The Mind of a Murderer: A glimpse into the darkest corners of the human psyche, from a leading forensic psychiatrist

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Grudges between business partners served as another prime motivating factor for murder, as did domestic violence, often related to an impending divorce. The taking of another person’s life was often the outcome of a strong emotion linked to a particular event and a close relationship, such as cases of unrequited love or cheating on one’s mate.

And so her story helps illustrate the whole issue of infanticide, but it also tells us a little bit about the history of psychiatry and how treatments have changed. I'm a therapist in a locked facility and I'm in awe with the information she is able to get from the inmates. And, you know, there's been a number of studies and there's a pattern of killings of children by mothers and you can divide them into clear subgroups. Image originally from the collection of Jack and Beverly Wilgus, and now in the Warren Anatomical Museum, Harvard Medical School. While we set about confirming these were fake ‘pseudoseizures’, Tamara started to develop multiple large, infected, pus-filled boils on her legs and her left arm.Stella’s was the first case of infanticide I had seen professionally, and that must have been when I began reflecting properly on Georgina’s story, which in turn set me on the journey of enquiry that ultimately led me to my work at Holloway. Delusions may respond to psychiatric treatment, whereas culturally normative beliefs about witchcraft will not. Again, it bears repeating that such killings are extremely rare, on two counts: postpartum psychosis is itself rare, occurring in 1 to 2 in 1,000 births; and for the result to be the death of a child is rarer still.

One possible, practical approach to this problem is common in many legal systems: As long as we cannot diagnose and treat the biological driver for a person’s criminal behaviour, they are withdrawn from society. As his offences escalated, he was arrested and convicted for a host of crimes – only to continue his aggressive behaviour towards fellow inmates and staff. Whether genes associated with later antisocial behaviour are present or not, the outcome is modified by early experience: often as early as their interactions with the primary caregiver – the mother – during the first 18 months of their life. ritual murders, particularly of albino children, whose body parts are said to possess special powers.She has worked alongside police to profile criminals and dedicates her time to helping young offenders understand the reasoning behind their actions. I magine a typical family man: happily married for several years and well-known in the community for his kind personality. If the relationship has ended and they feel rejected, they then struggle to come to terms with this and obsess about the victim.