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(Photo courtesy AP)SALT LAKE CITY -- Experts say the Fort Hood shooter may have been struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder, but other issues may have also led to the violence on the base.
Major Nidal Hassan was a counselor who helped other soldiers with their P.T.S.D. The dean of the College of Social and Behavioral Science at the University of Utah, David Rudd, says that exposure could easily have given Hassan trauma as well.
"It often times is a complex mixture of personal and other kinds of circumstances that drive people to make a decision to do something violent," Rudd says.
Rudd was the division psychologist at Fort Hood during the Gulf War. He says anxiety about being deployed, past disciplinary problems, alcohol and maybe religious overtones may also play into this tragedy.
E-mail: mrichards@ksl.com
