Fort Lauderdale, Florida, shooting suspect Esteban Santiago Ruiz was taken to an Anchorage mental health facility after telling the FBI a U.S. intelligence agency was controlling his mind. However, the details of the treatment he received — and for how long — are unclear.
Santiago’s brother recently told the Associated Press he did not receive proper mental health treatment after serving in Iraq. Santiago’s brother and mother have claimed he had been hearing voices before the shooting, and he believed he “was being chased and controlled by the CIA through secret online messages,” CBS News reports.
Some have speculated Santiago has at least some of the common symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
According to Francine Harbour, the executive director of the Anchorage office for the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), there are four main symptoms:
- Exposure to or threat of death, severe injury or assault
- Intrusive thoughts
- Avoidance of reminders of the traumatic experience
- Alterations in thinking or moods
Barbour, who is recovering from PTSD, said while it is still unclear whether Santiago suffers from it, the disorder is very common for people who have experienced any kind of trauma. The source of the trauma can be anything from living through a car accident to witnessing a violent death in war.
“When a person experiences trauma, that trauma is a normal reaction to an abnormal situation,” said Harbour, who added that many people know someone suffering from PTSD, but might not realize it. “It is much more prevalent than we have in our collective awareness.”
There are many treatment resources for PTSD and other mental illnesses in Anchorage, including NAMI. However, many people never seek help. Harbour said it can be particularly hard for men and people in the military to get counseling.
“Understanding the need for treatment does not deal with the barrier of stigma,” Harbour said. “This is especially bad for people in the military because they have a belief that being identified with having a mental health condition will damage their career.”
She said if it is determined that Santiago has PTSD, it can help bring awareness to a problem affecting many people.
“If we can treat him like any other medical patient with an illness, and get him to talk to us, that will really advance the treatment of PTSD and also the conduct of war,” Harbour said.
Yet she does not want anyone to use Santiago as a means to generalize people suffering from the disorder.
“There are many more people in that situation than we would think,” she said. “That does not mean that we would have that whole population of people with trauma who are ticking time bombs.”
She added that people with problems like PTSD are much more likely to cause harm to themselves than anyone else.
KTVA 11’s Eric Ruble can be reached via email or on Facebook and Twitter.
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