Jeffrey Dahmer and Asperger's Disorder

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People say that Asperger’s disorder causes people to do things that are deemed unnormal and immoral in society and they apply this logic to serial killers too, such as Jeffrey Dahmer’s case where he murdered and dismembered seventeen innocent victims during the 1980’s to the 1990’s. Asperger’s disorder is a common theme that serial killers have, but it’s not a cause as to why they committed the act(s) they did. Most times, people need something to blame or explain why an individual that seems normal does such heinous acts and then those disorders are further misinterpreted and misrepresented by other people who continue to emphasize that blame. Dahmer suffered from many disorders and without knowing exactly what they all meant, people couldn’t get an accurate representation of him and thus thought that they were the cause of his disturbed mind. Those misinterpretations led to our culture now where people may deem an individual with a disorder, more specifically Asperger’s disorder or another disorder within the Autism Spectrum Disorders.
When taking a look at the information regarding Dahmer and Asperger’s, people need to keep in mind that it is only a possible diagnosis and not a true diagnosis. Asperger’s wasn’t discussed as a possible diagnosis until after his death. It’s only a possible diagnosis because psychologists and psychiatrist weren’t able to study Dahmer extensively when he was alive. Several sources discuss the views of people and why they also believe that he had Asperger’s disorder. One forum had several people discuss how Asperger’s was connected with many criminals who have committed heinous acts, such as school shootings, mass murders, psychopaths, and serial killers (Brother Percy 1). Many people share the sam...

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