A case of mass murder: Personality disorder, psychopathology and violence mode

a r t i c l e i n f o Keywords: Mass murder Case-study Psychopathy Borderline personality disorder Predatory violence Depression This paper presents a fully documented case of a mass murder. The offender willingly underwent a psychological assessment and discussed his motivation and subjective experience of the slaying. The researchers also had access to the official records maintained by criminal justice entities. The data thus were gathered from both interviews with the offender and a review of the official record. The diagnosed borderline personality disorder was coherent with the offender's pervasive feelings of loneliness, the lack of availability of the attachment figure in childhood and the clinical depression during the incubation phase of the murders. The ruminations about revenge appeared to be compulsive and ego-dystonic, which is in line with what has emerged as the goal of predatory violence, namely relief. The crime also grew out of the offender's perception of himself as a powerless victim of a malevolent world and his systematic rejection of responsibility. The mild psychopathic dimension that was found may characterize the anxious, secondary psychopath. Although evidence has been found that the occurrence of mass murder — perpetrated by adolescents as well as adults — has increased over the past half century (Lester, 2002, 2004; Mullen, 2004), scientific studies of such cases are scarce. Methodologically sound studies are rare and case studies with empirical foundation are exceeded by autobiographical, journalistic, or other treatises that are