Depression or personality disorder: Autopsy of a mass-homicide

To the Editor

We believe that the recent, 2015, crash of the Germanwings plane with 150 passengers was a planned attack. The media highlighted the copilot’s depression as the underlying reason for the crash. This mainstream interpretation is not accurate (Torjesen, 2015), since by reviewing the published information about the copilot, Lubitz, we suggest that probably his personality disorder was the main cause.

The co-pilot did not show any core signs of depression like anhedonia. In contrast, he was very motivated and concerned about his functionality. He did not commit suicide with feelings of loneliness worthlessness, remorse or guilt; instead he showed known psychopathic behaviors. His silence and normal respiration in response to passengers’ cries and frantic pounding on the door in the last moments of the crash suggests his severe lack of empathy. He also showed dishonesty and recklessness by hiding his doctors’ sick notes from his employer and by continuing to fly despite medical advice (CBS News, 2015).

Moreover, he had elements of Narcissistic Personality Disorder, like grandiose ideation and sense of over entitlement. He had told his girlfriend that he would do something for which the world would remember him. His ex-girlfriend disclosed that he had been very upset about the potential of losing his job because of his physical unfitness (CBS News, 2015). Also, he had been expressing feelings of insecurity in his social and economic state and his physical appearance.

We believe he probably had aspects of malignant narcissism: narcissistic and antisocial personality traits, paranoid ideation and ego-syntonic aggression (Kernberg, 1984). People with malignant narcissism project their feeling of insecure identities vengefully onto what they perceive as their threatening environments, in this case, the airline company. Such extreme hatred when merged with a disorganized superego, lacking the capacity of remorse and guilt, could lead to a mass homicide. His ego-syntonic aggression was expressed as a preplanned violence against himself and the passengers. Therefore, the motivation beyond this kamikaze attack could be understood as an extreme desire for revenge by dehumanizing others.

Although there is not enough information to confirm a diagnosis, the released information points to a diagnosis of severe personality disorder.