Tag: Depression

ericharrisblog:

St. John Wort, the Herbal remedy the police found in his bedroom and that Dylan was taken for depression.

Among the items police found in his room were two half-empty bottles of Saint-John’s-wort, an herb believed to elevate mood and combat mild depression. I asked one of Dylan’s friends if he knew that Dylan had been taking it. Dylan told him he hoped it would increase his “motivation." 

I’m reblogging this great post from acolumbineblog and adding to it:

In general, people think of Dylan as just the tall, skinny guy – period.  Just one of those teen boys that eats a ton of food but never gains because of a super high metabolism.  However, if you look closely there is more to it than meets the eye.  I’ve included a sort of “Before” and “After” photo set of Dylan. Showing his physique a year prior and then also the months leading up to 4/20 when he rapidly drops weight likely due to his depression.   The year or so before, his hair is shorter, and you can see his arms are more filled out; his pants fit the line of his legs.  In the spring of 1999, when his hair has grown the longest it’s ever been in the Radioactive Clothing vid, it is pretty noticable that Dylan has lost a fair amount of weight – a whopping 37 lbs – to be exact. His arms resemble thin, bony sticks and his pants are just hanging on him – literally swimming in his jeans.   I wonder whether his parents had noticed the abrupt changes in weight since they did mention that he "seemed more sad" weeks before the attack. 😦

acolumbineblog

Dylan had lost 37lbs leading up to the Columbine massacre

The BMI put out by the Mayo Clinic and the NHI state:

  • Underweight = <18.5
  • Normal weight = 18.5–24.9
  • Overweight = 25–29.9
  • Obesity = 30 or greater

This suggests that Dylan, who’s BMI would have been about 22-23 in 1997 and viewed as “normal" by a doctor, would have been listed as quite underweight by the time he died. His BMI was about 17.5.
It should be noted that drastic/dramatic weight loss or weight gain are key signs of depression.

White tablets taken from Klebold’s room: “per Sgt West, the tablets will not be analyzed.”(18701)

“Among the items police found in his room were two half-empty bottles of St. John’s Wort, an herb believed to elevate mood and combat mild depression. I asked one of Dylan’s friends if he knew that Dylan had been taking it. Dylan told him he hoped it would increase his "motivation." 
– I Will Never Know Why” – Sue Klebold

“he’s either really hyper or really kicked back,” – Devon Adams

“Dylan was the same happy person that he normally is and was very talkative and friendly… with him joking a lot. Over the last month or so Dylan had become more and more withdrawn.” – Kelli Brown (10680)

In discussing any drug use that Tim was aware of concerning Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold Tim stated that he was aware that Dyian took some kind of energy pills that he bought at the store.  – Tim Kastle (004322)

Jeffrey reported that he had noticed a behavioral change in Dylan the prior several weeks before the incident. He stated that Dylan was normally a very good student but had been falling asleep in the 2nd period class each day. The teacher kept threatening to throw him out of class if he fell asleep again but never did. And there were times in that several weeks that Dylan appeared unusually hyper and full of energy. – Jeff Marquardt (000988)

There is good evidence that St. John’s Wort may reduce symptoms in people with mild-to-moderate but not severe (or major) depression.