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PERSONALITY CHARACTERISTICS OF VIOLENT OFFENDERS AND SUICIDAL INDIVIDUALS

NCJ Number
55272
Author(s)
L JARVINEN
Date Published
1977
Length
227 pages
Annotation
USING A PSYCHODYNAMIC FRAME OF REFERENCE THAT EMPHASIZES KERNBERG'S THEORY OF NARCISSISTIC PERSONALITY DISTURBANCES, PERSONALITY QUALITIES OF VIOLENT AND SUICIDAL INDIVIDUALS ARE EXAMINED.
Abstract
THE SUBJECTS WERE 68 VIOLENT OFFENDERS FROM THE CENTRAL PRISON OF HELSINKI (FINLAND) AND 48 SUICIDAL PATIENTS FROM THE DIURNAL CLINIC OF THE HELSINKI UNIVERSITY CENTRAL HOSPITAL. TESTING INSTRUMENTS WERE THE EGO RESILIENCY SCALE (BLOCK 1969), BECK'S DEPRESSION INVENTORY (BECK 1972), THE RORSCHACH TEST, AND THE THEMATIC APPERCEPTION TEST, ALONG WITH INTERVIEWS. THE STATISTICAL ANALYSIS INCLUDED MEASUREMENT OF THE MEANS AND STANDARD DEVIATIONS OF THE VARIABLES AND THE CORRELATIONS BETWEEN THEM, FACTOR ANALYSIS, DISCRIMINATION ANALYSIS, AND GROUPING ANALYSIS. RESULTS SUGGEST THAT VIOLENT BEHAVIOR AND SUICIDES ARE MANIFESTATIONS OF THE SAME TYPE OF PSYCHIC DISINTEGRATION. KERNBERG'S THEORY WAS RELEVANT IN INTERPRETING THE FINDINGS, IN THAT BOTH EXPERIMENTAL GROUPS REVEALED NARCISSISM, WOUNDED SELF-ESTEEM, PARANOIA, AND SPLITTING OF THE CENTRAL PERSONALITY CHARACTERISTICS. SUICIDAL SUBJECTS SHOWED GREATER IMPULSIVENESS, EMOTIONAL POTENTIAL, AND PSYCHIC DISTURBANCE THAN DID THE VIOLENT SUBJECTS. WHILE VIOLENT OFFENDERS WERE NOT ESTABLISHED AS A HOMOGENEOUS GROUP, A COMMON CHARACTERISTIC WAS THEIR LOW CAPACITY FOR EXPERIENCING A BROAD RANGE OF EMOTIONS, ESPECIALLY GUILT. RELATIONSHIPS WITH OTHERS WERE OF POOR QUALITY, AND THEY EXHIBITED AN INCAPACITY TO TOLERATE DEPRESSION. MOST IMPORTANTLY, THEY HAD AN INADEQUATE SELF-CONCEPT, WHERE THE ACTUAL AND IDEAL SELF-CONCEPT WERE FUSED. BECAUSE OF THE SEVERE PSYCHIC DISTURBANCE FOUND IN SUICIDAL AND VIOLENT PERSONS, ADEQUATE MEANS OF TREATMENT AND CONTROL HAVE YET TO BE DEVELOPED. THE IDENTIFICATION OF THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THESE SUBJECTS IS ONE STEP TOWARD THE DEVELOPMENT OF TREATMENT AND CONTROL PROCEDURES. TABULAR DATA AND REFERENCES ARE PROVIDED. (AUTHOR ABSTRACT MODIFIED--RCB)

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