Elisa Lam Mystery | Mental Health & Personality 

Imagine being one of the people who were complaining that the water TASTED bad. Ugh, when they realized they had drinking decaying human flesh.

Dr Grande will be a wonderful bedtime story teller for his future grandkids.

I am a retired psychiatric nurse, took care of hundreds of psychotic and or manic patients over 20 year period. The elevator footage is familiar behavior to me, especially the hand motions and appearing to hide in the corner. This unfortunate young lady died as a result of her mania, and I do wish she could have received emergency psych help in time to save her life. Very sad case.

it’s crazy how easily the water tank could have been tampered with. someone could have easily poisoned the whole building if they wanted to it seems.

The demons just got roasted, no one is safe from Dr. Grande!

It's so nice to hear someone talk about this case without bringing up the supernatural theories 🙄 I always found it disrespectful and in bad taste...

I felt really weird when you described one by one all the meds I'm on right now. I take precautions not to be left alone for a long period of time and my friends & therapist check on me. Such a pity no one was there to look after this girl.

"I think it stands as a reminder of the dangers of bipolar disorder" -- and the fact that the danger is to the person themself, not the people around them so much.

Dr Deadpan comes out most strongly when conspiracy theories come out.

I stayed at Cecel in 2013 without knowing what history of hotel is. From outside and front desk it appears to be 5 star but once you get lobby and your room it turns into 2 star hotel that is unfinished. Stairs looked like there are made to create an an accident. I literally said this building will make a great horror film... no idea an actual horror happening here

Elisa was from my neighbourhood... I remember her as a child doing homework in the back of her parents' restaurant (which is still open to this day).

I think it should be called the “just stay at home” hotel.

I wish she had not gone on a trip like that by herself. Poor thing.

OMG. Dr. Grande covers literally every single story/person I've ever been interested in!

I was there when this happened with 2 friends of mine from Greece. We had no idea about her until the next day. We got a call from the front desk to our room telling us the water was temporarily closed due to problems

The thought that someone's poor mental health can bring about their death is far more frightening to me than any paranormal horror story.

I love how you treated her circumstances and death with tact and respect, but still found a way to make me laugh at the end by making fun of the conspiracy theories.

We put a no demons sign at our house. From personal experience I can say these don’t work, my mother still got in.

I really wish I had watched this instead of season 1 of the new Netflix show about the Cecil. As a person who has been diagnosed with Bipolar disorder I knew mania induced psychosis was to blame as soon as I saw the elevator footage. Great video!

Thank you. Finally someone who understands what happened to her. Everyone seemed to speculate these crazy theories when bipolar was staring at them in the face all along.

They should definitely post a NO SERIAL KILLER sign at that hotel.

I hope people with a difficult history of manic depression hear of this story and decide against going off on trips alone. If Elisa had had a family member or friend close by who was familiar with her symptoms, they might have been able to head this off before the more serious symptoms started.

Oh my gosh, the amount of meds she was on, its no wonder she was often very tired and ended up taking a LOT less as show by the count that was in her bottles. Holy crap. Its so sad because I know exactly how she feels, you just wanna do what everyone else does, and you just feel so sick and tired of being sick and tired!! The depression makes you tired but the meds can make doing anything feel like you're trying to function on an OD of sleeping meds!! My heart breaks for her. I was diagnosed bipolar at 18, and all through HS id missed months of school because my meds made me unable to stay awake. I was way over medicated!!! I don't have any psychosis or delusions, so I don't have to take antipsychotics, but I couldn't get off meds I didn't need to be on til I started advocating for myself!! This story breaks my heart.

You had me laughing out loud while I was alone in the master bedroom, and I turned out to be loud enough everyone heard me and came in to find out what it was I was laughing at. Then, I completely forgot what I wanted to comment on about the video because I was thrown off by the hilarious commentary on Demons and Ghostbusters. What I had wanted to comment on was the elevator video is definitely altered. I’ve worked in television, film and video for 20 years and I’m telling you, without a doubt in my mind, that the video was sped up for some reason. Her actions seem much more bizarre by doing so. If you slow it down to what is more than likely the correct speed, her actions do not seem as bizarre. I would love to understand why the video was adulterated prior to being released to the public.

I believe that if Elisa truly believed the hotel was haunted then maybe while she was in a manic state - she for some reason believed she would be safe from the demons by hiding inside the water tank. Just a theory.

“If there were demons involved, they did not check in, but the hotel gave tacit approval by not hanging a sign specifically forbidding demons” LOL

That poor young lass and her parents - heart breaking stuff.

Came here after the Netflix documentary and no surprise that the most scientific take aligned the most with police findings. Great video!

So many meds prescribed. Poor woman. Another great video. That hotel certainly has a strange history.

No one called ghostbusters 😂, therefore demons unlikely = solid inductive reasoning

I'm bipolar 2 and 24 years old and stories like this frighten me about my future. I've never had delusions or heard voices but knowing I could in the future is frightening to think.

It's never been told in detail what weird behavior she exhibited to her roommates at the Cecil to get kicked out and get her own room. It must have been really weird. i wish more information existed as to how she was acting and what she said to them.

Omg he did it! I remember thumbs upping that comment asking for this

Thanks for covering this. Your sensitivity and humor is appreciated.

You've cracked the code of which things are popular on youtube, Dr Grande. Congratulations! And it's really exciting to hear your takes on these often-covered cases, because you have cultivated a reputation for unbiased, scientifically based analysis, which is hard to come by on here.

That's interesting what you mentioned about mania and removal of clothing. It answered a long-held question I had. I used work at a harm reduction/mental health station at large multi-day festivals. This is an off-shoot of first aid, right next to them, and would take in folks who were having a "bad trip" or mental crisis. They needed longer-term care. Physically they were fine and cannot take up space in first aid but mentally were not fine to just be released back into the party. As you can imagine a lot of young folks who made it there I learned upon intake often already had a mental health diagnosis, be on a medication then come to a festival and mix it with some type of drugs and alcohol excessively, and this would trigger what looked like a manic episode. Many would arrive via security having shed some of their clothing, I remember standing with another first aid attendant once and us both wondering what's with all this disrobing? I think in what you said all the pieces fell together for me there.

The last minute of this video was brutal!! I've never laughed so hard while watching such a serious topic. I belly laughed at the demon theories jokes. Dr. Grande has such sarcastic and witty jokes, love it!

You are a man of impeccable precision and you are a fantastic storyteller. It was compelling and sincerely tragic to listen to. But as always, you don’t embellish - your dispassionate analysis is always useful and interesting. Thank you for all of your work, doctor!

I saw the Elisa Lam video on another channel and they were saying how creepy it looked and being a avid Dr. Grande fan, I noticed that is seemed like a mental health issue more than a supernatural one. So I go and search more about this case and first thing i find is good ole Dr. Grande. Thank you for your awesome videos and sneaky humor!

Oh heck yes!! What a treat to have you discuss this case. Whenever Dr. Grande covers a mystery it always gives me a little bit of closure, even though we will never know what happened. Dr. Grande destroys fear with facts and logic ❤️

Been waiting for this! Thanks Dr. Grande👌🏻

I’m enjoying the in depth look into medications!

This has helped me understand my family. We are from a small MN farm community of 600. My brother said an ax to the head would help our sibling deal with his "situation". I am alone and alienated from them because of their "LOVE". Thank you Thank you Thank you for helping me understand bipolar peeps!

Oh yay! I asked for this one and here it is! Thanks for doing this Dr Grande! There are so many "theories" out there. It's refreshing to hear a sensible take on this. I feel so bad for Elisa. I wish she hadn't been alone on this trip.

"If there were DEMONS in the hotel, they did not check in!" HAH! Love your sense of humor!

Could you do an Unsolved Mysteries series? I'd be especially interested in an analysis of Patricia Endres's husband (episode 2) and Lena Chaplin's mother (episode 6).

If Dr. Grande made a channel of himself reading stories I would guaranteed listen to it every night to fall asleep because his voice is so soothing and he makes me feel very comforted.

Elisa's death can be explained quite logically. In fact there is well documented evidence of patients during a manic episode to perform high risk activities with little inhibition. This decreased inhibition also encourages some to want to remove clothing during these "phases". Elisa Lam has a history of taking pictures on rooftops in her online history so it was an area she may have been naturally drawn to. Also important is that people having manic episodes do not "become dumber" and Elisa was very intelligent as has been well documented so she could easily have found a way to get to the rooftop if she had so wanted. She also took Seroquel which is an antipsychotic medication but had stopped taking it shortly before her death. Stopping antipsychotic and other mood stabilizing medications suddenly has been well known to cause a patient to cycle into a psychotic phase which could induce hallucinations and delusions in some individuals. As for the tank top being open any number of possibilities exist. The most likely is that it just was already open as was shown to often be the case in later months but Elisa could have opened it when she first got onto the rooftop just to see what it was and left it open. She then could have climbed the ladder for whatever reason, possibly for a better view of the city and then lost her balance and fell into the tank (a sad run of bad luck indeed... but possible nonetheless). Finally, taking her clothes off once in the tank is very easy to explain. 2 major possibilities exist: 1 being she was having delusions already so her delusion simply expanded to include the fact she was in a bathtub and needed to clean herself. Another and probably more likely scenario is that as she sat in the cold water for an extended time she eventually became hypothermic. Hypothermia causes further confusion and paradoxical undressing because patients begin to actually feel as though they are burning up when in fact they are dying of cold. Now, all that said does that mean that there wasn't also someone there contributing to her downfall... no..not at all, but it is certainly possible that an original poor decision to stop taking several of her medication suddenly could easily have led to a runaway cascade of poor outcomes eventually leading to her demise.

Poor Elisa - she was clearly suffering in one way or another. Edit - I won't deny that Elisa may have been *seeing* demons, even if they weren't actually there.

Beautiful young lady,beautiful soul ,I hope she rests in peace

I was put on seroquel when I had severe depression to help me sleep. I remember always having very intense, life like, but strange dreams that I've never had since. Really appreciated your information on it.

I absolutely love your videos and the dry sarcastic humor! 😂 This one definitely made me chuckle. Dr. Grande you are the best! Always checking the facts and never speculating without an actual real base. There's always misconceptions when it comes to mental or personality disorders and you help clear them out and make people understand better. Never stop doing what you're doing. Your videos are a valuable source of info and knowledge.

Never clicked faster.

Thank you so much for covering this tragic case! I've followed it since the beginning and I've often wondered how her mental health played a part in her death. Thank you for all the hard work that you put into these videos! Cheers Doc!

From 11:25 - 15:40, you cover everything Netflix stretched into four hours. You did leave out the delusional paranoia of thinking someone was out to get her, that landed her in the inpatient psych stay. Outside of that, bravo.

Dr. Grande, I'm really loving you adding videos to your videos!

The elevator footage is eerie, and it is weird they messed with the time stamp. I’ve never thought this was anything suspicious though. Being familiar with bipolar disorder I’ve always felt she must’ve had some kind of episode.

Sad story. I wish one of her family members went with her to make sure she was safe. I can imagine how her parents feel. It's so horrible to lose a child I know. There is no words to describe the pain. My condolences goes to your parents.

Absolutely one of the most interesting channels on RU-vid. Another great analysis with the best humor ever 👍😊

wow what a coincidence that u posted this today- the other day i was revisiting this case. almost every year i read about it again and it still disturbs me to the point where i cant watch that video in the elevator anymore, and my eyes always water thinking or reading about the case. i honestly believe someone followed or stalked her and then probably did something to violate her.. and then killed her. its horrific and i am still so heartbroken for her.

I literally said “YES” out loud when I saw this in my feed. This case still haunts me and I come back to it randomly throughout the years because I feel so badly for this woman. What a wild story. Thanks Dr. G!

Very fascinating Dr. Grande! And also very informative! This was amazing as always and I was sooo engaged! Hope you have a wonderful rest of your day! Much love Dr. Grande💕😁

More great content from Dr. Grande. This was very interesting and informative. I have first-hand experience with bipolar disorder, as i live with someone who has it. Thank you for putting a clinical perspective on this tragic story.

I greatly appreciate your explanation of Elisa Lam's actions leading up to her death, Dr. Grande. But I still won't watch that video at night.

Dr Grande spoiling us with content!!! Amazing as always

I remember seeing the footage when I was younger and It was by far the most haunting chain of events , keep up the awesome work Dr.Grande

Thank you, Dr. Grande! Fascinating analysis and exactly what I wanted to learn. Thank you so much.

Dr. Grande, I love your sense of humour!You're such a low-key comedian which makes your videos more enjoyable to watch.💯😆

I heard the hotel tried posting a “no demons allowed” sign, only to be hit with a lawsuit for discrimination.

oh my god this case was big for me! i never even thought of requesting it! Thanks Dr. Grande you're a gem edit: as a long time resident of Vancouver and a current student at UBC, having been born in LA, the ties to Vancouver and LA for this were crazy when i was younger. Still are. Really fascinating case

Really enjoy the integration of humor in your videos these days. You’re the man. 👍

I always watch your videos. I think they are awesome, and your voice is calming.💕

Your videos get uploaded at roughly 1 am in my country so I put them on and they get me to fall asleep very quickly... then in the morning I rewatch them 😂. Sending Love from Croatia!

Dr.Grande! Back at it again! Love your videos thank you for the informative content🙂

Dear Dr. Todd Grande, Thank you so much for doing this analysis of her prescriptions and toxicology report. This was something that was seriously needed in this case. In the years I have been following it, this seemed to be the last piece of evidence that was necessary to determine the cause and explanation of finding her body in the water tank. Peace

Wow. Every time I learn about a person, Dr. Grande releases a video on them.

Hey Dr. Grande, I was wondering if you could do videos on famous philosopher's personalities. And the intersection between philosophy and psychology.

Another interesting case! I'm somewhat on the fence with this case. I've traveled the world so I'm definitely biased in that my opinion is influenced by my experience so I'm not 100% objective. I'm thinking that Elisa was more vulnerable as she was traveling alone and likely in the manic phase of her illness, as you mentioned. She would have been in contact with a wide range of hotel staff and guests many of whom would be aware she was traveling alone. She was also staying in a seedy hotel that may have had guests with a criminal history. I also wonder why the hotel felt the need to tamper with the surveillance footage from the elevator if no crime had occurred. I agree with your theory but I also wonder if hotel staff could have been involved. They had access to her room and a ladder. It's interesting that she was found in the water tank as we know that any biological evidence would be destroyed under those circumstances and it would be more difficult to determine the manner of death if there is decomposition of the body. Although some drowning victims have no water in their lungs, I wonder if her body could have been placed in the tank. It was also interesting she was found without clothes but she could have removed them as you mentioned. Your analysis was extremely thorough and detailed and I lean toward your conclusion more than my own. My experiences influence my perspective so I'm the least likely person to make any determinations but it's always interesting to speculate. Thank you for another fantastic analysis, Dr. Grande!

Love Dr Grande’s videos - takes all the facts and explains it all in an easy to understand way for us with a non-medical background with just a touch of humour on top! U must make videos of some of your own doctor patient experiences Dr??!!

I watched the Netflix documentary. I think she was imagining things and was trying to hide from it. She hid in the tank because she probably felt it was safe, she just didn't think she would get stuck. She probably took her clothes off to lighten the load so she could try to escape and stay afloat. Sad tragedy. Edit: Mental health is real

Liked before watching the video. Love your content Dr Grande.

I've been awaiting this mystery Doc:)

I briefly knew a girl that modeled for the art studio I drew at a few times that was diagnosed with bi-polar after having a manic episode. It had eventually led her to taking off all of her clothes and running through the gardens of one of the historic hotels in the area. She was always really calm and quiet so it was quite a surprise to hear her explain what she had experienced. She was so matter of fact about it, "Something in my head told me it was a good idea... " She admitted (and you could see ) she was terrified of the repercussions because she also worked with kids and was afraid the incident was going to hurt her work as a nanny. I'm not sure if she was able to get proper help, I certainly hope so, but it was very similar to how you described this person; She probably went to explore the roof, noticed the water tank and thought "yes. perfect. I could use a swim."

There's a button that specifically keeps the elevator door open for a designated amount of time (like 1-5 min.) She'd pressed it several times and that's most likely why the door didn't close. Nothing supernatural at play, just a scared and distressed young woman who didn't realize what she'd done. Wherever she is, I hope she's at peace now.

I love this channel so much!!!

You’ve made a lot of good points Dr. Grande it seems like she was having a mental break of some sort.

As someone who has bipolar disorder and has been on many of the medications listed, this case really freaks me out. I’m so scared that one day I will have a manic episode and have something like this happen to me. I’m doing pretty good now but I know that with bipolar everything is so temporary. My thoughts and prayers are to her family and everyone in a similar situation.

Thank you Dr Grande, for your excellent analysis. Every video helps me to understand the complexity of the human mind ❤️

If there’s anyone who can analyze the Elisa Lam case perfectly, it’s Dr. Grande

I was wondering earlier today "Does Dr. Grande have a video about Elisa Lam case?" Now I just got home and see this video uploaded today! WOW! Dr. Grande does actually read minds! Great video, as always.

You’re sense of humor just makes my day!

This has helped me understand the possible 2 different scenarios. The added humor is interesting as well. Thank-you Mr Dr and storyteller 😅💞🇨🇦

Exactly what I thought, my husband has had psychotic episodes, same behavior, was prescribed same medications. So sad nobody understood what was happening and couldn't get her to a hospital.

Bipolar Type I and Bipolar Type 2 symptoms present themselves differently in people. In Bipolar Type 2 mania never goes full blown hence it is called hypo-mania. In Bipolar Type 2 depression is more predominant than hypo-mania in the individual. Please Dr. Grande make sure people understand that Bipolar Type 1 and Bipolar Type 2 present differently in people.

very interesting and thorough reporting from psychiatric viewpoint; will listen to more, other cases.

You are so intelligent, entertaining and hilarious. I love your dead pan humor and your thoughts are so well thought out and explained. Love listening to you!

Love the roast of demon and Cecil Hotel. Thanks for raising awareness of the danger of bipolar disorders and I think you explained well the circumstances that probably led to her death. It makes total sense 👍👍👍👍👍

I love your dry humor. Inconsiderate demons. 😁

I'm glad you are here to help people understand mental disorders and what they look like. I guess because of the ignorance of the general population, me included, it was easy to blame supernatural forces or demons because it did look so spooky. But it's good to see a voice of reason here on your channel to help make sense of tragedies like this. Thanks doc.

My new fav channel ! Awesome content Doctor ! Subscribed