Behind the Mask of a Serial Killer

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December 1, 2014
Kevin Phillips

Behind the Mask of a Serial Killer

Throughout hundreds of years, serial killers have reigned terror on many people. Some of the most notorious serial killers include Charles Manson, Jeffrey Dahmer, and Ted Bundy. Many people have pondered and wondered what motivated serial killers to kill multiple people. Many psychologists believe that most serial killers’ problems are more of a form of mental disorder, as other people believe that the problems stemmed from their environment. While there is no definitive test for serial killers, there are some important characteristics that can help law enforcement profile and catch these serial killers.
Early Signs Law enforcement should examine the early childhood of possible serial killers by observing children with troubled fantasies. According to Feud he wrote, “The grandiose infantile narcissistic ego is characterized by states of magical or omnipotent thinking (Freud 1914)”. This means the fantasies are an illusion and it becomes powerful enough to fulfill these fantasies that are thriving in the mind. Therefore by monitoring early children’s fantasies then, they could be treated to dissolve and maintain these early warning signs of potentially becoming a serial killer in the future. Psychological abuse has also played a major role into the background of a serial killer. Seventy-two percent also suffered from psychological abuse. Also sexual abuse is a prominent characteristic among serial killers as 35% witnessed sexual abuse and 43% were sexually abused themselves (Michaud & Hugh, 1999). Also, these statistics prove that the action that was acted upon them will most likely reverse into the victim becoming the aggressor in the future. By observing these factors, this proves that children who suffer from mental, physical, and emotional abuse can deter them from growing in the right state of mind. Observing and helping children with abuse can decrease psychopathic behavior that can grow and preserve in their mind

Psychological Serial killers come from all different types of backgrounds and most of them seem outwardly normal to the human eye, but inside holds a darker side. Many people have pondered on the malevolent side of human behavior. Law enforcement should examine the signs of sociopathic and anti-social personality disorder in children. Some characteristics of anti-social personality disorder includes reckless regards, lack of remorse, impulsivity, and failure to conform to social conforms (Psych Central 2014). Anti-Social Personality Disorder is pervasive across an array of social and personal situations (Psych Central 2014). According to "Sociopath Next Door...." (2012) “Sociopaths appear to be charming, yet are covertly hostile and domineering, seeing their victim as merely an instrument to be used, and may dominate and humiliate their victims” (Sociopathic Next Door 2012). “He rarely feels that any of his own actions are wrong because he isn't capable of understanding that his behavior hurts others” (Niolan, 2012, p.1). Thus determining that sociopathic children display pretentious actions for self-gain and to get what they want out of a person whether it’s a particular emotion or act.

Notorious Serial Killer Jeffrey Dahmer is often described as the world’s most notorious serial killer and has put an imprint on America’s most disturbing and heinous crimes that included rape, torture, and murder. During Jeffrey Dahmer’s early years, he was a normal person going to high school and college, and even enlisting in the Army for six years. However, even though his early life seemed normal to others, he was disengaged, tense and largely friendless (Biography 2014). His behavior progressed into sadistic fantasies and it grew so much that one day it turned into reality. In an interview, Dahmer claims that he had compulsions to necrophilia and murder in his early years at the age of 14, but after his parent’s marriage falling apart, and other stresses that stemmed from these events may have been the turning point that put these earlier thoughts into actions (Biography 2014). Despite Dahmer’s actions and the scar he left on the world, he was human and needed the proper care and attention to solve out these issues and to ride himself of inner demons that were building inside of him each and every day. Ted Bundy is another example of a notorious killer, because instead of being remorseful about his actions, he claimed innocence until the final days of his life. Bundy’s early childhood consisting him of being awkwardly shy and the target of bullying, however he later on adapted into developing intelligence and speaking skills (Encyclopaedia Brittanica n.d.) He spoke with a man of high intelligence and was very persuasive and attractive to many woman. He went to college to become successful and was in many relationships, and despite the normalcy, he sexually assaulted and killed several young women in several different states such is Colorado and Utah between 1974 and 1978 (Encyclopaedia Brittanica n.d.). Jeffrey Dahmer and Ted Bundy possessed similar paths of troubled childhoods and killed relentlessly and viciously. No one knows the future, or what may come, but by fixing the present, then many lives could’ve been saved if the necessary steps were taken by getting these two help when they were young.

Resources

Encyclopaedia Brittanica. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.britannica.com.ezproxy.apollolibrary.com/EBchecked/topic/853405/Ted-Bundy
Freud, S. (1914). On narcissism. The complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud, Standard Edition, 4, 73-102. London: Hogarth Press, 1957.
Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer. (2014). The Biography.com website. Retrieved 05:05, Nov 10, 2014, from http://www.biography.com/people/jeffrey-dahmer-9264755.
Michaud, S. G., & Hugh, H. (1999). The Only Living Witness: The True Story of Serial Sex Killer Ted Bundy . : Authorlink Press.
Psych Central. (2014). Antisocial Personality Disorder Symptoms. Psych Central. Retrieved on November 10, 2014, from http://psychcentral.com/disorders/antisocial-personality-disorder-symptoms/
Sociopath next door...'. (2012, Apr 27). Daily News Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1009772073?accountid=458