Parents of Elliot Rodger Created Monster- Then Blamed it on Autism/Aspergers Syndrome

Elliot Rodger and Parents

I could have understood it if the mother were vacationing in Switzerland, when she turned on the Internet and learned that her son might be contemplating mass murder. But she was actually just a short drive from Isla Vista. Yet, rather than visit the son herself whom she claimed to be worried about, she contacted his therapist, who then called the police, requesting a welfare or health check.  The police were too lazy to bother to watch the video.  So what did Madame Rodger do next -- apparently nothing. She knew her son better than any stranger might. But she didn't bother to follow up with the police.

But that is merely the introduction to the main point of this post.  I've reconsidered earlier thoughts and comments.  I no longer believe that Elliot Rodger had Aspergers Syndrome or any autistic symptoms at all. But why would the family have lied?  They may have been doing so for years to cover up a problem. Mr. and Mrs. Rodger were in the process of creating a monster.  I don't know how they did it. I'm certain it wasn't purposeful. But throughout his childhood, they were able to blame his not quite normalness on neurological factors.   I'd have to go to the library and find a few books on the etiology of Narcissistic Personality Disorder to get the details clear in my own head. But whatever this kid's problem, he wasn't born with it.  These are a few interesting points from Wikipedia:

Pathological narcissism can develop from an impairment in the quality of the person's relationship with their primary caregivers, usually their parents, in that the parents could not form a healthy and empathic attachment to them. This results in the child's perception of himself/herself as unimportant and unconnected to others. The child typically comes to believe they have some personality defect that makes them unvalued and unwanted.

The dad appeared unengaged in his son's life and reminds me in that regard with Peter Lanza's father.  There should be a federal law against men divorcing their wives, in an attempt to escape from their psychopathic kids.  Invariably society pays when the kid commits mass murder.

So much has been written about this kid, but Enrico Gnaulati of The Atlantic nailed it in an article entitled: "The Isla Vista Shooter: This is Not the Autism Spectrum (The mass murderer displayed malignant narcissism, envy, and entitlement that are not typical with his reported autism spectrum diagnosis. Misunderstanding mental illness introduces potential for misplaced fear.)  Gnaulati wrote:

His obvious pathological narcissism seems to have been overlooked by the various counselors and mental health specialists who were enlisted by his parents to intervene. Rodger makes a reference to Regional Center in his manifesto, which is the state institution in California set up to provide services to individuals with autism.
The counselors assigned to help him “build social skills,” by his account, are all young and inexperienced. The professionalism of the interventions Rodger received will likely come under scrutiny in the coming weeks. Rodger perceived one 25-year-old counselor as acting “more like a friend” who took him to restaurants and went on hikes with him. Another counselor, in response to Rodger probing about his sex life, apparently disclosed that he had slept with four girls in Isla Vista, which simply galvanized Rodger’s envy.
Rodger remembers his psychiatrist acting dismissively “in his struggle against such a cruel and unjust world” by pushing to put him on Risperidone, an anti-psychotic medication used to treat schizophrenia and people with extreme agitation. His last counselor appears to have been a 23-year-old UCSB student who accompanied him to coffee shops and volunteer jobs. Rodgers says of this: “Nothing conducive to attaining the life I desire came out of these meetings, but the social interaction he provided was pleasant, and it gave me an outlet to express myself.”
As mental health, public policy, and law enforcement experts flock to authenticate and analyze Rodger’s videos and extensive personal narrative, My Twisted World, consideration should be given to the accuracy of the diagnosis of high-functioning autism he was ascribed. On the one hand, this is important to stem the tide of any unobjective linkages the general public makes with this diagnosis and violent tendencies.
On the other hand, it is important because a false autism diagnosis may have funneled Rodger into an ineffective and unproductive course of “social skills”—interventions by paraprofessionals undereducated and undertrained to detect, let alone provide, the intensive psychotherapy necessary to treat something of the order of pathological narcissism.
As a society, if we have any chance at preventing the abhorrent mass shootings that are an all-too-frequent occurrence, we have to look not only at the availability of mental health services to at-risk people, but at the quality and sophistication of the services we provide. And, if there is to be anything learned from the Isla Vista tragedy it is that giving someone prone to malignant envy and narcissistic rage relatively free access to guns can be a deadly combination.