A rare neurological condition may have deepened Bryan Kohberger and Luigi Mangione’s isolation, experts have warned.
Known as visual snow syndrome (VSS), experts say the condition leaves sufferers seeing the world through a haze like they are using a ‘broken television’, and struggling to hold down a job, relationship or even converse with loved ones.
Now, they say that in severe cases it may ‘trap’ patients in their own realities and exacerbate any underlying mental conditions.
‘Eighty percent plus of what we take in from the world comes from our vision, meaning this condition can leave someone feeling disconnected and finding it harder to interact with others,’ Dr Bhavin Shah, an optometrist who treats patients with the condition, told the Daily Mail.
Dr Carole Lieberman, a forensic psychiatrist in California, warned it could leave someone feeling ‘hyper-aroused’ and ‘hyper-stressed out’ as they struggle to see those around them. She also said it’s clear how the condition ‘could make someone go crazy’.
Kohberger – who pleaded guilty to the murder of four Idaho students last week – has been connected to an online account that repeatedly posted about how VSS had left him struggling to connect with reality.
The account wrote online in 2011, when Kohberger was just 16 years old, that his vision made the world feel like he was in a ‘video game’ and had ‘changed him’.
‘As I hug my family, I look into their faces, I see nothing,’ the account wrote, ‘it is like I am looking at a video game, but less… I am blank, I have no opinion, I have no emotion, I have nothing’.
Mangione, who has pled not guilty to charges of shooting a United Healthcare CEO, has been linked to a Reddit account that may have referenced the condition.
In one post, from 2018, the account wrote that it was trying to make a joke about suffering from this condition.
Mangione has also reportedly suffered from brain fog and chronic back pain.
Prosecutors have not said whether Mangione or Kohberger were formally diagnosed with the condition, but experts said it was undeniable — if they had the condition — that it could impact their mental health.
Neither expert had worked with Mangione or Kohberger and was speaking based on information online and from their experience with other cases.
‘This can have quite an effect on patient’s lives. I have had people who have lost their jobs and relationships over this,’ Dr Shah said.
‘It becomes very difficult for them to function, because whenever they try to focus on anything, all they can see is this fuzz that distracts them.’
Both experts believe that the underlying condition could have led to potential criminal activity, but they stopped short of saying that it actually caused the actions.
‘Certainly, someone can see how this syndrome can drive someone crazy,’ Dr Lieberman added.
‘It can make life much more stressful, because you need your senses to be able to perceive the world accurately.’
It is unclear what Kohberger’s motive may have been, but experts have suggested it may be linked to his struggles with women.
Mangione has pleaded not guilty, although some experts have suggested that if he did carry out the attack, it may have been motivated by his chronic back pain.
About two percent of Americans suffer from VSS, estimates suggest, and often struggle to get diagnosed – the condition officially started to be recognized in January.
Patients tend to start experiencing symptoms in early adolescence, with shifts in vision that can last for hours or days at a time.
It isn’t clear what triggers the condition, but it is thought to be linked to overactivity in the occipital lobe – the area of the brain that processes visual cues – rather than an issue with the eyes, which scans show are functioning normally in patients.
Symptoms vary widely, but tend to include seeing ‘snow’ or ‘static’ in the vision, suffering from a ringing or buzzing in the ears and having difficulty seeing at night.
There is no cure for the condition, with doctors instead trying to treat patients using drugs for migraines and recommending shifts in diet and lifestyle.
In some cases, the condition can go away on its own, but in others it can worsen or become more prominent.
Kohberger was ‘neurotic’ about the condition in high school, according to classmates, even losing 100 lbs at one point in an attempt to eliminate it.
‘He would talk about it, like, all the time,’ Kohberger’s childhood friend Thomas Antz told the Idaho Statesman.’ The word that comes to mind is that he was neurotic about it, and talked about it relentlessly. I guess it truly bothered him no end.’
He was linked to an account on the platform Tapatalk, called Exarr, that did not use his name but posted in reference to his birthday. Its name also matches an email address of Kohberger’s that appeared in a 2009 leak of email accounts, and it lists its location as Effort, Pennsylvania, where Kohberger grew up.
The account last posted about VSS on the platform in February 2012, saying he had ‘come to terms with’ his condition, but was unsure whether this was a good thing.
At his court appearance last week, the defense said he had autism spectrum disorder and OCD, but did not mention VSS.
Evidence for Mangione having the condition comes from a Reddit account linked to him, which referenced the condition in a post from 2018.
It read: ‘Sorry it was supposed to be a joke about my VS. Sarcasm doesn’t convey well over the internet.’