The Sandy Hook Moment: A Window to Individualism Unhinged and Eros Disconnected

Abstract

Mass shootings perpetrated in public settings with forethought and planning have become a regular occurrence in the United States. This depth psychological hermeneutic study focuses on one specific tragedy, the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings, and seeks to understand its underlying cultural and archetypal implications. The study closely examines the Sandy Hook moment and its aftermath as told by survivors, first responders, and various news reports. It also composes a case history of the shooter, Adam Lanza. A central theme of the study is individualism, explored as a cultural complex and regarded in conjunction with the dynamics of success and failure, gun violence, and psychopathology. The exiled other is constellated as part of the individualist dynamic; related themes of shame, isolation, and disconnection are examined. It is suggested that mass shooters seek notoriety to replace inconsolable shame and a lack of soul attention in their lives, and they aim to destroy what they do not have and feel excluded from, particularly a sense of belonging. The heroic ego is presented as the psychological correlate of the isolated individual, now a pervasive figure in American culture. Listening to and welcoming the other is proposed as the therapeutic move, applicable to the individual and cultural situation. The internal face of this move involves reconnecting to a diverse and imaginatively vital psyche in a world suffering from excessive literalization and rationalization.