Citation

Marvasti JA. Am. J. Forensic Psychiatr. 2009; 30(3): 5-20.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2009, American College of Forensic Psychiatry, Publisher R. Shlensky)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Suicide bombers/warriors are an enigma to many. The current assumption in the West is that they are mentally sick, motivated by religious fanaticism, or antisocial criminals with no desire to live. However, research reveals that most of these suicide bombers, including the 2300 kamikazes of WWII, were not suicidal before their mission. Furthermore, they were free from any gross psychopathology. The subject of terrorism has a great deal of distortion, subjectivity, and blame. Western governments and their major media have not fully acknowledged that some terrorism may have evolved as a reaction to their own behavior. They focus on just "one village" as the sole contributor to terrorism. If terrorism is a message, what is it trying to say? Through using the tools of psychology, we may be able to arrive at a clearer understanding of these activities. Copyright 2009 American Journal of Forensic Psychiatry.

Language: en

Keywords

government; suicide; review; politics; psychological aspect; terrorism; offender; bomb