Psychiatrist Dr. Rick Fitzgibbons weighs in
Lent 2026
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According to Dr. Rick Fitzgibbons, a psychiatrist and the director of Comprehensive Counseling Services, depressive illness alone does not lead to a tragedy like the Germanwings plane crash—intense narcissism does:
"The most common prevalent personality disorder by far in this culture is selfishness… there are books written about the epidemic of selfishness…but many mental health practitioners don’t look for it…. they are not looking to uncover the degree of selfishness, which is extremely important to uncover, or the level of anger."
In this Aleteia Media interview, Zoe Romanowsky speaks to Dr. Fitzgibbons, about what causes a pilot —trained to protect the life of his passengers—to commit mass murder and suicide in this way and what can be done to prevent it.
