We actually know very, very little about KC or her family at this point. A caricature has been created in the media, mainly due to a lack of information and the mysteries of this case, and the supposition that KC must be lying and then the speculation over "how could someone lie like that!" Then from there, the speculation springboards from that to what must the family be like, etc, etc. It's just amazing the diagnoses that have been offered over and over again in the media by professionals WHO HAVE NEVER EVEN MET KC ANTHONY MUCH LESS TESTED OR ASSESSED HER MEDICALLY OR PSYCHOLOGICALLY. This is highly unprofessional and unethical in my opinion. They don't usually even couch their comments in qualifying statements pointing out that they haven't met her before or that they are only guessing or that they are only discussing in general what a psychopath is like, etc, they say right out over and over what their diagnosis of her is. It's just very surprising that any professional would do that.
KC's mother and uncle have claimed that she is a psychopath/sociopath due to the theft of family money. She may also have stolen from AH. We still don't actually know all the circumstances relating to these money matters or what the truth is. If KC did actually steal this money from others she has a serious problem. Stealing can have many causes. Deprivations during childhood, lack of control in one's own life and a feeling of helplessness and hopelessness, it can be an addictive sort of compulsion that gives the thief an endorphin rush, it can be a compulsion akin to an eating disorder to momentarily alleviate feelings of worthlessness, or it can be stealing for purely practical reasons, i.e., not having what one needs and not having the preparation, knowledge, or training to know how to go about pursuing those things in the proper fashion. Some young single parents are in a catch-22 situation financially where they are simultaneously responsible for the babysitting of the child while at the same time needing to assume financial responsibility for the child by working. It can be tricky and hard for the young, unprepared, parent with no GED yet to know how to get into the work world properly and earn enough to support herself/himself and a child, while at the same time trying to make appropriate care arrangements for the child, unless they have a lot of help and support.
Some might resort to stealing if they are in a kind of crisis over this situation. You never know. Some kids learn to steal when parents are physically absent a lot, or when parents suffer from substance abuse and are mentally absent a lot, and kids actually need money to get what they need themselves.
LYING: Compulsive lying is known to develop in children who live in constant fear of punishment. That's one well-known developmental cause. Compulsive liars lie because they actually feel safer when they are lying than when they are telling the truth. They don't know how to simply tell the truth, they have no expectation of fairness from others. The punishment they grew up fearing may not necessarily have been from the parents. When they lie they subconsciously feel relieved to be avoiding a punishment they feel they would receive if they told the truth; they may simultaneously enjoy and find comfort in the false reality created in their lies.
Some children grow up not being allowed to tell the truth. For example, children who are molested may be told outright not to tell the truth by their abuser, or they may feel that they will be rejected by a parent or other loved one if they tell the truth. These can be at the root of lying, as can the unworthiness they feel as a result of the abuse they've suffered. Children who are harmed rather than protected by adults experience a complete erosion of trust.
Some children are actually raised in a lying culture, in which inaccuracies are tolerated or even encouraged. In some subcultures, kids are actually trained to deceive people outside of the family or social group. In some families, kids simply are lied to a lot and never learn a culture of truth. In some cultures, embellishing, exaggerating and story-telling are not seen as lying, in some cultures they are.
So there are lots of reasons kids can grow up with a lying problem that can continue into adulthood. Lying can be innocent or can be pathological. It can be conscious or not.
It is beginning to be recognized that lying may also have biological contributors, that genes causing particular chemical processes may predispose a person to lying. Whether for physical/chemical reasons or deeply engrained emotional reasons, some liars don't realize they are lying at the moment they lie, but may recognize it afterward and be deeply embarrassed. They may lie more and more to conceal the original lies. It's an emotionally painful, humiliating, and stressful condition. Other liars never face the reality that they are lying, for them, their tall tales take on a life of their own that they find comfort in, bordering on delusional belief or full-fledged delusional thinking.
Brain injuries can contribute to many mental illnesses and behaviors that fall outside of the societal norm, including lying. Brains can obviously be injured by chemicals, by disease, by physical trauma, and other causes.
So far, (a) we don't actually know whether or to what extent KCA is lying or isn't lying. We don't know what happened. Wait until a court case to find out what the actual evidence turns out to be.
(b) if she is lying, we don't yet know the cause, whether there is an organic brain disorder, a chemical dependancy problem, a learned behavior, whether she believes the alleged lies and is delusional, whether she is suffering from shock or emotional trauma which has disconnected her from reality, whether she might suffer from a seizure disorder that has caused her to miss or forget things that have happened (she was allegedly taken to the hospital once by a friend due to a seizure). There could be anything going on medically or otherwise that we simply don't know about. Of course it is possible that she is actually lying, and in a deliberate a purposeful manner, though in that case it is odd that she would tell lies that can be immediately disproved, as this does not serve any purpose and only ruins her credibility.
(c) There is NO evidence so far in this case that KC had any MOTIVE to harm her child or any desire to do so. There is no history of her being hostile toward her child or harmful toward her child. On the contrary, every single person interviewed who knew her said she was a doting and affectionate mother. The caricature created in the media of the KC who wanted to be rid of her daughter may be completely off the mark. The fact is, if KC had actually wanted to be rid of her daughter, she always knew that her mother would gladly take the child. KC said this to the police, and it is completely logical and appears to be true. Even during the pregnancy, when a school friend of KC's told her she would like to adopt the baby, KC did not take her up on her offer. She had never said at any time since then to anyone that she wanted to be free or rid of Caylee (at least not according to the people who were interviewed, including the one she allegedly stole from, as well as ex-boyfriends).
This persona created in the media of this cold blooded psychopathic murderer may be completely wrong. It has been very shocking to see how KCA has been vilified in the media, when the facts in this case are still not known, much less her mental state, how much of what she has been saying is true or untrue, her reason for not being forthcoming, etc. There could be many reasons why she would feel unable to tell the police where Caylee is, one possibility is that she is guilty of harming Caylee, another possibility is that she is guilty of something else that she doesn't want revealed, she could be covering for someone else, she could be genuinely afraid of telling who has Caylee or who has harmed Caylee, or, she could actually know (or believe) that Caylee is alive and safe. We don't know yet. M.O.O. of course, please excuse my typos
