suffered from real mental issues, dissociative disorder, conversion disorder, which meant he could be violent if he felt he was under attack. and that awful morning? first he told the police she threatened to sic her well-armed boyfriend on him. and she said, no, you know, i m looking to have my boyfriend get rid of you. reporter: and then she was coming at me with a vee of scissors. reporter: rachel s dad, don, and self-described soulmate, soulmate, james, watched as the defense argued that todd had no choice but to kill the woman they so loved. his state of mind is what you really need to pay careful attention to here. he knows she ll kill him. he knows if he doesn t end it, it could end him. reporter: all very sad, said the defense, but not murder. and what would prosecutor suder
area in hawaii. and for a week or two. and when he finally came out of the woods he said that he was a samurai warrior. reporter: back then, after months of psychiatric evaluation, todd was diagnosed with dissociative disorder, a neurosis that warped his view of reality. not exactly what the air force wanted in a fighter pilot. and because of events and the determinations by the air force psychiatrists, he was retired medically with a 50% disability. reporter: and there was that incident in amsterdam. remember? rachel told james about it. it happened just before he was due to make an important presentation at a conference. that time he appeared to black out, became catatonic, ended up in the hospital where they found nothing wrong with him and released him. rachel told james he faked the episode. but here at trial, a defense psychiatrist testified todd
over and over. it s about finding the balance. it works the same with medication versus talk therapy. you need both to get well. the problem you run into trying to get diagnosed. you re basically a guinea pig the first few years. a lot of times unless you have the time or money or ability for a long-term hospitalization so they can observe you, getting a diagnosis can be very difficult. it took five years to be diagnosed. i was misdiagnosed with everything. from ptsd to depression, and dissociative disorder. which i m pretty sure i m not more than one person. i was relieved when i found out i had bipolar type 2. what does that mean? i was on 11 different medications. i know i was overmedicated but it was hard to find a psychiatrist that will listen to you longer than 15 minutes. danielle, as we move into our sort of towards the end here, if
you did have to dissociative disorder, they called the reality of the condition of blackness in america was having double consciousness. within the context of american racism, it would be tough to say. more in just a moment. but first, it s time for a preview of weekends with alex witt. preview of weekends with alex witt. hello, michael i m sorry. we were talking about michael steele and howard dean. they re going to join me for a strategy talk. the sunday talkshow is lighting up, and another story getting a lot of traction, the florida board of education has approved a new plan calling for different expectations for different races. an example, 90% of asian students need to be at or above grade level in reading, as opposed to 74% of black students by 2018.