As I've asserted before, there's a mental illness in particular that tends to stay dormant in some individuals up until enough of a stressor kicks in. We have some here who have experience with this disorder, and even attested to this.
I had completely not considered it before today because I had never seen her in an interview like the 48 Hours one that was linked. All I had to go on was what was reported in the media and on here and could be seen in the trial.
The biggest thing everyone can agree on is a blunted emotional affect. She seems pretty unemotional most of the time. Her speech is usually unemphatic, and her tone never really changes. She also whispers or talks in a low tone a lot of the time; at least in the interviews I've seen.
When she's asked a question, she goes into long explanations. She doesn't really leave out emotional details, as someone suspected of sociopathy might. Instead, she goes into way too much detail. She diverts onto irrelevant points and finally comes back around to the original question and answers it. This is referred to as a thought disorder - circumstantial speech.
There are indicators of improper emotional responses. She was seen
"smiling, almost laughing at [Travis's] memorial service". She laughed at points in the 48 hours interview. She would lay her head down in the middle of police interviews. She would stretch and conduct herself bizarrely. She draws in the middle of her court case. She sometimes puts her head down on the table there, too.
There is definitely a history of persecutory beliefs and there is evidence of delusion. Arias went so far as to spy on Travis and allegedly hacked into his Facebook and e-mails because she was afraid he was going to hurt her (emotionally, with a new girl). She had to check up on him. She would listen to his voicemail and read his text messages. As far as delusions go, she snuck into his house multiple times. She obsessed over him. She called him how many times in that subpoenaed period, while he called her twice? She has come up with different stories about threats against her life and being afraid for her family. She retold a story about "ninja assassins". She told a story about receiving a letter in prison saying someone was going to kill her.
There also appeared to be a mild avolition occurring. She bounced from job to job, didn't meet financial obligations, really didn't show any desire to succeed. She was apparently doing poorly enough at PPL that she had
Gus helping her.
There was also a study recently done on eye movement. Individuals that are affected by this disorder tend to make erratic motions with their eyes. They can't gaze at the same place for too long, they aren't capable of what's called "smooth pursuit", which is having the eye smoothly follow an object. They have what pretty much amounts to improper saccadic eye movement. If you watch the 48 Hours Interview, a lot of the times her eyes are darting around and not really focusing on anything in particular. It's very clear in the video nurse posted - look at the interviewer as your "control" subject. This is what caught my attention at first. Granted, this is far from scientific and not in a controlled setting necessary to perform such a test but it's there in this capacity.
These are all pretty straightforward and classic symptoms of schizophrenia. In fact, schizophrenics tend to vastly overkill their victims. If you take a look at some of the stabbings carried out by known schizophrenics, there are quite a few eerie similarities to this murder.
Perhaps she's faking it all and was hoping to get a mental insanity ruling. It's a possibility. But from what I've seen so far, it all fits.
:twocents: :moo:
. I almost miss it. Lol just kidding! They were usually some dopey high school kids thinking they were cool...or sexy or something.
