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
Arndt, W., Hietpas, T., & Kim, J (2004). Critical characteristics of male serial murderers. American Journal of Criminal Justice, 29(1).
Dahmer was a pretty normal, but very lonely kid. His loneliness followed him throughout the course of his life. Never having an intimate friendship or relationship, along with being consumed with confusion over his own sexuality eventually led him to become the household name he is today. From 1978 to 1991, Dahmer murdered 17 boys and men. Not only is he considered a murderer, but he committed (on several occasions) rape and dismemberment. After his later murders, he was found guilty of necrophilia, cannibalism, and permanent preservation of body parts. He is arguably the most well known, gruesome, and intriguing criminal in American history.
...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.
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 ... ...
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...
Brogaard, Berit. "The Making of a Serial Killer." Psychology Today. Sussex Directories, Inc., 7 Dec. 2012. Web. 03 May 2014.
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.
Despite the controversy circled with psychopathy within the courts, the diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder, or psychopathy is never successful. Instead it serves as a determining factor for the prison sentence since psychopathic offenders are more likely to offend again and not be deterred (Siegel &
Jeffrey Dahmer was born in Milwaukee on May 21, 1960, to Lionel and Joyce Dahmer. Despite the difficulties of Joyce's pregnancy, he was wanted and adored as a child. By all accounts, Dahmer displayed traits of a happy, bubbly youngster. However, several events from his childhood indicated that the young boy was becoming more and more disturbed. When Jeff was four, his father swept out the remains of some small animals from under the house. As his father gathered the tiny animal bones, Jeff seemed strangely entertained by the sound they made (Bardsley Ch. 13). At the young age of six, Dahmer suffered a double hernia and needed surgery to correct the problem. After the operation, he was never the same socially. Adding insult to injury, the family then moved from Iowa to Ohio where it became apparent Dahmer had grown distant, shy, and nearly uncommunicative (Bardsley Ch. 13).
Print. The. “Dahmer, Jeffrey Lionel.” The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Life. Ed.
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.
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
There was no abuse or trauma that was said to have happened during his childhood; however, it was said that he became more reserved as he grew older. He showed little to no interest in hobbies, but he was fascinated by dead animals. During his high school years, he was heavily abusing alcohol which caused his father to make him enlist in the army. He was soon kicked out and went to live with his grandmother, who then reported that he was showing very odd behavior. His parents got divorced in July of 1978 and this took a negative toll on Jeffrey. Dvorchack states, “During the divorce, Jeffrey Dahmer was left alone. His mother moved to Wisconsin with his younger brother, David; his father had moved out of the house. He was left with no food, no money and a broken refrigerator” (Dvorchack). By that time, Jeffrey was already18 and had just committed his first murder. Between 1978-1991, Jeffrey Dahmer had killed over 17 males. Some would say his parents’ divorce and rejection is what caused Jeffrey to get out of hand. Secondly, the standard way of thinking about the topic of serial killers has it that from the day they’re born, they’re going to grow up with the traits of a stereotypical killer. Another
Data has been collecting reporting that “31% of people who had both a substance abuse disorder and a psychiatric disorder (a "dual diagnosis") committed at least one act of violence in a year, compared with 18% of people with a psychiatric disorder alone. This confirmed other research that substance abuse is a key contributor to violent behavior” (Harvard Health Publishing). This can be applied to Dahmer’s case. It is said that after getting hernia surgery when he was four, Dahmer was never the same. He went from a regular playful child to a distant anxious one. When becoming an adolescent, one will develop an interest in concepts and hobbies. For Dahmer it animal carcasses. He would find roadkill, “dissect and dismember them. He explained that he wanted to know how each animal "fitted together"(Cahill). This could come off as creepy and off-putting, but he was not hurting anyone. It is believed that his parents’ constant fighting and moving was the catalyst in making his obsession with carcasses into a dangerous one. “Children from broken homes are nine times more likely to commit crimes than those from stable families” (Bloxham). His drive to kill could quite possibly be linked to the fact that he simply linked to his familial issues. These problems in the family are definitely linked to his drinking problems as well. Dahmer’s
The biographies of most serial killers reveal significant psychological trauma at an early age, but that is no excuse due to similar biographies of successful people as well. Whenever the case of an infamous serial killer is examined, we invariably search for clues in the childhood that might explain his or her seemingly senseless murders.