At the center of the Brian Thompson murder is suspect Luigi Mangione, whose "evolution from valedictorian to vigilante may never be fully understood." But Melanie Thernstrom thinks Mangione's "bleak inner reality" can be partly explained by his chronic back problems, which caused "unbearable pain" that may have influenced him. Writing for the Wall Street Journal, Thernstrom concedes it's ridiculous to assert that having such chronic issues turns people into killers, but as someone who's dealt with pain in her own life for decades due to a rare genetic illness, she cites a UC-Davis pain specialist who says handling chronic pain is like "driving on a slippery road. It puts everyone at risk." Thernstrom attributes that risk to the fact that pain is often connected to such issues as sleep problems and psychological disorders, as they share the same neural wiring, per Stanford neuroscientist Sean Mackey.
Exacerbated by the pain, that wiring effectively short-circuits—and "the longer the pain goes on, the more developed the abnormal circuitry, which amplifies pain and engenders feelings of hopelessness, helplessness, and distress," Thernstrom writes. Mangione wrote about this himself on Reddit, noting of his brain fog: "It's absolutely brutal to have such a life-halting issue, especially since the issue itself wears down the critical/logical thinking mind you'd usually use to tackle it." Mackey adds that a health care (and health insurance) system that doesn't seem to prioritize helping patients find the proper care just makes things worse. "They deny, they deny, they deny," he says of insurance companies turning down coverage requests. "It's a travesty." More here. (More chronic pain stories.)
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