Charles Whitman

It is no surprise that abuse has a strong influence on children but what we did not know earlier was how much abuse damaged the brain physically. Since the greatest impact on the brain comes from the experiences from the childhood, child abuse will have a big effect on how a child will turn out as an adult. Studies have shown that abused children have a smaller corpus callosum. The corpus callosum is in the center of the brain and it connects the right and left hemispheres of the brain. This means that if it's smaller it might effect how well the brain communicates between the two halves. But it is not only physical abuse that will affect our children. Sexual and verbal abuse can have just as big of an impact. A study showed that these patients had a smaller amygdala and hippocampus. This means that kids that have been abused or sexually harassed often have behavior problems and they have a harder time controlling their emotions and they can't handle them properly which can lead to them being more aggressive. Because of their behavior problems abused children are more likely to commit crimes and abuse drugs, get depressions and post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or other health problems. Scientists have done experiments with brain activity and patients with history of abuse are twice as likely to show abnormal electrical activity and they also think about suicide 4-5 times more frequently than people with normal brain activity.
Charles Whitman was born in 1941 in Florida. His father would regularly abuse both his wife and his children and he also taught his sons how to shoot and take care of weapons. Charles often went on hunting trips with his dad when he was young and he was also a very smart and talented kid who did great in school. His parents encouraged his academic accomplishments but whenever he failed he immediately got punished physically by his father. He was described as a well-mannered and polite kid but the way people though of him quickly changed in 1966. On July 31, 1966 Whitman drove to his mothers house and stabled her to death. He covered her in sheets and left a handwritten note that said "I have just taken my mothers life. I am very upset over having done it. However, I feel that if there is a heaven she is definitely there now... I am truly sorry...Let there be no doubt in your mind that I loved this woman with all my heart". Later when he came home to his own house he stabbed his wife to death, and as with his mother he covered her in sheets and left a note saying that he loved her dearly. In this note he also said something very interesting. "I do not understand myself these days" and he also clearly stated that he knew that something was wrong with him and that he was different. Therefore he wanted to donate his brain to a mental health foundation with the hope that "Maybe research can prevent further tragedies of this type". The next day, on August 1, he went to the University of Texas at Austin and went up the big tower in the middle of the campus. On the way up he shot 3 people and when he got the the top of the tower he brought up his guns and started shooting people on the ground. He shot 11 more people and injured 32. Whitman was killed by a police officer and as he has asked his body was examined after his death. They found a tumor in the brain that was pushing on the part controlling impulses but they could not prove that it was the cause for his actions.