Before psychiatry reared its murky head, Shakespeare understood something that psychiatrist Harold I. Schwartz probably overlooked in his Jan. 5 commentary ("Profile of a killer"): "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
Schwartz's meandering article attempting to shed light on why killers kill is plain psychobabble. If any parent or caregiver of a child who survived the Newtown, Conn., killings of his or her classmates tried to explain the tragedy with Schwartz's words or concepts about "mind theory," the child would be baffled.
To his credit, Schwartz peppers his comments with "in the absence of theory of mind" and "we can only speculate" and "this is pure speculation." Right. Perhaps (another good word he used) he should have started his article with this thought: pure speculation.
Schwartz's labels of "theory of mind" and "mentalization" don't bring us even one small step closer to formulating a killer's profile, unless we make it crystal clear that if it's helpful, it remains "pure speculation."
Even if we could get into a killer's head before he or she kills, how does that translate into prevention? I can't imagine.
I think it would be far better for grief counselors, friends and families of victims to tell children what Hamlet explained to Horatio: that the sorrows in our lives cannot always be explained. They can also be comforted by being told that human behavior is complicated, and that time heals most wounds.
When the police, the psychiatric community and concerned citizens look for answers to how to reduce these savage killings, we should not waste excessive mental efforts trying to second-guess terrorists and killers. Safety measures in public places and advising parents, teachers and child care workers how to best protect their precious children are the top priorities right now.
SYLVIA HONIG
Wynantskill