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The last three paragraphs state: "In April 1998, Harris told his diversion counselor he'd had trouble with his medication for depression, Zoloft.
A few nights before, he had been unable to concentrate and felt restless. His doctor told him they would change medications, but he would have to wait two weeks until Zoloft was out of his system. Two weeks later, Harris reported feeling better without Zoloft and was looking forward to starting the new prescription.
Neligh and Furmansky said Harris' reaction to Zoloft could have been a tip-off that he was bipolar".
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Nobody knew better than Eric Harris how serious his problems were.
He was remarkably candid about them, Denver adolescent psychiatrist Ronald Rabin said after reviewing 71 pages of juvenile-diversion records released by Jefferson County District Attorney Dave Thomas.
Rabin was one of four local and national experts who analyzed the Harris papers and offered their insights Monday at the request of The Denver Post.
None of the four blamed Jefferson County's diversion program for failing to see that Harris was a mass murderer waiting to happen.
"That's expecting too much," said clinical psychologist Alan Lipman, executive director of the Center for the Study of Violence at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.
"But should they have recognized this might be a person who had concluded an anger-management class but was still having problems controlling anger?" Lipman asked. "Undoubtedly."
Harris clearly "was saying something was wrong," Rabin said.
He cited Harris' own words in some of the diversion documents as an example: "Short temper, often get angry at almost anything I don't like, like people I have no respect for trying to tell me what to do. People telling me what to think. I have too many inside jokes or thoughts to have very many friends. I hate too many things."
On a mental-health checklist, Harris noted he experienced anger, anxiety, depression, disorganized thoughts, homicidal thoughts, jealousy, loneliness, mood swings, obsessive thoughts, racing thoughts, stress, suspiciousness and a temper.
In an interview with his diversion counselor, Harris said he had thought about suicide a couple of times, "but never seriously, mostly out of anger."
The sheer number of symptoms Harris checked off are a red flag, Denver forensic psychiatrist Bert Furmansky said.
Some of those symptoms hint at bipolar disorder - once called manic depression, Denver forensic psychiatrist Gordon Neligh said.
Neligh and Furmansky pointed to another clue that bipolar illness might have been a problem:
In April 1998, Harris told his diversion counselor he'd had trouble with his medication for depression, Zoloft.
A few nights before, he had been unable to concentrate and felt restless. His doctor told him they would change medications, but he would have to wait two weeks until Zoloft was out of his system. Two weeks later, Harris reported feeling better without Zoloft and was looking forward to starting the new prescription.
Neligh and Furmansky said Harris' reaction to Zoloft could have been a tip-off that he was bipolar.
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