Jeffrey Dahmer

I have always been fascinated by serial killer psychology, namely Jeffrey Dahmer. During interviews, he always seemed full of remorse, a trait almost all serial killers lack. This leads me to the question: do you think Dahmer was just evil, or psychologically ill?

I think Jeffrey Dahmer was what psychiatrists refer to as a borderpath. He was somewhere on that fine line that separates people with borderline personality disorders from sociopaths. Although he committed several horrific acts, like you, I believe he was still capable of experiencing remorse for his actions.

He came from a well-to-do, yet dysfunctional family, and really hade no clue as to what being a normal person was like. If you read his father's autobiography, he was almost as disturbed psychologically as his son was..

I think he was ill. Albeit extremely ill.

The most frightening part of his story, to me anyways, is that his parents saw his odd behavior as a child (namely the torturing of animals) and sent him to a therapist.

That scares the snot out of me. So many times I have looked to the parents and childhood environment when trying to figure out serial killers, but in this case the parents, especially the father if I remember correctly, tried to help him, fix him, cure him. From what I read, Jeffery tried not to be this way, too.

And look how all of their efforts turned out. So when parents notice psychotic and sociopathic tendencies in their children, what hope do they have?

I haven't read much about him and his diagnosis. It is rather sad that some of these aren't studied better beofre the system allows them to be murdered in prison. I would assume he may have had an alternate personality he may not have had much control over. If people such as him were treated earlier, they may not become serial killers. It may have been by some type of labotomy or even an anti-seizure drug that could have stopped this. Once we are better capable of recognizing these people early on, we may then be able to cure them long before as well.

Preventative health care and proper treatments need more priority as part of national health care.

Another similar person was Albert Fish. A movie was made about him, but, I've yet to see it or want to.
www.youtube.com...

reply to post by aleon1018


But sometimes they don't show signs and even when older they are master manipulators (some of them) and great liers and actors look at Ted Bundy he was always confident and the victims fell for him because of his charm and ability to persuade them. You wouldn't know he was a killer until the evidence was found. However, Bundy was even confident in the interviews and he just hardly gave anything away. Which is a lot different to Dahmer.

Originally posted by Klemperer
I have always been fascinated by serial killer psychology, namely Jeffrey Dahmer. During interviews, he always seemed full of remorse, a trait almost all serial killers lack. This leads me to the question: do you think Dahmer was just evil, or psychologically ill?

Seemed is the operative word in this sentance.

How do we know he was full of remorse? Because he said he was?

Jeffery Dahmer was what I would call the "gay quarterback" of the serial killer world. I'm sure everybody has seen the stereotype on tv before. Some all-star jock is a closet homosexual. He goes out and has sex. Then gets angry and conflicted, leading to violence.

In Dahmer's case, it was the same deal. He was gay. But he was also ashamed of himself. Couple that with mental instability, and you see the root of what made him a cannibalistic serial killer.

That's a nice thought and I think most people get the wrong impression when they watch the video where he apolgizes.. It seemed sincere, right? Well, it wasn't At least not as much as people believe it was. In his confession he stated that he felt no remorse for the victims but he did feel slightly sorry for the families. He was not empathetic, he could not feel the families pain on a personal level.. Only in an analytical sense. In Willis Morgan's book Frustrated Witness, he explains how it's possible Jeffrey made very terrible prank calls to the families of his victims. You could wonder if this was somebody else who noticed the missing persons report and wanted to have some fun but one of the phone calls was made before the report was filed.. In another incident during an interrogation he's asked if he's ever owned a gun, he says no.. When the detective confronted him with a receipt for a gun that was purchased by him and asks him why he lied.. He says he didn't feel it was necessary to make it known. He was a liar, he was very good at it, it's how he got away with it for so long.