Mental Instability is a psychological disorder that most people suffer from to a certain degree. Some may have it to a very minimal degree, and some may be stuck in the 50/50 range--a balance of both instability and stability. The ones to look out for, are the people that have this instability to an extreme degree.
People who live without soundness in their lives have a severe degree of Mental Instability. This instability works against them, it deprives them of stableness and causes them to seek for soundness and stableness in their lives. This drive for stability will never end, until their instability disappears, and they are satisfied.
All criminals have Mental Instability to a severe degree. But, before we get into that, let's define it first, and relate it to its several associations.
What Is It?
Mental Instability is defined as the imbalancing of one's rational thinking. This imbalancing can be best explained with the Line Of Justification. When a person finds reason to commit an act, whether it is moral, amoral, or immoral, he/she will justify his/her actions with the alteration of the Line Of Justification.
The ideal Line Of Justification is unbiased, and balanced. The center line divides "RIGHT" from "WRONG."
Look at Figure 1.1. This is the ideal Line Of Justification. The "()" presents the center divider of RIGHT and WRONG. the "=" represents the RIGHT half, and the "+" represents the WRONG half.
Figure 1.1
Figure 1.2 shows the Line Of Justification of a mentally unstable person.
Figure 1.2
These people tend to be selfish and greedy. They seek power to satisfy their instability. They are also victims of their own weaknesses, unable to restrain themselves from temptation. They make excuses for themselves to commit acts that they wouldn't commit if they were stable.
For an example is a story of a kid who justifies the use of marijuana.
"All my buddies are doing it and are experiencing some really awesome not-to-be-missed highs. They want me to do it, and it's my first time ever because before I never did it. I knew that it was wrong. First of all, it's against the law. Second of all it'll kill more of my brain cells, and I don't have anymore to lose. . . . but then I'm curious. and I feel like I'm missing out, so I try it. Afterwards, things are not so good. I go home in the middle of the night round three o clock and I feel woozy from all the pot and beer. I go to the toilet, and I try to get some of the alcohol out of my system(not a happy scene). I begin to get paranoid about what my parents will think, and what they might discover . . . so I take a shower to try and rid the putrid odor of the pot and beer, and I jump into bed, quietly . . . don't want to wake the parents at three in the morning. The rest of the night I'm dead. I sleep and the sun is up and then I worry. I look at my watch and it's 1PM already, I curse at myself, DAMN! What am I going to do now? I feel so guilty. I have been abiding by my morals for so long, and I finally blew it. There was no going back to the innocence. . . some would feel less guilty but I have a conscience. So the next nite my buddies call again, and I refuse to go . . . but they come anyway to pick me up and drag me to the car. I'm out on the scene, and the social life is going well. I chug a couple beers down, and the pot, well, it just comes right around. This time and I think, what the hell, I'm having a good time right? it's my life, so whatever I do matters most as long as it satisfies me(right?). And I'm happy with all my friends so, yes, I'm just fine and dandy. I don't have to worry about this guilt anymore. It's all right with me."
This kid has just altered his Line of Justification. He has just made a little of the WRONG, RIGHT. Sometimes our subconscious finds a need to keep us psychologically stable, therefore convincing us that our actions are justified, simply by denying the truth. This is called the Denial Factor. We deny the truth because the truth is too hard to face, and denial helps us cope with the ordeal till we eventually ignore it. This state of nescient thinking, where the person refuses to face his/her true fear by using his/her subconsious to alter the Line Of Justification, thus gaining stability, is known as the Comfort Zone.
Some other easy-to-witness alterations are alcoholics and substance abusers. They make excuses for themselves to do what they do, therefore altering their Line of Justification, so the next time around, they don't feel the guilt or the reason to ponder it because they've already justified it the time before.
Another example, is myself. I'm writing out this theory, living in ignorance, because it satisfies me, and brings me soundness, while I continue to deny the stack of paper work I have on my desk.
The first time altering the Line Of Justification to justify an act is always the hardest. This is known as the virgin-like period where the person is feeling the guilt, but wanting to leave the guilt behind to lay it off of his/her shoulder, just like that kid who tried marijuana for the first time. The second time around, it was much easier for him to do it because he had already passed this virgin-like period of altering his Line Of Justification. He had become oblivious to his once WRONGdoings.
People can also have his/her Line Of Justification altered the opposite way. These people, who make their RIGHTs seem like WRONGs feel guilt for things they shouldn't feel guilt for, therefore causing them to do more RIGHT to make up for their "WRONG"doings. This type of person, is definitely more beneficial to have around than the other type.
Figure 1.3 shows the Line Of Justification of a person who feels that his/her RIGHT actions are actually WRONG.
Figure 1.3
How This Applies to Violent Offenders
Like the boy who justified his use of marijuana, violent offenders find reason enough to excuse his/her actions to lash out at others. For the boy it was mainly peer pressure and curiosity. He was curious about the "high" that his friends were feeling, and felt that in order to fit in, he would have to smoke marijuana. Curiosity plays a big role in feeding Mental Instability. For some sex offenders, who have been deprived of sexual activity with an actual partner, curiosity becomes their main motive in sexually assaulting another person(not all-sometimes the motive is worked in with power-tripping, anger, hatred, and confusion, and of course, there is a lot of room for other emotions as well). This deprivation and curiosity is enough reason to excuse their actions. They feel that they have the "right" to perpetrate their desires on another person simply because they have suffered for so long without their "needs." Their Line Of Justification is severely skewed, shifting their WRONGs into their RIGHTs.
First time offenders often feel guilt for their actions, because their alteration of the Line Of Justification is incomplete. They are still in their virgin-like period, and are capable of feeling guilt, remorse, sympathy and empathy for their victims. These guilty-feelings soon drift away, as they continue on their journey of violence.
What causes them to come back? Why do they often addict to these activities that we perceive as "unconscionable," "immoral," and "wrong?" Curiosity and deprivation. Their guilty-feelings become replaced with curiosity and deprivation, the two same things that drove them to commit their first time offense. Only, these two things have evolved to a Seek for Satisfaction. While their guilty feelings vanished, their recollection of the satisfaction they received remained present. The excitement, the POWER they have over their struggling victim, feeling his/her life slipping away, feeds their instability. This brings them sense and soundness. This brings them satisfaction. Now, after their first-time offense, they have been able to label what gives them this wonderful and new sensation, therefore creating a perpetual, increasing drive and hunger for the same thing. This is why sex offenders are usually repeat offenders, and this is also why sex offenders are immune to criminal rehabilitation.
The Addicted Sex Offender Evolves
( I will now refer to sex offenders as males, since the majority of sex offenders are male.)
After their virgin-like period, when the offender gradually becomes immune to all guilty feelings, and feels apathy instead of empathy, he becomes capable of evolving, and will most likely feel compelled to out of boredom. What he doesn't want is routine, because routine takes away all those feelings of excitement, power, and thrill, which ultimately provide him with satisfaction. So, continuing on his Seek for Satisfaction, the offender will find reason to do something more. As the offender grows more experienced, he may evolve into what is known as a serial sex offender(a repeat sex offender). This is the cause for the production and evolution of a signiture(not the modus operandi-which is defined as the actions made to commit the crime), which is what an offender does at the scene that is insignificant with committing the crime. This is something the offender does to seek personal gratification(i.e.--taking something that belongs to the victim as a trophy, or simply overkilling at the scene. i.e.--multiple stab wounds when it only takes a few to kill the victim).
--to be cont'd.