Individual Personality Rodney Thomas Sr. Western International University Theories of Counseling BEH-430-3865 Clifford Marsh May 21, 2018 Individual Personality This paper is written to address the psychological condition of one Jeffery Dahmer’s personality and the negative traits which allowed him to become one of the most disturbed serial killers in history. Charming and charismatic, Jeffery Dahmer was known to be a very insecure individual, while moving from Wisconsin to Ohio with both mother and father at the age of eight years old. When Dahmer was 17 years old his parents divorced and this trauma to Dahmer’s psych sent him on a psychopathic paraphilic killing spree. The outcome of the parents divorced seriously affected Jeffery …show more content…
It is important to know that individuals with anti-personality disorder tend to have no regards for right and wrong, basically the individual can be labeled as a sociopath. While Jeffery is clearly a victim of anti-personality disorder is also observed as being psychopathic. Personally as a therapist how do you counsel someone with severe emotional and psychological damage yet they seem like an ordinary school boy. To make the conditions worse, this was the time where Dahmer begin to consume high volumes of alcohol throughout the rest of his life. More than likely this disorder and illness alter his mental perception where right and wrong have become …show more content…
This caused Dahmer to become very hostile towards others especially young and middle aged men of all races. Research has it that tension originates in children at the time of them breast feeding when an abvilant attitude develops toward the mothers breast which is their object source of nourishment and frustration, such tension brings about irritability in which the child develops early in life. This could be very well one of the problems Dahmer experience as a child, attachment and when the parents divorced a mental breakdown occurred. According to Freud in his book, Civilization and discontent goes on to write that men are not gentle creatures who wants to be loved and how at the most can defend themselves if they are attacked. Truly there were many issues with Dahmer growing up as a child and a young
...nd Dahmer”, Jeff Dahmer would go to school noticeably under the influence, yet somehow go by “unnoticed”. If the teachers were aware of Dahmer’s state, they never took any form of action to discipline him, question him, or be worried with his condition at all. Not once throughout the entirety of the graphic novel does a teacher, student, or parent seem remotely concerned with Dahmer’s well-being. Dahmer fought off the urge to kill many times and did it with the help of no one and nothing other than his own twisted mind, so there is reason to believe any type of assistance from an adult could have been detrimental in the process of Dahmer overcoming his violent urges. Unlike Benjie, Dahmer had no one to look up to and admire. Benjie was eventually able to appreciate and respect Butler Craig as a man who cared enough about him to put Benjie’s life above his own.
Dahmer’s social awkwardness extended past his withdraw from social groups and blank expressions. Instead of normal activities for kids his age like playing outside and making friends. Dahmer would routinely ride around on his bicycle searching for road kill, reportedly stripping the skin and keeping the bones, he also dissected many of the carcasses. At one point he had taken the head from a dog and placed it on a stake. Dahmer attended Revere High school, and was seen as an outcast among the schools social order. Although an average student with decent grades and a spot on the schools newspaper he still had trouble with making friends and eventually started drinking heavily, by the time he graduated Jeffrey was a full blown alcoholic. He co...
The article Serial killers: II. Development, dynamics, and forensics by Lawrence Miller dives in into the many aspects that encompass the psychological, neurological, and sociocultural elements that underline the average serial murderer. The elements involve childhood upbringing, types of aggression, typical neurochemistry, and subcultural theories. The article manages to include descriptions of the statistical patterns that involve the demographics, and motives that follow serial killers. It also discusses the validity and rationality of the insanity defense in prosecuting these extraordinarily vicious offenders.
Lionel and Joyce Dahmer gave birth to their first born, Jeffrey Dahmer, on May 21, 1960 in Milwaukee. Despite Joyce experiencing a difficult pregnancy, Dahmer was a healthy child who was wanted and adored by both his parents. However, his mother did start to become distant to him as she refused to breast feed him and started demonstrating unstable behavior along with substance abuse. Meanwhile, his father was pursuing his doctoral for chemistry in Iowa which limited the time Lionel had with his family. At age five, Dahmer’s little brother was born and that was when the feeling of neglect set in him. For the first time, the little attention provided from his parents had to be shared with his brother David. Dahmer began displaying extreme shyness but also severe tantrums. During the ages of six and seven, Dahmer “was regarded by other children as odd and bizarre (Martens, 2005).” Even though he did not show any interest in developing genuine social relations, Dahmer did demonstrate a fascination with bug and animal dissections. When Dahmer was six he had “undergone hernia surgery, when he woke up from the anesthesia he was worried someone could have cut his genitals, the pain lasted for one week and after a long recovery period his parents remember he turned to be very loner (Giannetakis, n.d.).” It is believed that at age eight Dahmer had been sexually abused by a boy in his neighborhood (Hickey, 2013). If this event did occur, it could explain why he developed destructive sexual fantasies at the young age of twelve. Despite him being aloof, it has been reported that he would seek attention by faking epileptic seizures at school and local shops. By his adolescent years, he developed compulsive masturbation which would eventually lead to legal trouble (Silva, 2002). At the age of fourteen, Dahmer turned to alcohol abuse in order to overcome his feeling of despair and compulsive thoughts of sexual violent acts.
Brogaard, Berit. "The Making of a Serial Killer." Psychology Today. Sussex Directories, Inc., 7 Dec. 2012. Web. 03 May 2014.
Due to the presence of such a multitude of abnormal behaviors, the most helpful form of psychodynamic treatment available would be the short-term psychodynamic therapies that focus on one individual issue at a time. Perhaps the abnormalities could have been deciphered and treated separately through this type of therapy in order to improve his behavior. It is impossible to say for sure, but had Dahmer sought or been forced into treatment for his many abnormal behaviors, therapists may have been reasonably successful in identifying the underlying causes before he felt compelled to take innocent lives.
Serial killers have long eluded law enforcement while simultaneously grabbing the attention of the public, and now more than ever, criminal psychologists are beginning to understand what makes a serial killer. In his true-crime documentary, In Cold Blood, Truman Capote depicts the horrifying murders of four members of the Clutter family and the search to find the criminals responsible for the deaths. Eventually, two killers are caught, one being Perry Smith, a detached and emotionless man. And although his carnage of the Clutters labeled him a mass murderer, many of Perry’s personality traits are characteristic of a serial killer. In fact, if detectives had not caught him, Perry could have easily become a serial killer.
With most crimes there are multiple theories behind why a person might have committed a crime. In the case of Jeffery Dahmer the Social Control Theory is just one theory that explains why he committed such a horrifying act. The Social Control Theory states that everyone has the potential to become a criminal, but most people are controlled by their bonds to society (Siegel, 2008). The Theory suggests that a crime usually occurs when the bind people have with society is weakened or broken.
To begin, it is often said that all serial killers are born with the aggressive or violent gene but that’s not necessarily true. Nature versus Nurture has always been a huge argument in the psychology community. Nature is described as the genetic code of a person. For example, it is often argued that genetics is the cause of obesity or high blood pressure. Nurture is the complete opposite. Nurture is where the environment determines who a person is and what they will become. An example would be that poor eating can cause obesity and limited coping skills can lead to high blood pressure. Almost everyone knows the story of Jeffrey Dahmer. He is often seen as this monster who got a kick out of eating the remains of his victim. You see, Jeffrey wasn 't always this way. Jeffrey Dahmer was born May 21st, 1960 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Jeffrey Dahmer lived what you could consider a “normal” life up until his family began to move around from state to state causing him to
An analysis of the most famous murderers and serial killers in the Chicago area shows varying degrees of psychopathy or mental illnesses, which ultimately contribute to homicidal conduct. Analysis also shows that the paths of serial killers have a tendency to converge.... ... middle of paper ... ...
“My consuming lust was to experience their bodies. I viewed them as objects, as strangers. It is hard for me to believe a human being could have done what I've done”(Dahmer). Jeffrey Dahmer is notably one of the most infamous serial killers in the United States. Along with seventeen murders under his belt, he was also a pedophile, cannibal and necrophiliac.
Dahmer was always an outcast. In his early years, he seemed fascinated with death and dead animals. This carried on throughout his childhood. At puberty, not only was he a heavy alcoholic (first noted at age 14), but he was realizing he was gay. He had fantasies of a completely subservient partner whom he could totally control. These fantasies were
During Dahmer’s psychiatric evaluation, Dr. Wahlstrom concluded, “Jeffrey was suffering from a mental illness never cured for” (FBI 1992). This leads me to perceive that Dahmer must have been displaying psychotic traits that went unnoticed and undocumented during his early lifetime. I can only speculate that this uncured mental illness lead Dahmer to develop and refine his inability to empathize with society; which in turn, lead him to engage in cruelty without mentally comprehending the victim’s suffering. Although the causes for psychopathy are unclear, some suggest that psychogenic aspects can outline abnormalities which may be present in psychopaths (Schmalleger 2014). When looking at Dahmer’s distant relationship with his parents early on in his childhood, I became conscious of the fact the lack of affection from his parents which may have lead him to develop twisted views on how one should display affection to others, thus prompting him to show psychotic behavior later on in life (The profile of Jeffrey Dahmer 1996). Even though the letter of the law fails to describe Dahmer and even if he was not fit to stand trial, I believe the court would have declared him fit for trial due to the brutality of the
Arndt, W., Hietpas, T., & Kim, J (2004). Critical characteristics of male serial murderers. American Journal of Criminal Justice, 29(1).
Psychologically, the serial killer is a sociopath, which is a disorder of character rather than the mind. "The serial killer lacks a conscience, feeling no remorse and caring exclusively for his own pleasures in lif...