Said it didn't work (the most effective of the drugs listed were only effective 20% of the time).
Could you imagine having a disabling visual disorder that has almost no treatment? I have struggled with visual problems all my life, but mine are ocular and by the time I was 30, there were treatments (and today, well, I'm not going to complain).
Bryan Kohberger did his capstone project for the community college Psychology Honors Society (a nationwide organization) on "invisible disabilities" and improving people's approach to those with rare but not immediately visible impairment.
He also co-wrote a paper (presented at a conference in community college) on gender/sex bias in college science programs. Thought I'd throw that in there while I had his CC info in front of me. Three women were his co-presenters. Hard to tell what the findings were.
It's on p. 21 of this program:
IMO.
I did find the article I was looking for on his "staring" behavior, which so many found off-putting. I think it's his VSS (and it's typical of VSS sufferers). Three different students at U of I noticed him on campus (so I am adding those viewings to known viewings of Kohberger in and around U of I - there are the cell phone pings, but there are also sightings, and he's remembered for his "staring"):
Three University of Idaho students said they saw Bryan Kohberger at their Student Union building in the weeks before the brutal off-campus murders – and said the creepy loner “was the type to stare…
nypost.com
VSS people do take longer and stare more to try and remember identify faces.
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
