<p>Psychopaths don’t feel guilty.
And I doubt they would express remorse immediately after their actions, or allow their attorney to do so.
However, I admit I am not up on all the psycho or sociopaths.
I do remember Ted Bundy quite vividly however. 
He was cold as ice.</p>
<p>I also attended EDCC, and while I didnt know Ybarra, I do have an acquaintance there who suffered from PTSD and I could see him losing his mind like that. In retrospect, I think he even was trying to ask me for help, but I missed it.</p>
<p>Im going a bit off topic, but its my thread, and I think it would help us all if we had a better idea of how to recognize those who could benefit from some human contact.
Life is not getting less stressful, and we need more awareness of those people working without a safety net.</p>
<p>For years, I had extreme seasonal depression,( not unusual in our latitude) combined with genetic mental illness, ( my father was bipolar and died from depression, my mother was also ill) but got much worse in the spring paradoxically. I still was depressed, but I had more energy to do something about it.</p>
<p>I did’t feel I ever had a good physical workup even though I had an extreme imbalance of progesterone and estrogen, which was evident with my PMS, and had to have weekly progesterone injections when I was pregnant.
I didn’t get to the point where I obtained weapons( nor did I ever think about it) , but I was very stressed from years of little sleep and became practically psychotic because of it.( my youngest daughter was high needs, and didn’t sleep, my husband was an alcoholic & abusive) I use this term loosely, as I was obsessively suicidal and was furious that I wasn’t getting help that made any difference. I was suicidal because I wanted to stop hurting, not because I wanted to die.</p>
<p>I tried to get myself help, as in seeking a therapist,( and even though we had " good" insurance, our mental health coverage really sucked- it still does actually) even calling CPS myself, and attended support groups intended for stressed parents, when I spanked my toddler on her diapered bum, but it is VERY hard to get meaningful help, especially if you don’t have much of a support system. (& you’d think the support groups would offer child care or at least help you find affordable care) :-/</p>
<p>Psychiatrists only want to medicate, which makes you feel completely numb. My illness coincided with the advent of a new class of anti - depressants, SSRIs & SNRIs, which coincided with snarky newspaper articles about people taking Prozac because they wanted to have an easy life. Who doesnt? 
I took the meds, but hated the wrapped in cotton feeling, so after I read the articles, I would feel guilty I was taking the " easy" way out, and stop taking them.
Which prompted rebound effect and it is worse than it was in the first place.</p>
<p>I think we/I make several mistakes when faced with mentally ill.
We don’t have time to help them and don’t know where resources are.
<a href=“Suicide Prevention Resources | SAMHSA”>http://www.samhsa.gov/prevention/suicide.aspx</a>
<a href=“http://www.nami.org”>http://www.nami.org</a>
We assume that they have others in their lives who are helping them
If they are revealing their pain to you, a casual acquaintance, its likely that they don’t have anyone who is looking out for them and helping them stay in touch with reality.
It probably is taking all their strength to reach out and try and get help, it is much easier to keep pushing all the pain down inside until it can’t be hidden anymore.</p>
<p>Even when you are recovering, it takes a long time and you are fragile. Its very hard when others don’t see anything wrong ( no broken leg or chemotherapy) and think you should just " buck up".</p>
<p>I actually had people say that to me- all the time.
It didnt work so well. @@</p>
<p>I don’t know if Ybarra is worth redemption.
But I know it wont be long before there is another tragedy.
Maybe if we were more aware, there wouldn’t have to be.</p>