Introduction
Forensic psychology and criminal behavior are interrelated, as they are both concerned with human behavior and character. Forensic psychology can be defined as the application of psychological knowledge and methods to address legal matters in crime, clinical, civil, or administrative proceedings. Forensic psychology explores the relationship between human behavior and the justice system (Tomlin, 2020). This discipline applies research and experiments to address the issues at hand. Criminal behavior, on the other hand, is a form of harmful behavior that may result in committing misconduct that may lead to conviction in criminal justice. In criminal behavior, there is an intention of crime and evidence of a crime by the person involved. The criminal justice system plays a role in addressing criminal behavior in society. Therefore, this essay aims to apply forensic psychology and criminal behavior to address disorders like dissociative identity disorder, antisocial behavior, and depersonalization disorder. This essay will as well, outline the relationship between serial killers who exhibit these traits and any emotional abuse they suffered as children.
Dissociative Identity Disorder
Dissociative identity disorder is a mental health condition that produces a lapse in the connection between a person’s thoughts, emotional state, actions, and sense of identity. Commonly reported signs of this mental disorder include but are not limited to amnesia, anxiety, depression, disorientation, drug abuse, and suicidal thoughts, among others (Tomlin, 2020). Victims of this disorder are said to experience multiple personality states that impact their conduct at different times. The cause of this type of mental health condition is believed to stem from several factors, like a reaction to severe trauma experienced in childhood and sexual or emotional abuse. Forensic psychology is essential in explaining the possibility of dissociation, whereby criminals may decline liability for some violent activities.
Victims of dissociative identity disorder may experience amnesia symptoms in which they cannot remember or control access to information about themselves. Forensic psychology research on amnesia revealed that there was low sugar utilization on the part of the brain that functions to access information about the self (Tomlin, 2020). There is evidence from this study that forensic psychology can be applied to addressing the issue of dissociative identity disorder since psychologists do forensic and clinical assessments on dissociative disorder issues. They do this by researching the background history and past events of the victims, such as coping behaviors and brain functioning.
On the other hand, in several cases, criminal behavior is associated with a dissociative mental disorder. A study of 105 people involved in criminal acts discovered that 20% had partial or complete amnesia (Tomlin, 2020). Many could not take responsibility for the crime since they could not remember what had transpired. Scholars argue that individuals may engage in criminal behavior due to dissociation in their mental functioning. Dissociation is reported to be one of the factors leading to criminal acts, especially acts that involve a significant amount of violence. The criminalization of dissociation-based acts is achieved by the court’s collaboration with forensic psychologists who do evaluations of the criminals and the acts to deliver a determination. Therefore, dissociative identity disorder victims may be determined by evaluating their criminal behavior.
Antisocial Behavior
Antisocial behavior is closely related to criminal behavior, but it is distinct since not all antisocial behaviors are criminal acts. However, criminal behavior is a form of antisocial behavior involving unlawful criminal acts. Generally, antisocial behavior is defined as any act that may be harmful or not considerate of the psychological conditioning of other members of society. Antisocial behavior is any misconduct that negatively disrupts the mental state of others and may violate the rights of other members of a group. Antisocial behavior emanates from interactions with the family and society at large.
The members of society label any behavior that contradicts the established norms in society as antisocial behavior. Forensic psychology, in this case, determines antisocial personality disorder from antisocial behaviors. There are some antisocial behaviors that forensic psychologists may not identify as emanating from an antisocial personality disorder. For example, an individual who commits a specific antisocial behavior toward a specific victim at a particular time may not be diagnosed with an antisocial personality disorder. According to forensic psychology, an individual must have demonstrated such disordered behavior before age fifteen to be diagnosed with an antisocial personality disorder (Tomlin, 2020). Forensic psychologists must thoroughly review the history of the individual they are involved in declaring as having an antisocial personality disorder.
Most antisocial behaviors are criminal and are left to the criminal justice system to convict. The court collaborates with forensic psychologists to determine whether the criminals have an antisocial personality disorder. Examples of antisocial behaviors that are criminalized include robbery, murder, child abuse, and suicide, among others. Alcohol abuse and adultery are two examples of antisocial behaviors that are not illegal under the law but pose a threat to societal norms.
Depersonalization/Derealization Disorder
Depersonalization or derealization is a mental state where the victim has a persistent feeling or a sense that they are operating outside their bodies and that the environment around them is unrealistic. Psychologists reveal that this type of mental condition is disturbing in such a way that individuals may feel like they are constantly dreaming. Research suggests that many people experience this condition at some point. However, if the condition becomes recurrent, it is considered a depersonalization-derealization disorder (Tomlin, 2020). Some symptoms associated with depersonalization disorder are, a feeling of being in a dream, distorted sounds, objects, and people looking abnormal, and time seeming to be moving faster, slower, or not moving at all.
Forensic psychology distinguishes derealization from depersonalization in that the latter disconnects from one’s body, thoughts, and feelings. Derealization involves detachment from both the environment and one’s own body. According to forensic psychologists, derealization may happen independently, especially as a response to trauma or chronic stress (Tomlin, 2020). Nevertheless, a psychological investigation into this matter reveals that it may be a medical condition with some health disorders attached to it, such as dementia, seizures, depression, panic attacks, and amnesia.
Depersonalization disorder affects emotions and may result in criminal behavior. However, victims of depersonalization who engage in criminal behavior are said to have amnesia, a medical condition that may be related to depersonalization. It is, however, worth noting that cases of criminal behavior resulting from depersonalization are rare. One of the reported cases of criminal behavior resulting from depersonalization was reported in England, a case of domestic assault by a man on his spouse where he caused bodily harm to her (Tomlin, 2020). The man defended himself by claiming that he experienced a rare condition where he felt as an observer and that he could not control the action as he did not intend to do it. The forensic psychological investigation confirmed that the man had suffered from a severe depersonalization disorder. The psychological experts, however, must be thorough in their investigation so as not to mistake an intended criminal behavior for a mental disorder.
The Relationship between Serial Killers Who Exhibit These Traits and Emotional Abuse during Childhood
Serial killing involves at least three victims killed on different occasions and at different times. Studies reveal a connection between serial killers who exhibit the personality disorders discussed earlier in this essay and the emotional abuse they suffered during childhood. Children who experience abuse like repeated violence may develop anti-social criminal behaviors later in life since they believe that violence is acceptable, this may result in serial killing. Emotional child abuse, like insults and verbal threats, may lead children to feel inferior and degraded. This feeling may haunt them when they become adults, isolating themselves from the rest of society, which may lead to developing mental antisocial behavior like serial killing.
As a result of trauma, dissociative personality disorder usually develops in adults who experienced repeated emotional abuse during childhood as a reaction to that trauma. A study on serial killers revealed that fifty percent of these killings were due to dissociative personality disorders resulting from psychological abuse at early ages (Tomlin, 2020). As per this study, it is clear that dissociative, depersonalization, and antisocial disorders are mainly caused by emotional child abuse, and most serial killers exhibit these traits. Sexual or other physical abuse may also result in these mental disorders at later stages in life, which numerous serial killers exhibit.
Conclusion
This essay aimed to apply forensic psychology and criminal behavior to address dissociative identity disorder, antisocial behavior, and depersonalization disorder. According to this essay, forensic psychology is concerned with the application of psychological knowledge and methods in addressing legal issues such as criminality, civil and contractual matters. Additionally, this essay sought to outline the relationship between serial killers who exhibit these disorders and any emotional abuse they suffered as children. From the analysis, these issues have been addressed satisfactorily.
The matters of concern in this paper are: Dissociative identity disorder, antisocial disorder, and depersonalization disorders, and are explained by forensic psychology. Forensic psychologists are concerned about why these disorders occur in individuals as they conduct studies to demonstrate the same. Nevertheless, this paper has discussed that these mental disorders may compel the victims to engage in criminal behaviors like murder, serial killing, and rape, among others. These criminal acts are termed “social disorders,” and they pose a threat to the prevailing social norms. Lastly, as outlined in this essay, there is a relationship between serial killers who display the above disorders and the emotional abuse they may have experienced at an early age. For example, emotional child abuse is associated with antisocial behavior that may result in serial killing. As per this essay, dissociative identity disorder is one of the main causes of serial killing, emanating from childhood emotional abuse trauma (Tomlin, 2020). This essay recommends that forensic psychologists should be thorough in determining mental identity disorder crimes and intentional crimes since some criminals have a tendency of claiming that some mental issues compelled them to commit crimes.
Reference
Tomlin, J. (2020). Book review: Forensic psychiatry and psychology in Europe: A cross-border study guide. The Journal of Forensic Psychiatry & Amp; Psychology, 31(4), 639-641. Web.