The Mind of a Murderer: A glimpse into the darkest corners of the human psyche, from a leading forensic psychiatrist

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memory, and noted that Stella seemed to be detached from the killing and from her dead baby. The discussion went on to consider not just her disturbed mental state but also her murderousness to her unwanted baby. Stella had concealed her aggression by seemingly separating herself from her Where to watch The Mind of a Murderer Buy Seasons 1-2 Buy Seasons 1-2 Subscription Seasons 1-2 Buy Seasons 1-2 An intricate and brilliantly written psychiatric perspective on the most perplex She explained: “They all seem like ­ordinary people, but they all share one thing – a psychotic personality that gets a thrill from killing. A clinical diagnosis requires the unusual experiences to be accompanied by high levels of distress and dysfunction. Some individuals suffering in this way may have periods when, to the observer, their behaviour appears bizarre. What has become increasingly clear to me in my practice is that diagnosis is not a particularly informative way of understanding behaviour. I have been involved in too many trials in which the central issue has been whether the criteria for a specific diagnosis were met.

Perhaps forensic psychiatry had become, for the most part, just another profession for me, inured to violence and its consequences. Some people go to work to look at a trading screen, design buildings, teach a classroom of children or read manuscripts, but a few of us traipse around the prisons to interview murderers and try to make sense of them. Richard Taylor: Well, in cases like these you get a range of responses, from clamming up to being open, and in this case he was very open, happy to talk, alarmingly so. For example, the fetish exhibitionism bit, I thought he was giving a really evasive account about that. He said, 'Oh, well, I was just urinating. I didn't have any intention to go in.'

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Once we have the means to correct behaviour through surgical intervention, who defines what is worth correcting? And should we intervene before a person commits murder? We will have to deal with these questions as the line between criminal and patient becomes increasingly blurry. a consultant in most medical specialities, which I think is about right. Over time, I found my forensic anxiety had diminished. I’d also learned to manage my stress levels by not accepting every referral or teaching invitation, trying not to be omnipotent in preventing every psychotic crime in my patch, and protecting my time at weekends with a ban on report-writing on Saturdays. A few years later, I coincidentally found myself as a newly qualified consultant (in an ‘acting up’ or locum post) supervising Stella in outpatients. After a year in secure hospital, she had been given a non- custodial penalty and made subject to probation supervision with a condition of psychiatric treatment.

Absolutely fascinating… and disturbing! This is one of the best non fiction books I’ve ever read. Totally absorbing as Dr Richard Taylor recalls cases he’s worked on there include some of the worst murders committed by some of the worst people… and also some of the saddest murders caused by unresolved issues, e.g postpartum psychosis. Olav Nielssen [archival]: I think the tragic cases are happening with monotonous regularity. We know there's about half a dozen homicides by the mentally ill in New South Wales every year. About half of them have presented to mental health services in the week or two before hand. It was these experiences that formed the basis of his first book, ‘The Mind of a Murderer’ which has received critical acclaim. ‘Chilling…. unsettling’ - The Sunday Times. ‘A fascinating insight into what drives criminality’ -The Sunday Telegraph. ‘An intricate and brilliantly written psychiatric perspective on the most perplexing of crimes’ - Forensic psychologist and author Kerry Daynes. ‘Beautifully written and very dark' Nimco Ali, Home Office advisor on violence against women and girls.' Changing the workings of the brain can even affect personality and empathy. A historic case that showed this quite dramatically was the railroad worker Phineas Gage, who developed anti-social behaviour after his forebrain was punctured by an iron rod during an accident. ( 1) The Telegraph values your comments but kindly requests all posts are on topic, constructive and respectful. Please review ourSana Qadar: I can't imagine what it's like to confront that for the first time. How did that affect you? Targeted stimulation of certain brain areas can make muscles twitch, or stop involuntary movements such as in Parkinson’s. ( 2) Even neural drivers for complex behaviour have been pinned down: if areas of a rat’s brain associated with reward and motivation are stimulated while the animal presses a lever, the rat will soon ignore food and water and just keep pressing the lever as if there was nothing else in the world. ( 3)