Unabomber Too Ill to Recognize Illness

One of the country’s most notorious terrorists, ‘Unabomber’ Ted Kaczynski, is reportedly ready to speak out for the first time in years. But there’s a catch: He wants people to believe, as he does, that he isn’t mentally ill (“’Unabomber’ Ted Kaczynski tells journalist he is ready to be interviewed,” New York Daily News, May 24).

Ted Kaczynski is currently serving eight life sentences for making and sending numerous homemade bombs that killed three and wounded more than twenty during an 18-year period.

Kaczynski recently sent a letter to Lawrence Wright of the New Yorker saying he wants to talk. But the 74-year-old, who has been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, wants the journalist and the world to know that he’s not crazy.

“I am ready to speak to someone from the media regarding my brother’s recent comments and to discuss how they are being used to torment me,” Kaczynski told Wright in his letter. “I am asking you to write me back affirming that you understand that I am NOT mentally ill, as my brother, Dave, would have you believe.”

Kaczynski’s belief in his own sanity goes all the way back to his 1996 trial when his lawyers attempted to enter an insanity defense, but he rejected the plea. At one point, Kaczynski requested that he be allowed to represent himself on the grounds that his lawyers thought he was mentally ill.

Although Kaczynski’s case is an extreme example, the reason behind his lack of insight into his illness is actually quite common amongst people with severe mental illness.

Approximately half of all people with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder do not realize they are sick - a condition called anosognosia.

Anosognosia, meaning “unawareness of illness,” is a syndrome resulting from anatomical damage to the brain and is the single largest reason behind why some individuals suffering with severe mental illness do not take their prescribed medications. Those affected believe there is nothing wrong with them, even though it is often obvious to those around them.

The brains of people who have and do not have anosognosia are different, which is why some people with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder are fully aware of their illness while other people with the conditions are not.

Read “Research Weekly: The Anatomical Basis of Anosognosia” to learn more about one of the most important, but difficult to understand, aspects of serious mental illness.