I cannot fathom what goes on in the mind of he man who did this. Where did it all break down for him? And for all of those like him? Where did his sense of decency go? What made his desires so uncontrollable and so heinous?
I know there aren't answers for these questions, but I still can't help ask why.
Yes, Caprice. We'll always be asking, "Why".
Goodnight, my friends. Stay warm and love those you have. And Above all, learn to take care of yourself. That's where it begins.
Caprice- The conclusion that I have come to is that the murderer had an anti-social personality disorder. People who had this mental aberration were formerly called psychopaths, then sociopaths.
These people have no conscience. Their prime interest is gratification of their own desires with little thought of the harm that their behavior causes.
These people are not considered psychotic. They do not respond to treatment. Many people who are incarcerated have this personality disorder.
They respond perfectly to the kind of treatment I wish for them to receive! Simple choice; Needle, rope, gas, or the chair.
Phoenix: If he is truly a sociopath, why has he not indulged himself before? I'm not disagreeing with you in the least because I imagine this must be the case with him but I just wonder why now? (He's 37 after all.) And what happened to make him the way he is? Was he born this way? This shouldn't happen. I know I'm too ideal for this world, but I still believe these horrible things should not be happening.
caprice- As I remember, he DOES have a criminal history. Who knows what makes a person go from simple assault to rape and murder? Maybe she said something that made him think that she could identify him, so the only way that he could deal with his problem was to kill her.
I am surprised if full bore sociopathy is not considered psychotic, but then I don't read the DMSO.
I know more dilute versions are prevalent in daily life, so I guess I can understand that the full megilla, as it were, isn't considered psychotic, but then psychopath and sociopath ... weren't they equal or similar?
Obviously I am not a psychologist.
Osso- Sociopath, psychopath, and anti-social personality disorders are basically the same disturbance. The terms were used at different times.
I don't know for sure, but it seems to me that psychopaths became sociopaths at the time when it became fashionable to blame a person's difficulties on a poor environment, rather than a problem peculiar to that person.
It's the DSM IV- Diagnostic and Statistical Manual. DMSO is dimethylsulfoxide, the stuff that was hawked a few years ago as an arthritis reliever.
In order for a person to be described as psychotic, they have to display certain symptoms, ie. delusions and/or hallucinations.
Thanks for that link Phoenix. What astounds me is the lack of punishment for the previous violent offenses. This horror could have been prevented.
Yeh, dimethylsulfoxide rings a bell. Very popular at some point.
I thought the path of sociopathy had to do with lack of conscience, which I gather you are saying it still does. But I didn't kin to the concept that you have to have delusions/hallucinations to be 'psychotic'.
I can understand distinguishing behavior/being that way, have just not understood this clarification before.
To me - off the top of my head, to have hallucinations, delusions, seems so, so, so biochemically derived, and to have no conscience seems so ... so, so, psychotic. Although that may turn out to have some synapse not snapping too, if only from lack of some input, like love?, or from some horrible experience input or combo of those, through some chemical mediator, or not. I don't know nothin' - if sociopathies (etc.) are borne of environmental or genetic factors or both.
Sorry, a tangent there...
Good morning, all.
Another curious thought. Why was Smith not referred to a psychologist or some counselor?
You can't help the ones who don't want it.
Often time, blue monkey, people who are psychotic aren't aware that they are ill. That's a big part of the problem.
first they would have to prove to him he has a problem. Then help him. That is too much time and money. He had, what was it, 13 tries to fix himself. I think if he gives up on himself so should everyone else.
