In the past few days, there was a buzz of news about a killing incident that made each of us think, “How can a person kill another human being, regardless of the circumstances?” And many of us, watched the video in which the person who was killed appeared, and with all the coolness of the nerves, he left the scene of the crime as if nothing had happened! We all wondered: Was he conscious of what he did? Did he know what would happen next? Did he feel afraid? Or what are his feelings after the murder? And other questions that psychopathology in general and criminal psychology in particular can answer. What is the exact explanation for the murder? How can we explain the psychological classification of the killer according to psychoanalysis? Is the offender the victim of immature behavior? A victim of society? Or a victim of upbringing?

Psychology is not only concerned with psychological aspects and psychological division in humans. Nor was he concerned only with psychological tests that help the psychologist discover a person, his complexities, and his needs. Psychology has also been concerned with crimes, their analysis and interpretation… Because in the end the criminal, like any person, has a personality that prompted him to commit his crime. But the personality of the killer, in general, is an “aggressive – perverted and antisocial” character, which makes the killer a person who does not feel the other. Therefore, due to the inability to control oneself, he can commit murder. In this article, we will talk about the personality of the killer in general and not about a specific killer.

Murder and Psychoanalysis
There are many factors that affect the killer and make his relationship with his community very weak, so he does not feel belonging to his community and his family. But before diving into psychological explanations for murder, it is important to know that murder is an act of aggression by a person or persons towards a person or persons. Through this act, the killer ends the life of the victim in a brutal way or not. Sometimes the killer feels no guilt, but we can’t generalize that.

Psychologically, murder is an act that “violates the moral foundations” of the group to which a criminal who has committed a harmful act is condemned by law. The psychological disorder of the killer appears in his actions, and we can talk about basic factors and divide them as follows:
A distressed and neglected childhood: Every child needs love, tenderness, affection and attention in order to feel strong and belonging to the family. But the children who lived a miserable and sad childhood in which there is a lot of deprivation at all levels and the reservation of freedom and self-expression… and other things, create in them a feeling of detachment from reality (and this feeling is not psychotic) and therefore this person does not feel any feelings towards others, because « He is missing something (love, affection, attention… he doesn’t give it), when he kills, he will never feel remorse.

A disorder in human emotional development: especially during adolescence. The harshness of life that a child can feel through his diary becomes a “need” to feel ego (or self). Later this cruelty is transferred from his inner feelings to the application within his diary. Here is the apparent relationship between disorders of emotional development (the harshness of life that generates this disorder) and the emergence of criminal behavior.

– The superego is incomplete: one of the most important stages that every person must pass through is the “Oedipus” stage, which ends through the formation of his “superego”. The task of the superego is to prevent the person from making a mistake. The “supreme ego” constitutes the human conscience and the laws and customs… that must be respected and applied. But for the criminal, the equation is different because, according to psychoanalysis, the superego was not formed due to a problem in the “Oedipus” stage.

The destabilizing environment: During childhood, the psychological formation of the human being takes place. Usually the environment is identical to his psychological composition. If the environment to which the person belongs is healthy and “clean”, then the psychological composition of the person is also balanced and vice versa. But we cannot generalize that idea, because sometimes we find environments that are harsh, and therefore distinct and creative personalities emerge from them. Of course, temperament, psychological awareness, intellectual maturity, and friends… all play an essential role in this psychological balance.

What is going on in the mind of the killer?
During the killing, most of the killers express their “unconsciousness” during the commission of their crime, as during the analysis of the psychological and social situation of the killer, we find that most of them lived a miserable and sad life. So we can ask, does society have a role in crime? Of course not. Many people live tragedies in their lives, a destitute childhood, no relationships with the father and the mother, and an unbalanced environment… and they do not become murderers. There are underlying psychological reasons that push a person to crime, with social reasons and intellectual, emotional or relational maturity. Thus, we cannot consider that criminality is transmitted through heredity in absolute terms. Nor can we consider criminality to be learned through education, because in some global mafias, one of the family members, despite receiving the same education, is far from criminal thoughts and aggressive behaviors.

Dr.. Antoine Shartouni – El Gomhouria