Ever read much about Jeffrey Dahmer's childhood? If you only
perceive him as an evil monster, you really should check it out. He wasn't
always a psychopath. It's possible that for a while, he was a happy, normal, healthy, loved baby.
The cumulative traumas in his life led to anti-social
personality disorder and tragedy. How much worse, considering the suffering of
his victims and families, is the knowledge that it could have been prevented?
1. His mother had a "difficult"
pregnancy.
There aren't many details on what that meant. Maybe she was
suffering from depression. That might have prevented her from bonding with the
baby prior to birth. If she had post-partum depression, she may not have been
able to bond with Jeffrey at all. Without any explanation of what
"difficult" meant, it's hard to know how much this impacted Jeffrey.
But since this gets trotted out - sans
details - I have to wonder how much was fact and how much was hype from a
mother who wanted more attention for herself.
A narcissistic parent is jealous of her child's increasing
independence. She's incapable of meeting any emotional needs. She's selfish,
critical, and abusive. If Jeffrey's mom was a narcissist, it would almost be a guarantee that
there was no bonding, so he almost certainly would've developed an attachment
disorder. It's the perfect set-up for a sociopath.
2. He had surgery for a double hernia when he
was just four.
That's understandably tough for a little kid. But add to
that the fact that he was either unaware or was confused about the surgery.
Imagine how you'd feel if you were in pain, and then all kinds of people in the
hospital started touching and looking at your privates!
This kind of trauma can alter development of the central
nervous system. In turn, that can change hormone production enough that it
interferes with brain development. It would have been very difficult for him to
understand personal boundaries.
3. He was sexually abused when he was eight, by
an older neighbor boy.
No details on this, either, but we know this kind of abuse
has the potential to physically alter brain development. If you don't think
this was a huge event in his life, look up the effects of childhood sexual
abuse. Most kids who are victims of CSA go on to become abusers themselves.
If the earlier surgery trauma didn't do it, this was enough
to seriously diminish serotonin. And where we see decreased serotonin function,
we usually see impulsiveness and aggression, especially if there are also high
cortisol levels, which go along with stress. Think this kid wasn't stressed?
See #4.
4. Since his birth, his parents (when his father
wasn't isolating himself) fought bitterly.
Even when there's no physical violence, the sheer stress of witnessing
intense marital discord psychologically impacts children. When he was a
teenager and his parents finally divorced, they only argued about which parent
his younger brother would live with. Wouldn't any kid feel a bit uncared for?
Going through life with parents demanding all the attention would
do damage. Even if they didn't consciously do it for attention, who could
ignore it? Jeffrey would've had to find some outlet for his natural aggressive
impulses, since his feelings were first ignored, then repressed. Talk about
adding fuel to the fire!
5. After the divorce, he was abandoned by both
parents.
His mother and brother moved out of state and he had no way
to contact them. He wasn't even out of high school, but with his father gone
most of the time (who had never been emotionally available, anyway, it seems),
Jeff truly had to fend for himself, without food, money, or a working
refrigerator.
And so how surprising is it that he started to experiment
with alcohol? And alcoholism, combined with depression and personality
disorder, really takes its toll on how well the frontal lobe functions. (Like,
as in, pretty well destroys rational judgment.)
* * * * *
His father later wrote "I could not imagine how he had
become such a ruined soul." Seriously? Let's see, we've created a child
with an attachment disorder, meaning he'll never understand love or trust. He
was traumatized and abused and never provided counseling, so he coped with
tremendous stress, fear, and aggression with no outlet. He learned that bodies
were for others to manipulate. He was forced to find alternative means of
expression in order to survive and function, although - through alcohol abuse -
he found a way to eliminate any shred of rational judgment he had.
Oh wait, let's add insult to injury. Jeffrey admitted to his
crimes. Because he was reasonably intelligent, the court rejected his insanity
plea. (Yeah, because a kid goes through a childhood like that, and has a human
barbecue, but he's completely sane. Sure.) Yeah, okay, it was a little late to
save the victims.
Might not have been too late to save Jeffrey, if only from
his own demons.
No comments:
Post a Comment