Note: This scenario is based on an actual event involving a mass shooting. This case study may evoke strong emotions. Should you wish to have an alternate case study to apply, please reach out to the instructor.
On April 16, 2007, 23-year-old Seung-Hui Cho killed 32 people on the campus of Virginia Tech University before turning the gun on himself. In the months leading up to the murders, Cho had numerous encounters with mental health professionals. He had been declared an “imminent danger to self or others as a result of mental illness” on a temporary detention order from a Virginia District Court. Two students had filed complaints against him for bizarre phone calls and emails he sent. Another student, his former roommate, called campus police stating that Cho could be suicidal. A poetry professor at the school recalled that he was “menacing” in class, and other students stopped attending after he began photographing them. This professor later removed Cho from her class and worked with him one on one. She also reported that the content of his poems and other writings was disturbing and seemed to have an underlying threat.
A South Korean national, Cho moved with his family to the United States at the age of 8. As a youngster, he was diagnosed with depression and selective mutism, a condition associated with social anxiety, and received therapy and special education services as a result. He was a successful elementary school student, but by middle school he was apparently subject to mockery from fellow students because of his speech abnormalities, his accent, and his isolation.
Imagine that you worked in a setting where Seung-Hui Cho presented for service at age 10, 15, or 22, and address the following questions:
What sources of information would you use to better understand your client, his challenges, and his strengths?
What, if any, cultural concerns should you be aware of in this case?
What questions would you ask as part of problem analysis?
What transitional and developmental issues might be of particular interest?
What role would your client’s diagnosis(es) play in your assessment?
What environmental and interpersonal interactions are relevant in this case?
What consultation would be helpful to you in completing this assessment?
Be sure to identify the age you chose as a reference for the information you are gathering (age 10, age 15, or age 22). Since this is a real case, you can seek more information if you’d like, but it is not necessary for the purposes of this forum (for example, https://www.rebtnetwork.org/library/cho.html)
