Jodi, Joran and Casey: On the Psychology of Evil
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/evil-deeds/201305/jodi-joran-and-casey-the-psychology-evil
These caught my attention.
As I have proposed in prior posts, there is a close correlation between antisocial behavior and pathological narcissism. So much so that I have previously employed the term psychopathic narcissism to describe such selfish and unscrupulous individuals. Defendants like Casey Anthony (now acquitted), Joran van der Sloot (now convicted), and Jodi Arias (now convicted) typically tend to be so detached and dissociated from their own humanity that they are clueless as to what they really feel and how their inappropriate and selfish behavior is perceived by others. They appear to be heartless, depraved monsters devoid of all human caring and decency. Bad seeds. But behind their extremely effective facade, mask or persona, hides a hurt and angry little girl or boy running destructively amok in the world. Sociopaths are, as I have elsewhere argued, primarily made, not born.
Psychopaths are clearly immature. That fits well with Jodi Arias, Casey Anthony, Lori Drew, Fred Phelps, Jerry Sandusky, Tsarnaev Brothers, and Osama bin Laden. They are devoid of empathy and extreme narcissists. Immaturity runs extremely deep in them.
Does this mean that patients suffering from Borderline Personality Disorder are evil? Not typically. But what I can say is that, in my experience, antisocial, narcissistic and borderline personality disorders do share something basic in common: a core of repressed anger and narcissistic rage. Individuals with these diagnoses, which frequently co-exist, have been deeply and consistently wounded during childhood in some way, and harbor tremendous and commonly unconscious resentment, anger and rage about this mistreatment as well as a profound dread of rejection or abandonment. According to the testimony of Ms. Arias, both her parents were regularly physically and emotionally abusive to her as a child, though this is still unconfirmed. When, in adulthood, rejection or abandonment does actually happen, which appears precisely to be what transpired between Alexander and Arias, this chronically repressed rage can be triggered, sometimes with terrifying, terrible and tragic results.
However, much more so than in borderline personality disorder, a sense of "narcissistic entitlement" is characteristic of both narcissistic and antisocial personality disorder. And both share in common a distinct lack of empathy with their fellow man, being unwilling or unable to feel compassion toward, nor identify with, the emotions and needs of others. Such grossly inhumane attitudes and behaviors stem mainly from a combination of compensatory grandiosity and a schizoid-like detachment from their own feelings. The primary difference between narcissistic and antisocial personality disorder is one of degree, differentiated largely by the relative strength or weakness of what Freud called superego, as well as by the severity, type or intensity of past narcissistic wounding. The boundary between these two personality disorders is blurry, and sometimes indistinguishable. Psychoanalyst Otto Kernberg (1992) describes certain destructively aggressive, antisocial patients as suffering from "malignant narcissism," which is akin to what I am here calling "psychopathic narcissism," a toxic cocktail of borderline, narcissistic and antisocial traits. Such severe characterological disturbance typically underlies and drives the destructive behavior we traditionally refer to as "evil."
Repressed anger is something I have noticed in psychopaths and non-psychopaths. Not all the psychopaths are fearful of rejection. Psychopaths are those people I had mentioned previously. Examples of non-psychopaths who have repressed anger are Seung-Hui Cho, Adam Lanza, Yoselyn Ortega, and Wanda Holloway. Another thing I have noticed is they have poor relationship with their parents.
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/evil-deeds/201305/jodi-joran-and-casey-the-psychology-evil
These caught my attention.
As I have proposed in prior posts, there is a close correlation between antisocial behavior and pathological narcissism. So much so that I have previously employed the term psychopathic narcissism to describe such selfish and unscrupulous individuals. Defendants like Casey Anthony (now acquitted), Joran van der Sloot (now convicted), and Jodi Arias (now convicted) typically tend to be so detached and dissociated from their own humanity that they are clueless as to what they really feel and how their inappropriate and selfish behavior is perceived by others. They appear to be heartless, depraved monsters devoid of all human caring and decency. Bad seeds. But behind their extremely effective facade, mask or persona, hides a hurt and angry little girl or boy running destructively amok in the world. Sociopaths are, as I have elsewhere argued, primarily made, not born.
Psychopaths are clearly immature. That fits well with Jodi Arias, Casey Anthony, Lori Drew, Fred Phelps, Jerry Sandusky, Tsarnaev Brothers, and Osama bin Laden. They are devoid of empathy and extreme narcissists. Immaturity runs extremely deep in them.
Does this mean that patients suffering from Borderline Personality Disorder are evil? Not typically. But what I can say is that, in my experience, antisocial, narcissistic and borderline personality disorders do share something basic in common: a core of repressed anger and narcissistic rage. Individuals with these diagnoses, which frequently co-exist, have been deeply and consistently wounded during childhood in some way, and harbor tremendous and commonly unconscious resentment, anger and rage about this mistreatment as well as a profound dread of rejection or abandonment. According to the testimony of Ms. Arias, both her parents were regularly physically and emotionally abusive to her as a child, though this is still unconfirmed. When, in adulthood, rejection or abandonment does actually happen, which appears precisely to be what transpired between Alexander and Arias, this chronically repressed rage can be triggered, sometimes with terrifying, terrible and tragic results.
However, much more so than in borderline personality disorder, a sense of "narcissistic entitlement" is characteristic of both narcissistic and antisocial personality disorder. And both share in common a distinct lack of empathy with their fellow man, being unwilling or unable to feel compassion toward, nor identify with, the emotions and needs of others. Such grossly inhumane attitudes and behaviors stem mainly from a combination of compensatory grandiosity and a schizoid-like detachment from their own feelings. The primary difference between narcissistic and antisocial personality disorder is one of degree, differentiated largely by the relative strength or weakness of what Freud called superego, as well as by the severity, type or intensity of past narcissistic wounding. The boundary between these two personality disorders is blurry, and sometimes indistinguishable. Psychoanalyst Otto Kernberg (1992) describes certain destructively aggressive, antisocial patients as suffering from "malignant narcissism," which is akin to what I am here calling "psychopathic narcissism," a toxic cocktail of borderline, narcissistic and antisocial traits. Such severe characterological disturbance typically underlies and drives the destructive behavior we traditionally refer to as "evil."
Repressed anger is something I have noticed in psychopaths and non-psychopaths. Not all the psychopaths are fearful of rejection. Psychopaths are those people I had mentioned previously. Examples of non-psychopaths who have repressed anger are Seung-Hui Cho, Adam Lanza, Yoselyn Ortega, and Wanda Holloway. Another thing I have noticed is they have poor relationship with their parents.
