Overview Psychopathology is the branch of psychiatric science that studies mental illness. The field includes the study of cognition and abnormal mental states, all pathologies, or mental disorders, as well as maladaptive behaviors and experiences that diverge wildly from the spectrum of existing social norms.
That last table was really interesting, as for breaking down motivations. One common occurrence I have noticed in a lot of serial killers childhood is cruelty to animals. Even killers that seem 'normal' to those around them as adults had indications of a depraved mind as children; such as Dahmer's preoccupation with dead animals and Keyes giggling about shooting a cat in their stomach. What I really found interesting in this article was that psychopaths can turn their empathy 'on' and 'off'; that explains how they can show concern to one person but complete disregard for another. I really think our public education system should incorporate personal psychology and behavior development into the public education system including child development. Also routinely evaluate a child's mental development like physical exams. Check for signs of abuse. Of course in a case like Keyes none of that would have helped since his family refused public education or medical care. I know none of this would stop a psychopath from developing but these measures could help prevent becoming a victim, child abuse or even catch severely mentally unstable people that go undiagnosed until they commit a horrendous crime. Thanks for putting in so much work on researching this topic, the dysfunction of the mind is what interests me as far as true crime is concerned.
I used to think that therapy/psych should be included in the school curriculum, but there have been some attempts to incorporate therapy into schooling, and it's largely backfired, increasing anxiety and a host of other issues. It's a problem of competence, but also of iatrogenic disease, which are symptoms or disease induced by treatment or by the comments made by a physician or therapist.
That last table was really interesting, as for breaking down motivations. One common occurrence I have noticed in a lot of serial killers childhood is cruelty to animals. Even killers that seem 'normal' to those around them as adults had indications of a depraved mind as children; such as Dahmer's preoccupation with dead animals and Keyes giggling about shooting a cat in their stomach. What I really found interesting in this article was that psychopaths can turn their empathy 'on' and 'off'; that explains how they can show concern to one person but complete disregard for another. I really think our public education system should incorporate personal psychology and behavior development into the public education system including child development. Also routinely evaluate a child's mental development like physical exams. Check for signs of abuse. Of course in a case like Keyes none of that would have helped since his family refused public education or medical care. I know none of this would stop a psychopath from developing but these measures could help prevent becoming a victim, child abuse or even catch severely mentally unstable people that go undiagnosed until they commit a horrendous crime. Thanks for putting in so much work on researching this topic, the dysfunction of the mind is what interests me as far as true crime is concerned.
I used to think that therapy/psych should be included in the school curriculum, but there have been some attempts to incorporate therapy into schooling, and it's largely backfired, increasing anxiety and a host of other issues. It's a problem of competence, but also of iatrogenic disease, which are symptoms or disease induced by treatment or by the comments made by a physician or therapist.