Dark Side: Anger a Spurious Sense of Pseudo-Omnipotence

 

A society that stresses conformity, individualism, and hedonism may create confusion and frustration in its members and, at times, plunge them into a moral crisis. Such a type of society reduces reason to mere calculation. “Reason can [then] impose no limits on the pursuit of pleasure, [or] on the immediate gratification of every desire, no matter how perverse, insane, criminal, or merely immoral”. The above social panorama easily brings about behaviors on the part of some individuals that are socially perturbing and unacceptable thus one could opine that such a social climate breeds psychopathic behaviors and, at times, serious criminal acting out. The social and cultural context in which the killer and victims live may be a cofactor in the genesis of serial murder. They stated that “socialization is unfortunately saturated with norms, values, beliefs and behavioral models that carry strong potential for normalizing violence in interpersonal relationships”.

Antisocial behavior should be viewed as a continuum of increasing degrees of psychopathy. Such behaviors range from the simple antisocial personality disorder to the psychopathic personality disorder, with its severe antisocial conduct. The socially destructive hostility of a psychopath is often an unconscious means to overcome feelings of worthlessness. It gives persons who are filled with anger a spurious sense of pseudo-omnipotence that allows them to control and dispose of their innocent and unsuspecting fellow humans. Such psychopathic behaviors are strictly connected to the widespread phenomenon of serial killing. In its worst manifestations psychopathic behavior becomes malignant, similar to malignant narcissism.

With the malignant type of psychopath, the antisocial behavior is repetitively similar. Such a psychopath is akin to the malignant narcissistic individual and he displays a combination of narcissism, egosyntonic antisocial aggression, sadism, and paranoid features. He voices distrust and feelings of rejection and of not being accepted and for that reason those traits are an integral part of a serial killer’s personality. Generally, the serial killer is a lonely person, cold, distant, callous, and ruthless in his violence. He entices his victims with an apparently charming but deceitful and manipulative approach. Although able to control his impulses, he uses his sadistic fantasies in the construction of a murderous scenario, typical of a predator. He is able to organize, program, and direct his destructive impulses, unleashing them at the most opportune moment for achieving what he wants. The malignant psychopath/serial killer has difficulty forming lasting bonds with others, exhibiting a deficit in object relations. Psychoanalysts theorize that this is a consequence of his misperception of his mother’s behavior during the infantile period. That could well explain this killer’s lack of empathy, his ambivalence and noncaring attitude toward others. The psychopaths do not have a deficit in mentalizing but appear to lack the emotional apparatus to feel empathy or guilt. This is typical of the malignant psychopath/serial killer who, even though aware of the feelings of his victims, disregards them. Indeed, it is through the reification of the victims that he is able to carry out the sadistic torture and killing.

Typical of serial killers are sadism, narcissism, and loneliness. During the 18th century, the erotic and licentious writings of the libertine Marquis de Sade shocked the world with their descriptions of cruel sadistic violence and unbound perverted lust. De Sade believed that instincts are the motivating force in life and that pleasure is the most important goal for which one should aim. His books about debauchery and acts of sexual violence were written while he was in jail for crimes of poisoning and sodomy.

The infliction of pain seems to be part of the complete mastery of another person. As one killer stated, the most radical aim of a sadistic act is to make the person suffer because there is no greater power over another person than inflicting pain. Nevertheless, it has been hypothesized that rather than to express cruelty in and of itself, the object of sadism is to procure strong emotions. Many of the fantasies found in the serial killer, as stated above, are sadistic sexual fantasies. Sexual fantasies, at times violent in type, are also present in juvenile offenders and, when frequent, may degenerate into sadistic sexual fantasies. It has been theorized that the sadist may suffer from an arrest of psychosexual development, possibly at the anal stage (the anal-sadistic stage), or from a neurotic regression to that level. The gratuitous cruelty of sadism is possible because of insufficient control by the basic mechanism of defense. It can be theorized that the behavior of the sadistic, power- and control-driven serial killer reflects the conduct of a curious child during the demolition of his toys. Narcissistic trauma suffered by the child during the process of individuation does not enable him to tame the archaic, grandiose, and exhibitionistic self, which is necessary for wholesome development. Therefore, because of this inability to develop properly, the child—future adult—carries within himself not only a disappointing parental image but an image of his archaic grandiose self. This could explain the serial killer’s deeply rooted destructive hostility and his feelings of omnipotence.

During infancy the child perceived his mother’s breast in an ambivalent way, not only as a source of nourishment but as a frustrating object. This ambivalence may be translated into paranoid anxieties and fears, which lead to ambivalent relationships during adult life if not corrected. A tendency to paranoia is present as a feature of the personality disorder of the serial killer. Primary narcissism is seen as the investment of libidinal energy in the achievement of object love, empathy, and possible creativity; secondary narcissism is the withdrawing of the original psychic libidinal energy from objects back to the ego. The latter mechanism seems to be present in the psychodynamics of serial killers. They are indeed not only pathologically narcissistic but unrealistically grandiose, and their exaggerated self-importance is fragile and sensitive to shame.

Serial killers generally are basically lonely persons. Loneliness appears as a feeling and a state of separation from others. Preconscious awareness of the immediacy and accessibility of others, as well as a memory of past togetherness, are prerequisite for loneliness. Infrequently loneliness involves some kind of choice and willful separation. Loneliness can involve excruciating physical as well as mental suffering and is implicated in numerous somatic, psychosomatic, and psychiatric diseases. There are distinctive types of loneliness, such as emotional (Eros loneliness), social (friendship loneliness), cultural, ethical, ontological, existential, communicative, epistemological, and metaphysical. Thus, extreme loneliness may lead to internal hardening, social and moral numbing, indifference, and anger. loneliness has been described as the defining feature of human awareness and the fundamental question of human existence.

People who are lonely are bound to focus on their inner conflicts; and because of their tendency to withdrawing from others, their ability to express love and warmth in a normal relationship is greatly diminished. Deviant sexual and nonsexual fantasies take the place of normal socialization, and at times they become destructive and fuel antisocial acting out. Many psychopathic killers verbalize feelings of loneliness together with low self-esteem and feelings of shame for not being able to live up to family and societal expectations.

The disorganized asocial murderer frequently suffers from a serious mental disorder, is usually of below average intelligence, is socially inadequate, is an unskilled worker, is sexually incompetent, has a low birth order status, and was harshly disciplined as a child by a father who was an unstable provider. He claims to be rather anxious during the perpetration of his crimes, uses small amounts of alcohol, and reacts strongly to even minimal environmental stress. He usually lives alone and lives and works near the crime scene. He has little interest in the news media, and his behavior is often erratic.

The organized nonsocial, lust murderer, on the other hand, is of average to above-average intelligence, is socially competent, is often a skilled worker, is sexually competent, and usually displays a personality disorder. He has a high birth order status. His father held a stable job, and his childhood discipline was inconsistent. 

 

Acknowledgements:

www.politie.nl  Politiekorpschef  @Janny Knol©

www.aived.nl    AIVD – @Erik Akerboom ©

www.politie.nl WEB Politie - @Henk van Essen©

https://www.police-nationale.interieur.gouv.fr/ @ Stephane Folcher ©

 

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