Abnormal Psychology and the Case of Ted Bundy - Report Example

Ted Bundys Case Abnormal Psychology Case Studies in Abnormal Psychology: Ted Bundys Case To recognize serial killer among thousands of people is an impossible task for a person who is not a serial killer. The most reliable way to recognize him – is to become a serial killer, I mean, of course, theoretically, othrwise, you will not be able to give an appropriate diagnosis. A lot of different personality theories exist in abnormal psychology, and all of them pretend for describing and analyzing personality correctly, but only few of them can be applyed for such a deviant, which obviously a problem of personal responsibility, as well as social one. Obviously, social environment not the only reason which forces people for committing perverted things. Pervertion itself is a sophisticated concept which skips every possible determination every time researcher appeals to it; definitely, defining of that term would be out of current investigation. Unlikely to this, given paper will be focusing on a practical issues of applying particular personal theory to a particular case of significant and ambiguous personality, that of Ted Bundy, along with Overview of Case, Case Conceptualization, and Treatment Plan. Overview of Case, i.e Client/Case Description, History From the beginning of paper, we need to elucidate some relevant facts of Ted Bundy’s biography. Then, it will be necessary for our investigation to apply one of the personality theories to that case. Afterwards, we will appeal to an analysis of guided motives for serial murder in order to put down diagnosis on variable levels. So, we are starting with some key facts from the biography of one of the most famous American serial murders. Similar to those of many serial killers, Ted Bundy’s parentage was not clear for him until he found a copy of his birth certificate at home when he was in high school (Kendall, 1981). According to this document, he found out that his mother was not his older sister, as he previously believed, and that Bundy’s maternal grandparents were forced to claim him as their son. Therefore, a traumatic family background gives an opportunity for the Bundy’s biographers to conclude that his unclear parentage pushed him away from the social interactions (Kendall, 1981). The next step in his unsufficient socialization was an inability to understand social behavior patterns during his high school and early college years. Probably, his lack of natural sense of how to get along with other people was affected by a certain position, which remained distant from his stepfather, Johnny Bundy (Michaud, 1989). Used to behave himself as a thief and shoplifter even before he left the high school, Bundy was focused on sources that described sexual violence and pictures of dead bodies (Rule, 2000). All these factors, presumably, played prominent role for his becoming a serial killer. Furthermore, there are also some interesting key facts about on his studying at the University of Puget Sound (UPS), where he took courses in psychology and oriental studies (Winn, 1980). Primarily, Bundy was liked by professors, who presented him as a shy and introverted person. Secondarily, “Stephanie Brooks” (a pseudonym), girlfriend of him, ended the relationship and, after her graduation, she returned to her family home in California; hence, Bundy was totally devastated by her rejection (Winn, 1980). Thirdly, after the escaping of his girlfriend, Bundy became a more focused and dominant person, which led him to degree in psychology in 1972, as well as forced him to a certain political activity level as a Rockefeller supporter (Winn, 1980). While entering the law school at UPS, he started to skip classes, and because of this he presumed that neither politics nor educational activity would become among the priorities for him within the nearest future. Case Conceptualization & Provisional 5-Axial Diagnosis Particularly, in our analysis of Ted Bundy’s case we are going to be guided by Hans Eysenck’s trait theory. Hans Eysenck suggested that there are only three traits that determine human personality - his personal attitude toward things, as well as his social behavior patterns (Eysenck, 1947). These are, according to his Dimensions of Personality, Extraversion, Neuroticism, and Psychoticism. Hence, Eysenck’s model of personality (P-E-N), provided initially two personality dimensions, Extraversion and Neuroticism, was later extended with the third one, Psychoticism, in order to explicate individual differences in behaviorism types of personality (Eysenck, 1947). With an assistance of the aforesaid trait theory, Hans Eysenck was able to classify most of causes of personality sufficiently (Eysenck, 1947). He discovered that “introverts are characterized by higher levels of activity than extraverts”, because they are chronically more “cortically aroused than extraverts”. Actually, it seems to sound rather controversial, though, that introverts have a higher rate of social activity in their behavior patterns than extraverts; moreover, one of the outcomes from P-E-N model suggest that introverts need lesser stimulators from environments. From the other perspective, extraverts always want to compensate their lack of inward arousal by the extremely intensive rates of social activities. Axis I. Clinical Disorders or Other Conditions That May Be a Focus of Clinical Attention Analogically, tragically colored outcome from these observations, concerning Ted Bundy’s case, is that this introvert, being chronically aroused, required a permanent compensation for his social disability, while sources for his inward stimulation became exhausted. As a result, a personal disaster of this fully introvertive type of personality determaned predominantly his social deviations: he focused on committing a series of murders. Additionally, we must put an emphasis that Bundy’s childhood was quite traumatic because of his mother’s depression and his distant position from the father. Accordingly, identity of his parentage was ambiguous for him till his high school; so, he was trying to get closer, instead of the family unity feeling, with the dead bodies of his innocent victims through necrophilia (Kendall, 1981). By the contacts with defragmented bodies, he managed to supplement a shortage of a parental comfort. Axis II. Personality Disorders/Mental Retardation Moreover, there is also an influential hypothesis about influence of pornography on Bundy’s mind since his childhood. Similarly, Bundy said that violent pornography played a prominent role in his sexual crimes in the Dobson interview before the execution (Winn, 1980). Being based on these suggestions, some researchers state that Bundy’s assumption of pornography as a leading factor in his crimes were “manipulating efforts” (Rule, 2000); hence, they could not serve as guided motives within sexual abuses. Then, Bundy could be aroused by the fact that he was in a dominant position toward his helpless victims. Normally, he was satisfied with the fear he forced them to experience. This suggestion can be supported with Bundy’s confession that he had known people who “radiated vulnerability.” (Aynesworth & Michaud, 1989) His predatory instincts could be fed up only by fears they all explicated under a threat of death. Bundy’s suggestions toward an absence of the human value in comparison with that of the planet were, therefore, always proven by these hesitant people. Axis III. General Medical Conditions Consequently, Bundy’s behavioral motives for crimes committed have been discussed for a long time differently by researchers. There are two main types of these motives, which can be divided into the social cognitivism and personality theories. Previously, we were focused on trait theory implications, but social determined ones can be also perceived as highly relevant for the paper. So, we are going to analyze Bundy’s real motives in a wider social framework in order to prove an importance of Eysenck’s E-P-N personality scheme. According to the Eysenck’s E-P-N model of the personality, we would suggest that all the aforesaid motives must be combined in ultimate supposition. In this model three traits of personality, such as Extravert/Introvert, Pshychoticism, Neuroticism, played determinative roles as three predominant elements in overall framework of personality. Bundy’s case, applying to these personality components, appear to mean that he, as vivid introvert, being disabled of the social interactions, became aroused within himself extraordinarily. Whereas extravert needs to be stimulated by the social activities, the opposite type concentrates all the inner stimulators, and, as a result, they indicate an explosion. When there were no possibilities to be realized, the intentions of introvert person came outward, into the social dimension. The explosion was articulated by the serial murder. Axis IV. Psychosocial and Environmental Problems: With Primary Support Group, Social Environment, Educational Problems, Occupational Problems, Housing problems, Economic problems, Health Care Services Problems, Interaction With the Legal System, Etc. Predominantly, the most evident explanation of motives in the Bundy’s case is that of social origin. Bundy was unable to understand the crucial mechanisms of social behaviorism and this made him a deviant person, who did not “know what underlay social interactions.” (Rule, 2000) Trying to maintain a façade of various social inter-activities, he felt no natural senses of how to get along with other people (Winn, 1980); then, he was attempting to compensate his anger going from his social disability by the serial murder. Further on, among ruling motives for the Bundy’s case was, presumably, the fact of “Stephanie Brooks” disappearing soon after her graduation from the University (Kendall, 1981). Bundy was completely devastated by her rejection, which was initiated by what she described as Bundy’s “immaturity and lack of ambition.” (Rule, 2000) Presumably, being affected by such resentments, he wanted, then, to revenge permanently by killing the victims, which usually had some features in common with those of the “Brooks”. Habitually, Bundy’s victims had long straight hair parted in the middle (Aynesworth & Michaud, 1989). This explanation can be useful for understanding of his fury at the moment of crimes committing. Axis V. Global Assessment of Functioning Ultimately, Bundy represented himself by having a lot of unused energy, and who started to behave himself as a psychopath because of absence of social interactions for him. Vice versa, social environment did not help Bundy to realize himself as a valuable person in the society or primary group, and a value of an ordinary personality, and, therefore, he lost any possible senses. He did not manage to understand why life itself tended to be perceived as an extra-valuable thing, and why it is so important for all of us as living creatures to be grateful for staying alive (Rule, 2000). By the Bundy’s case we face a situation when one person conflicts with the whole social interactive frameworks, patterns, and networks, due to the fact that an unmerciful society did not help him enough to handle himself appropriately, using common strategies that were accepted (Aynesworth & Michaud, 1989). So, GAF = 25. Treatment Plan Based on Ted Bundys motives, we shall put our diagnosis in order to define the treatment plan. Accordingly, he appears to be a psychopath/neuropath, with maniac-depressive psychosis, so we need for reducing his pain firstly (see explications in Axis I), and there is the Plan of (his imagianary) treatment: 1. We need to study Patients characteristics of included trials. 2. Antidepressants, because he would be in a strong need for reducing pain: “tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs) in controlled trials relieve central post-stroke pain, post-herpetic neuralgia, painful diabetic and non-diabetic polyneuropathy and post-mastectomy pain syndrome, but not spinal cord injury pain, phantom limb pain, or pain in HIV-neuropathy.” (Winn & Merill, 1980) 3. Anticolvulsants, due to the fact that “in painful diabetic neuropathy, the NNT from one trial with 30 patients on 200–600 mg daily was 2.3 (1.6–3.9) and in post-stroke pain there was a small but not statistically signi cant effect of 800 mg daily with a NNT of 3.4 (1.7–105).” (Rule, 2000) If we only skip over Ted Bundys materials, it becomes evident that antidepressants and anticolvulsants are absolutely necessary and inevitable. 4. Opioids are also absolutely necessary for reducing neuropaths pain: “intravenous opioid administration has been shown to have an effect on peripheral neuropathic pain, on mixed neuropathic pain conditions, and on some components of central pain .” (Aynesworth & Michaud, 1989) 5. Moreover, NMDA antagonists should be added, due to the fact that “NMDA antagonists given as intravenous infusions may relieve neuropathic pains of different origin.” (Kendall, 1981) 6. Miscellaneous, because “mexiletine seems to lack a pain relieving effect in HIV neuropathy, spinal cord injury, and neuropathic pain with prominent allodynia.” (Rule, 2000) 7. Finally, we are to provide a “quantitative data synthesis” on “homogeneity/heterogeneity,” cause all dozes must meet (imaginary) patients need first of all, in order not to give him a wrong doze concerning substantial material, also quality or quantity of medicine/drug. References Aynesworth, H., Michaud, S. (1989). Ted Bundy: Conversations with a Killer. Signet. Eysenck, H.J. (1947). Dimensions of Personality. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. Kendall, E. (1981). The Phantom Prince: My Life With Ted Bundy. Madrona Pub. Rule, A. (2000). The Stranger Beside Me. Signet. Winn, S., Merrill, D. (1980). Ted Bundy: The Killer Next Door. Bantam. Read More