The classic serial killer trope in crime-fiction dramas and similar literature is here to stay for as long as our fascination with humankind’s capacity for evil and depravity continues to mystify us.
Part of the reason why this particular subject matter is so captivating and morbidly attractive to us is due to the sheer craziness of the fact that there truly have been people on Earth who have perpetrated such vile atrocities throughout human history. Potentially, it is bound to happen again anywhere at any time, which strikes an unnervingly unique brand of fear and impending doom in an innocent human being’s mind.
In the past, many have suggested that an act of random, indiscriminate violence is the most terrifyingly scary thing that can happen to a person, in the sense that any of us at any given moment could potentially be the next victim of an unhinged psychopath while doing the most mundane of daily things, with no prior thought in the world that today could be our very last. Some of the renowned crime authors, like Glen Carrington, have works that touch on these particular aspects of unlawful killing.
The elusive nature of the prolific, highly-publicized serial killers who came before had solidified the public opinion and innate fear that we all have towards these savages who, ultimately, could potentially be anyone at all.
He could be the guy sitting next to you on the bus, the pizza delivery guy knocking on your door, or even your neighbor – ordinary, every-day people with regular jobs and personal lives who blend in perfectly with the rest of contemporary, sane society – an attribute that only fueled the collective paranoia that Western society had felt during the years in which prolific serial killers (and their subsequent copycats who were inspired by their craft) ran wild with their cat-and-mouse killing sprees.
The highly-publicized prosecutions and trials that followed were some of the most sensational phenomena that the media had ever documented, with some cases reaching almost celebrity status due to the utter absurdity and incredible nature of the cases at hand.
The wider populace continues to see killers as awful beings or individuals who become so broken that they cannot even be allowed to exist among us. But in fact, most murderers are abused and traumatized adolescents who influence the behavior of the terrifying individuals they have grown up to be.
Trauma is essential, but the aspect of it is also not seen by the general population. They know the product of trauma instead of the cause of the homicide as trauma. Much of what has been done over the years in such circumstances have either been what is known as social history, a biographical compendium, or professional evaluation and treatment.
If any of the world’s serial killers were once abused and traumatized kids manipulating the actions of their terrifying adult selves, one logical way of approaching this issue to treat abused kids. There are increasing awareness and supportiveness toward trauma-informed families, trauma-informed schooling, trauma-informed everything.
For instance, a peer spoke about an 8th-grade student who has been so distressed by traveling from home to school through a rather dangerous community that he would smoke marijuana before entering class to ease his nerves and severe tension. He was expelled from school for being under the influence of drugs in an academic environment.
We should handle the damage from a trauma-informed viewpoint, not condemn anyone with signs of unsolved mental anguish. This is valid because we have adolescents afflicted with hyper-defiant behavioral disorders and confrontation abnormalities, which are the usual conditions that tend to classify people who are violent and antisocial. When unpacked, they must be viewed as signs or effects of unresolved psychological disturbances.
Behavioral psychiatry will also help disassemble a bunch in psychiatric diagnosis. Extreme, persistent, prolonged early childhood abuse is such a direct attack on infant development’s fundamental mechanisms—attachment, emotional control, and impulse control. Y
et when a psychiatric counselor or therapist meets them when they are in their twenties and thirties, they may derive an inaccurate variety of diagnoses when, in reality, what they’re only doing adds up the remnants of previous, unresolved, pervasive abuse. Social psychologists can serve as a mediator between the history of trauma and appraisal and evaluation.
Oliver’s Twist 