Emma
Evil Liberal Leftist
It's not excusing anything. It's trying to make sense out of actions most of us could never comprehend doing. You see this with any tragic event.
Although he was raised Muslim, from all reports his family wasn't particularly devout. I live in the area where he grew up, and I don't doubt that to be the case. Something along the way caused him to take this path. From interviews with people who knew him back then, he seemed to begin to lose it after his parents died.
There are a number of people who knew him speaking out now about their concerns with his behaviour. IMO, the most telling have nothing to do with his Muslim faith. The interview that stood out most to me is how his uncle described him as increasingly distraught over his patients and their experiences; it's obvious from the uncle's comments that Hasan was becoming more and more personally involved with his patients and (if what the uncle states is accurate) blurring the line between his professional duties and personal feelings, allowing their troubles to become his own.
I know from my own experience how easy it is to cross that line. The ability to empathize with one's patients is good to a point. However, once you begin to take on those feelings and relate them to your own situation, you've ceased being an effective caregiver. I hope this is making sense. As an example, back when my mom was ill and dying of cancer, I sat with one of my patients as she cried about her prognosis (she was a young woman with metastatic breast cancer) and how she was going to die all alone (single, parents were dead). I cried with her, not because of her situation, but rather I imagined myself going through what she described.
Not long after this, I quit to take a job on a diabetic unit; I stayed there for a couple of years until I felt I could once again be effective as an oncology nurse. Luckily, I had the support system in place to help me see what was happening and how detrimental it was to my patients and myself as well.
I can't imagine how difficult it would be for someone working in psych to keep themselves insulated against falling into that trap of becoming too involved in their patients' problems. As a psychiatrist, he should have been aware that he was doing so but like I said, it's very easy to cross that line. What I'd like to know is if any of the therapists or psychiatrists he worked with took notice that he was becoming so involved, and if they attempted to intervene.
From interviews with those who knew him, Hasan didn't have this level of support, if any at all. He was alone, and perhaps too caring for his patients, internalizing their problems as his own. That could explain why he became more and more desperate not to be deployed.
To acknowledge these issues is not to defend or excuse his actions. They are just pieces to the puzzle.
