We do not know much about Kohberger's mental health history, as discussed
here. Other than his supposedly having done a stint in rehab for heroin dependence, as of now, we know do not know whether he was diagnosed or treated for
Asperger's,
autism,
OCD,
PTSD,
psychosis, or any other
psychiatriccondition. But it is beginning to appear that, like Elliot Rodger and others--including serial killer Ted Bundy, who in 1978 brutally attacked four college girls, killing two, at the Chi Omega sorority house in Tallahassee, Florida--Kohberger had a big problem with women. He reportedly had been bullied or teased by peers, especially popular females, in middle school for being morbidly obese, and, as a consequence, may have harbored intense feelings of resentment,
anger or rage toward those whom he felt tortured him so cruelly. Did he seek vicarious vengeance on young, attractive women in general?
Or could Kohberger--who, unlike Bundy, is not a serial killer but rather a multiple murderer--have been infatuated with one or more of the young women he killed? Could he have stalked and, with malice and forethought, targeted his victim/victims in advance of the killings? There are some indications that he did.
Interestingly, his crime and choice of weapon, a fixed blade knife, is eerily similar to O.J. Simpson's double murder of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. Did Kohberger have both the Bundy and Simpson slayings in mind? In the gruesome Bundy, Simpson, and Kohberger murder scenes, there was clear evidence of "overkill" toward the victims, indicating immense rage on the part of the perpetrator. For O.J. Simpson, who was eventually found liable for the murders by a civil trial, the
motivation appears to have been
jealousy, possessiveness, control, power, and an unremitting murderous rage.
As with Simpson, Kohberger savagely butchered his victims with a blade which was never subsequently found and left an incredibly incriminating piece of evidence behind: for Simpson, it was his infamous blood-soaked leather glove; and, for Kohberger, his leather knife sheath bearing his own
DNA which eventually led to his arrest.
Of course, it is easy to come to the simplistic conclusion that in this case and so many others, such as that of Elliot Rodger, chronic
sexual frustration and rejection caused or at least contributed to this evil deed. Had Kohberger possibly been previously rejected or snubbed by one of his female victims? Certainly, sex is a primal human need and motivation, and its chronic frustration can be painful and infuriating, especially for males. (See my
prior post.) But there are many other basic human needs that, when frustrated, can also lead to resentment, anger, rage and, in some cases, violent behavior.
For example, existential
loneliness and alienation can lead to violence against self and/or others when chronic and unremitting (see my
prior post on loneliness). There is the innate need for relationship, for human contact, affection,
intimacy, and for love. When human beings are deprived of love or companionship, be it in
childhood,
adolescence, or adulthood, there is a natural response of resentment, anger or rage which, if never explicitly acknowledged and therapeutically addressed, can ultimately be expressed in a negative, sullen or hostile way of relating to others and in oppositional, antisocial, destructive, or even violent behavior.
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To cite psychologist Rollo May (1969) on the subject, "Violence is the ultimate destructive substitute which surges in to fill the vacuum where there is no related-ness....When inward life dries up, when feeling decreases and apathy increases, when one cannot affect or even genuinely
touch another person, violence flares up as a daimonic necessity for contact, a mad drive forcing touch in the most direct way possible" (pp. 30-31).
A lack of meaning or purpose in life is another conceivable contributing factor in this confounding case. Meaninglessness, the prolonged frustration of what existential psychiatrist Viktor Frankl (1946) called our innate "will to meaning" can, over time, lead to anger, rage, and a nihilistic outlook devoid of values,
ethicsor morals which does not preclude engaging in cruelty, violence, and other evil acts. There is also the primal need for power and self-assertion to consider.
Powerlessness is related to feelings of helplessness, hopelessness, impotence and victimization, and violence in many cases is engaged in to feel more powerful. In such cases, the disempowered victim turns the tables and becomes the powerful victimizer. But in each of these situations, it is the unresolved feelings of resentment, anger or rage in response to some type of existential frustration or perceived personal affront that provides the primary motivation for
revenge and retaliation toward those believed to have inflicted these excruciating psychological, emotional, or physical wounds.
Lastly, there is the fundamental human need for feeling significant, important, to be recognized by parents, teachers, peers and by society. The chronic frustration of this existential need can result in what I have previously called a "wicked rage for recognition" (see my
prior post). This
neurotic or sometimes psychotic compulsive craving for
attention, celebrity or fame takes the form of negative, self-defeating, oppositional and frequently destructive or, in some cases, even violent acts such as
mass shootings.
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Could Kohberger have killed in premeditated pursuit of becoming immortal like the murderous criminals he so avidly studied? Because he craved to be forever remembered and recognized by the world, albeit as a depraved and evil murderer? Human beings possess what I call an "immortality drive" which, when not creatively expressed, can in some perverse cases motivate murder. Or could he have aspired to having cleverly committed the perfect crime? (This would clearly be driven by pathological or
psychopathic narcissism.) In hindsight, which is always 20-20, it seems Kohberger may have intentionally studied and emulated prominent
mass murderers in a deliberate effort to learn how to successfully commit murder himself. Murder so foul, so evil, so memorable that his name would forever live on in the forensic
criminology literature and be long remembered by the general public.
In the final analysis, while there are clearly myriad speculative possibilities noted here, all of which may have played some part, I submit that what most compelled Bryan Kohberger to commit this atrociously evil deed is mainly his immense
anger, rage, resentment, hatred and
embitterment toward women and the world.
Such miserable people have become so frustrated and furious with life that they finally succumb to nihilism, depravity, psychopathy, and the eternally perilous lure of evil. They are unwilling to accept personal responsibility for their failures or to consciously acknowledge and explore their festering rage and toxic embitterment about their existence.
They seek to inflict as much pain, suffering, retribution, and revenge as possible on those they hold responsible, either directly or indirectly, literally or symbolically, for their own suffering, torment, dejection, rejection, failure, frustration, and despondency. Feeling victimized by evil themselves, they decide to victimize others. Though they sometimes seek professional help, these deeply disturbed individuals sadly seldom receive effective therapeutic treatment. Profoundly discouraged,
depressed, and perpetually bitter, these people eventually just give up trying to constructively address and resolve their problems, instead turning ultimately to evil. Tragically, in the end, they settle for facile infamy.
We may never learn from Bryan Kohberger himself what motivated him to commit these savage and shocking killings. Much the same may be said of other mass murderers. Nonetheless, we must try our best to comprehend and discern the complex psychological, cultural, neurobiological, and existential factors that culminate in such terrible evil deeds. By explicitly recognizing and more deeply understanding the existential reality and psychology of evil in general, we can become less susceptible to it and better prepared to, at least in some cases, prevent them from happening.
How can we comprehend horrific acts of evil?
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