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Abstract
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VioLit summary:
OBJECTIVE:
The purpose of this article by Lefer was to discuss and describe the psychiatric nature of violence including types of violent patients. Knowledge about dream patterns in the violence-prone was a central feature of this study.
METHODOLOGY:
A non-experimental, exploratory design was employed. The author combined pertinent literature and his own clinical experience with and case study examples of violent clients to describe types of violent persons and possible causes for violence.
FINDINGS/DISCUSSION:
Review of the literature revealed the following indicators as being possible predictors of adult violence. In children, aggressive temper tantrums, aloneness, and truancy were found to be strong. Families with absent or cruel fathers and/or demeaning mothers in one study were found to create an environment in which children became depressed and expressed other altered reactions. Another study stated that homes in which parents show no love and do show violence will produce children who may later become violent. Humiliation and a sense of powerlessness were also reported by violent offenders. Members of a violent youth gang were found to show verbal and abstract limitations and were exposed to violence, seen as a way of life, at an early age. Dreams of the youth in this study were found to have violent dreams which offered a sense of achievement, contained much anxiety, and displayed some symptoms of classical traumatic neuroses. Acceptance and power were main goals. The study reported that dehumanization of others was critical in the ability to commit violence. Absence of human bonds was also stated as a factor in the enabling of a person to commit violence; violence becomes a means to become important, even in a negative way, to another. Others found that violence was used as a defense against facing conflicts and other unpleasant emotional feelings--a stage of a serious disturbance between neurosis and psychosis. Unable to develop relationships, the a highly emotional appetite is created which can only be satisfied with powerful psychological sensations. To Freudians, violence is the result of a weak superego and an uncontrolled id; violence becomes a catharsis. A typology of personality profiles of the violence prone person was created. Dimensions were strength of repression, suppression, inhibition, reaction formation, rationalization, and conscience. These types were: l) the person who uses violence as a means to an end without inhibition or need for justification, 2) the person who uses violence as a means to an end but must justify it, 3) the person who can only be violent in a drugged or dissociated state, and 4) the person who becomes symbiotic with persons who are prone to use violence as a means to an end and, being in a position of power, aids the other to commit violence. The latter two categories of patients were more likely than those who use violence as a means to an end to have dreams in which they were observers of violence rather than perpetrators of it. Overall patterns of feeling attacked, paranoia, and the striking out against someone who either must be punished for the agony of the perpetrator's childhood or taken out before the perpetrator is hurt--physically or emotionally.
AUTHOR'S RECOMMENDATIONS:
The author recommended that the younger population be targeted to deal with the growing number of violence-prone individuals. Specific areas would be feelings of alienation, lack of importance when violence is not used, helplessness, and depression. Dreams of youth are advocated as a beginning point for study and treatment.
EVALUATION:
This study reports findings in what could be a very important area in the psychiatric study of violence--dreams. If dreams are part of the subconscious, it would be helpful to be able to identify issues that the patient cannot consciously vocalize. As an exploratory piece, this article lays out some issues for the psychiatric community to think about. It would have been helpful to more clearly delineate the argument and present more data from cases rather than other literature. (CSPV Abstract - Copyright © 1992-2007 by the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence, Institute of Behavioral Science, Regents of the University of Colorado)
KW - Adult Offender
KW - Adult Violence
KW - Violence Predictors
KW - Childhood Predictors
KW - Adult Mental Health
KW - Psychological Factors
KW - Violence Causes
KW - Offender Characteristics
KW - Sleep Patterns
Language: en |