Criminal Psychology

In general, criminal psychology is the science of behavior and mental processes. This
means that psychologists use the methods of science to investigate all kinds of behavior and
mental processes, from the activity of a single nerve cell to the social conflict in a complex
society.
Criminal psychology is a sub-field of general psychology where criminal behavior is
only, in part by which phenomena psychologist choose to study, it may be defined as the study
of criminal behavior, the study of criminal conduct and activities to discover recurrent patterns
and to formulate rules about his/her behavior.

Mental Disturbances as Causes of Crimes

The following are cases of mental disturbances which are sometimes the cause of
criminality and the development of criminal behavior.

1. MENTAL DEFICIENCY
A condition of arrested or incomplete development of the brain which exists before the
age of 18, whether arising from the inherent causes or induced by disease or injury.
Mentally deficient persons are prone to commit malicious damage to property and
unnatural sex. They may commit violent crimes but not crimes involving the use of
mentality.

Classes of Mental Deficiency:

• Idiots – persons with a mental defect to a degree that they are unable to guard
themselves against common physical dangers. Their mentality is comparable to that of a
2-year-old child.
• Imbeciles – persons with a mental defect, which though not amounting to idiocy, is yet
so pronounced that they are incapable of managing themselves or their affairs.
• Moron/Feeble-minded – persons with a mental defect, which though not amounting to
imbecility, is yet so pronounced that they require care, supervision, and control for their
own or for protection of others, or in the case of children, they appear to be
permanently incapable of receiving proper benefits from instruction in ordinary
schools.
• Morally defective – persons with strong vicious or criminal propensities. They require
care and supervision and control for their own or for the protection of others.

2. PSYCHOSIS
Psychosis is a common mental disorder among young offenders and habitual criminals.
It can be functional or organic and is characterized by infantile level of responses, a lack
of conscience and affection for others, and aggression toward the environment and
other people. Individuals experiencing psychosis lose touch with reality, struggling to
distinguish between fantasy and reality. They often experience severe communication
breakdowns and social isolation.

The most common types of psychoses are the following:

• Schizophrenia – Also known as dementia praecox, is a serious mental health condition
that affects how people think, feel and behave. It may result in a mix of hallucinations,
delusions, and disorganized thinking and behavior. Hallucinations involve seeing things
or hearing voices that aren't observed by others. Delusions involve firm beliefs about
things that are not true. Their personal appearance is dilapidated, and they are liable to
impulsive acts and may commit suicide. People with schizophrenia can seem to lose
touch with reality, which can make daily living very hard.
• Paranoia – It is a psychotic delusion characterized by incorrect or unreasonable ideas
which can be seen as truth by people suffering from this disorder. Paranoia is a Greek
term which means “a mind beside itself.” Paranoid people are suspicious and have that
feeling of being persecuted by others. In the paranoid’s mind the delusion system is firm
and is accompanied by clear and orderly thinking because he or she can give rational,
distinct, and clear reasons for his or her thoughts.
When a person believes others are “out to get” them; trying to harm or stalk them; or
watching, hunting, spying, or paying excessive attention to them for no reason, they may
be experiencing paranoia. This condition can be a symptom or side effect of several
mental illnesses, as well as intoxication or drug misuse.
 3. NEUROSIS
This is another common type of mental disorder linked to criminal behavior. Neurotic
behaviors are those that do not grossly violate social norms or represent severely
disorganized personalities. Most neurotics are aware of their problems and may not
seek professional help. They do not require hospitalization but are guilty, unhappy,
anxious people.

The most common neuroses with their respective symptoms are the following:

A. Anxiety Disorders
Experiencing occasional anxiety is a normal part of life. However, people with anxiety
disorders frequently have intense, excessive and persistent worry and fear about
everyday situations. Often, anxiety disorders involve repeated episodes of sudden
feelings of intense anxiety and fear or terror that reach a peak within minutes (panic
attacks). These feelings of anxiety and panic interfere with daily activities, are difficult
to control, are out of proportion to the actual danger and can last a long time. You may
avoid places or situations to prevent these feelings. Symptoms may start during
childhood or the teen years and continue into adulthood.

Common anxiety signs and symptoms include:

- Feeling nervous, restless or tense
- Having a sense of impending danger, panic or doom
- Having an increased heart rate
- Breathing rapidly (hyperventilation)
- Sweating
- Trembling
- Feeling weak or tired
- Trouble concentrating or thinking about anything other than the present worry
- Having trouble sleeping
- Experiencing gastrointestinal problems
- Having difficulty controlling worry
- Having the urge to avoid things that trigger anxiety

Classification:
• Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder – This is the uncontrollable or irresistible impulse to
do something. There may be an active desire to resist this irrational behavior, but the
person is prevented by his unconscious motives to act out his difficulty or to suffer
miserably in his fear.
OCD features a pattern of unwanted thoughts and fears known as obsessions. These
obsessions lead you to do repetitive behaviors, also called compulsions. These
obsessions and compulsions get in the way of daily activities and cause a lot of distress.
Ultimately, you feel driven to do compulsive acts to ease your stress. Even if you try to
ignore or get rid of bothersome thoughts or urges, they keep coming back. This leads
you to act based on ritual. This is the vicious cycle of OCD. It often centers around
certain themes, such as being overly fearful of getting contaminated by germs. To ease
contamination fears, you may wash your hands repeatedly until they're sore and
chapped.

• Neurasthenia – This is a condition of weakened nerves that manifests in fatigue and

nervousness and sometimes physical symptoms such as pain.
Also known as nervous exhaustion, is a mental health condition characterized by
persistent feelings of fatigue, weakness, and difficulty concentrating. It involves a range
of physical and mental symptoms, often linked to stress and emotional strain.

• Phobia – Specific phobias are an extreme fear of objects or situations that pose little or
no danger but make you highly anxious. So, you try to stay away from these things.
Unlike the brief anxiety you may feel when giving a speech or taking a test, specific
phobias are long-lasting. Without treatment, specific phobias tend to last a lifetime.
Phobias can cause strong physical, mental and emotional responses. They also can affect
how you act at work or school, or in social situations. Specific phobias are common
anxiety disorders. Overall, they happen more often in females. Not all phobias need to
be treated. But if a specific phobia affects your daily life, several types of therapies are
available to help you work through and conquer your fears — often forever.
 Phobia comes from the Greek word "phobos," which means fear. Examples of more
common names include acrophobia for the fear of heights and claustrophobia for the
fear of confined spaces.

B. Somatoform Disorders
Also known as somatic symptom disorder or psychosomatic disorder, is a mental health
condition that causes an individual to experience physical bodily symptoms in response
to psychological distress. Young people find it difficult to express their feelings and
because of this, it is likely that psychological distress is expressed as physical (somatic)
symptoms.

Classification:
• Hypochondriasis (Illness Anxiety Disorder) – It means a morbid concern of one’s health
especially when accompanied by delusions or physical disease. A hypochondriac person
tends to seek medical advice, but his fear is not lessened by his doctor’s reassurances,
and he may be disappointed when no physical problem is found.
• Psychogenic Pain Disorder - If you've ever been sick or injured, chances are that it put
you in a pretty bad mood. Experiencing pain has been known to exacerbate other
symptoms, such as stress and anxiety. But unfortunately, just like pain can make you feel
worse mentally, your mind can cause pain without a physical source, or make
preexisting pain increase or linger. This phenomenon is called psychogenic pain, and it
occurs when your pain is related to underlying psychological, emotional, or behavioral
factors.
It's not entirely clear why your brain sometimes causes pain when there seems to be no
physical source. Some theories suggest that it's due to pain memory, a condition that
causes the nervous system to hold onto pain long after an injury has healed. Others
suggest that this pain may be caused by signals getting confused within the brain. The
normal sensation of pain and where it's located in the body is generally sent through
nerve receptors that transmit information to the spine, which then sends it up to the
brain. However, there's room for messages to get lost along the way from point A to
point B, making it possible for the brain to interpret mental distress as physical pain.
Some psychological factors that might cause physical pain include anxiety disorders,
bipolar disorder, depression, and stress.
Just like pain caused by a physical stimulus, psychogenic pain can be acute or chronic.
Acute pain is sharp but brief and usually doesn't require treatment. Chronic pain is
persistent, lasting anywhere from a few weeks to several years. Because of the
continued suffering of chronic pain, treatment is highly encouraged. Chronic
psychogenic pain can be felt all over the body with varying intensity, though it most
commonly presents as a headache, a muscle ache, abdominal pain, or back pain.
• Conversion Disorder – Is a condition where a mental health issue disrupts how your
brain works. This causes real, physical symptoms that a person cannot control.
Symptoms can include seizures, weakness or paralysis, or reduced input from one or
more senses (sight, sound, etc.). The symptoms happen because your brain “converts”
the effects of a mental health issue into disruptions of your brain or nervous system. The
symptoms are real but don’t match up with recognized brain-related conditions.

C. Dissociative Disorders
Dissociative disorders are mental health conditions that involve experiencing a loss of
connection between thoughts, memories, feelings, surroundings, behavior and identity.
These conditions include escape from reality in ways that are not wanted and not
healthy. This causes problems in managing everyday life.
Dissociative disorders usually arise as a reaction to shocking, distressing or painful
events and help push away difficult memories. Symptoms depend in part on the type of
dissociative disorder and can range from memory loss to disconnected identities. Times
of stress can worsen symptoms for a while, making them easier to see.
Types of Dissociative Disorders:
• Dissociative Amnesia – The main symptom of dissociative amnesia is memory loss that
is more severe than normal forgetfulness. The memory loss cannot be explained by a
medical condition. You cannot recall information about yourself or events and people in
your life, especially from a time when you felt shocked, distress or pain. A bout of
dissociative amnesia usually occurs suddenly. It may last minutes, hours, or rarely,
months or years. It can be specific to events in a certain time, such as intense combat.
 More rarely, it can involve complete loss of memory about yourself. It sometimes may
involve travel or confused wandering away from your life. This confused wandering is
called dissociative fugue.

• Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) – Formerly known as multiple personality

disorder, this disorder involves "switching" to other identities called “alters”. You may
feel as if you have two or more people talking or living inside your head. You may feel
like you're possessed by other identities.
Each identity may have a unique name, personal history and features. These identities
sometimes include differences in voice, gender, mannerisms, and even such physical
qualities as the need for eyeglasses. There also are differences in how familiar each
identity is with the others. Dissociative identity disorder usually also includes bouts of
amnesia and often includes times of confused wandering.
• Depersonalization/Derealization Disorder – This involves persistent feelings of
detachment from oneself or from one’s surroundings. Depersonalization involves a sense
of separation from yourself or feeling like you're outside of yourself. You may feel as if
you're seeing your actions, feelings, thoughts and self from a distance, like you're
watching a movie. Derealization involves feeling that other people and things are separate
from you and seem foggy or dreamlike. Time may seem to slow down or speed up. The
world may seem unreal.
You may go through depersonalization, derealization or both. Symptoms, which can be
very distressing, may last hours, days, weeks or months. They may come and go over
many years. Or they may become ongoing.

D. Mood Disorders
A mood disorder is a mental health condition that primarily affects your emotional
state. It is a disorder in which you experience long periods of extreme happiness,
extreme sadness or both. Certain mood disorders involve other persistent emotions,
such as anger and irritability.
It’s normal for your mood to change, depending on the situation. However, for a mood
disorder diagnosis, symptoms must be present for several weeks or longer. Mood
disorders can cause changes in your behavior and can affect your ability to perform
routine activities, such as work or school.
Common mood disorders:
• Major Depressive Disorder - Depression is a mood disorder that causes a persistent
feeling of sadness and loss of interest. Also called major depressive disorder or clinical
depression, it affects how you feel, think and behave and can lead to a variety of
emotional and physical problems. You may have trouble doing normal day-to-day
activities, and sometimes you may feel as if life isn't worth living.
Although depression may occur only once during your life, people typically have
multiple episodes. During these episodes, symptoms occur most of the day, nearly every
day and may include:
✓ Feelings of sadness, tearfulness, emptiness or hopelessness
✓ Angry outbursts, irritability or frustration, even over small matters
✓ Loss of interest or pleasure in most or all normal activities, such as sex, hobbies or
sports
✓ Sleep disturbances, including insomnia or sleeping too much
✓ Tiredness and lack of energy, so even small tasks take extra effort
✓ Reduced appetite and weight loss or increased cravings for food and weight gain
✓ Anxiety, agitation or restlessness
✓ Slowed thinking, speaking or body movements
✓ Feelings of worthlessness or guilt, fixating on past failures or self-blame
✓ Trouble thinking, concentrating, making decisions and remembering things
✓ Frequent or recurrent thoughts of death, suicidal thoughts, suicide attempts or suicide
✓ Unexplained physical problems, such as back pain or headaches
• Dysthymia or Persistent Depressive Disorder – Is a mild form of major depressive
disorder. It is a continuous, long-term form of depression. You may feel sad and empty,
lose interest in daily activities and have trouble getting things done. You may also have
low self-esteem, feel like a failure and feel hopeless. These feelings last for years and
may interfere with your relationships, school, work and daily activities. If you have
persistent depressive disorder, you may find it hard to be upbeat even on happy
occasions. You may be described as having a gloomy personality, constantly complaining
 or not able to have fun. Persistent depressive disorder is not as severe as major
depression, but your current depressed mood may be mild, moderate or severe.
• Bipolar Disorder - Formerly called as manic depression, is a mental health condition
that causes extreme mood swings. These include emotional highs, also known as mania
or hypomania, and lows, also known as depression. Hypomania is less extreme than
mania. When you become depressed, you may feel sad or hopeless and lose interest or
pleasure in most activities. When your mood shifts to mania or hypomania, you may feel
very excited and happy (euphoric), full of energy or unusually irritable. These mood
swings can affect sleep, energy, activity, judgment, behavior and the ability to think
clearly.
• Cyclothymia – It causes emotional ups and downs, but they're not as extreme as bipolar
disorder. With cyclothymia, you experience periods when your mood noticeably shifts
up and down from your baseline. You may feel on top of the world for a time or have an
elevated mood (hypomanic symptoms), followed by a low period when you feel
somewhat down. Between these cyclothymic highs and lows, you may feel stable and
fine.

SELF-STUDY
E. Personality Disorders

Personality is the way of thinking, feeling, and behaving that makes a person different from
other people. An individual’s personality is influenced by experiences, environment, and
inherited characteristics. A person’s personality typically stays the same over time.

To be classified as a personality disorder, one’s way of thinking, feeling, and behaving deviates
from the expectations of the culture, causes distress or problems functioning, and lasts over
time. The pattern of experience and behavior usually begins by late adolescence or early
adulthood and causes distress or problems in functioning. Without treatment, personality
disorders can be long-lasting.

A personality disorder is a mental health condition where people have a lifelong pattern of
seeing themselves and reacting to others in ways that cause problems. People with personality
disorders often have a hard time understanding emotions and tolerating distress. And they act
impulsively. This makes it hard for them to relate to others, causing serious issues, and affecting
to their family life, social activities, work and school performance, and overall quality of life.

In some cases, you may not know that you have a personality disorder. That’s because how you
think and behave seems natural to you. You may also think others are responsible for your
challenges.

Types of Personality Disorders:

1. Paranoid Personality Disorder

• It is characterized by a pervasive pattern of unwarranted distrust and suspicion
of others that involves interpreting their motives as malicious.
• Patients with this personality disorder distrust others and assume that others
intend to harm or deceive them even when they have no or insufficient
justification for these feelings.
• Some evidence suggests a link between this disorder and emotional and/or
physical abuse and victimization during childhood.
• They are hypervigilant for potential insults, slight threats, and disloyalty and
look for hidden meanings in remarks and actions. They closely scrutinize others
for evidence to support their suspicion.
• For example, they may misinterpret an offer of help as implication that they are
unable to do the task on their own. If they think that they have been insulted or
injured in any way, they do not forgive the person who insulted or injured them.
They tend to counterattack or to become angry in response to these perceived
insults or injuries.
• These patients are hesitant to confide in or develop close relationships with
others because they worry that the info may be used against them. They doubt
the loyalty of friend and the faithfulness of their spouse or partner. They can be
 extremely jealous and may constantly question the activities and motives of their
spouse or partner to justify their jealousy.
• When others respond negatively to them, they take these responses as
confirmation of their original suspicions.

2. Schizoid Personality Disorder

• It is characterized by a pervasive pattern of detachment from general disinterest
in social relationships and a limited range of emotions in interpersonal
relationships.
• Patients with this personality disorder seem to have no desire for close
relationships with other people including relatives. They have no close friends.
They rarely date and often do not marry. They prefer being by themselves.
• They are the so-called “loners”
• They choose activities and hobbies that do not require interaction with others.
• They do not seem bothered by what others think of them – whether good or bad.
They rarely react (by smiling or nodding) or show emotion in social situations.
They have difficulty expressing anger, even when they are provoked. They do not
react appropriately to important life events and may seem passive in response to
changes in circumstances.

3. Schizotypal Personality Disorder

• A pattern of being very uncomfortable in close relationships, having distorted
thinking and eccentric behavior.
• A person with schizotypal personality disorder may have odd beliefs or peculiar
behavior or speech or may have excessive social anxiety.
• Patients with this personality disorder often incorrectly interpret ordinary
occurrences as having special meaning for them. They may be superstitious or
think that they have special paranormal powers, which enable them to sense
events before they happen or to read other people’s minds. They may think that
they have magical control over others, thinking that they cause other people to
do ordinary things (e.g. feeding the cat) or that performing magical rituals can
prevents harm.
• They often dress oddly or in an unkempt way.
• They do not make eye contact.
• Has “magical thinking” – the belief that their thoughts can affect other people
and events.

4. Histrionic Personality Disorder

• A pattern of excessive emotion and attention-seeking. People with histrionic
personality disorder may be uncomfortable when they are not the center of
attention, may use physical appearance to draw attention to themselves or have
rapidly shifting or exaggerated emotions.
• Is overly emotional or dramatic or stirs up sexual feelings to get attention.
• Speaks dramatically with strong opinions but have few facts or details to back
them up.
• They want to impress others with their appearance and so are often preoccupied
with how they look.
• Have shallow emotions that change quickly.
• Thinks relationships with others are closer than they are.
• They are easily influenced by others and by current trends. They tend to be too
trusting, especially of authority figures who, they think, may be able to solve all
their problems.

5. Narcissistic Personality Disorder

• A person with this personality disorder may have grandiose sense of self-
importance, a sense of entitlement, take advantage of others and lack of
empathy.
• They overestimate their abilities and exaggerate their achievements. They think
they are superior, unique, or special. Their overestimation of their own worth
and achievements often implies an underestimation of the worth and
achievements of others. They stretch the truth about their achievements or
talents.
• Have fantasies about power, success, and being attractive to others. Believes
about being special and more important than others.
 • They feel that they should associate only with others as special and talented as
themselves, not ordinary people. This association with extraordinary people is
used to support and enhance their self-esteem. Because patients with NPD need
to be admired, their self-esteem depend on the positive regard of others and is
thus usually very fragile. They expect constant praise and want to be admired.
• Does not understand the needs and feelings of others.
• Expects favor and advantages without a good reason.
• Is jealous of others or believes that others are jealous of them.

6. Borderline Personality Disorder

• They have strong fear of being alone or abandoned that’s why they make frantic
efforts to avoid abandonment and generate crisis, such as making suicidal
gestures in a way that invites rescue and caregiving by others.
• If they feel that they are being abandoned or neglected, they feel intense fear or
anger. For example, they may become panicky or furious when someone
important to them is a few minutes late or cancels an engagement. They think
that this abandonment means that they are bad.
• They demand to spend a lot of time together and share everything. Suddenly,
they may feel that the person does not care enough, and they become
disillusioned; then they may belittle or become angry with the person.
• They can empathize with and care for the person but only if they feel that the
person will be there for them whenever needed.
• They have difficulty controlling their anger and often become inappropriate and
intensely angry. After the outburst, they often feel ashamed and guilty
reinforcing their feeling or being bad.
• Threatens self-harm or behaves in ways that could lead to suicide.
• Is often very angry. Shows impulsive and risky behavior, such as having unsafe
sex, gambling, or binge eating.
• Has up and down moods, often due to stress when interacting with others.
• Has stress-related paranoia that comes and goes.

7. Avoidant Personality Disorder

• A pattern of extreme shyness, feelings of inadequacy, and extreme sensitivity to
criticism. People with avoidant personality disorder may be unwilling to get
involved with people unless they are certain of being liked, be preoccupied with
being criticized or rejected, or may view themselves as not being good enough or
socially inept.
• They have low self-esteem. They tend to be quiet and timid and try to disappear
because they tend to think that if they say anything, others will say it is wrong.
• Does not feel good enough, important, or attractive.
• Does not try new activities and does not like meeting new people.
• Is extremely shy in social settings and in dealing with others.
• Fears disapproval, embarrassment or being made fun of.

8. Dependent Personality Disorder

• Relies on others too much and feels the need to be taken care of. They require
much reassurance and advice when making ordinary decisions. They often let
others take responsibility for many aspects of their life (e.g. they may depend on
their spouse to tell them what to wear, what kind of job to look for, and with
whom to associate).
• Submissive or clingy toward others.
• Fears of having to take care of themselves if left alone.
• Lacks confidence in abilities.
• They take any criticism of disapproval as proof of their incompetence.
• It is difficult for them to express disagreement with others because they fear of
losing support or approval.
• These patients go to great lengths to obtain care and support (e.g. doing
unpleasant tasks, tolerating physical, sexual, or emotional abuse).
• Has an urgent need to start a new relationship when a close one ends.

9. Passive-Aggressive Personality Disorder

• Patients with this personality disorder express their negative thoughts and
feelings passively or indirectly rather than address them directly. This often
creates a contradiction between what they say and do.
 • Example, a person enthusiastically agrees to meet up for lunch only to “forget”
about the meeting or fail to show up without explanation.

10. Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder

• A pattern of preoccupation with orderliness, perfection, and control. A person
with OCPD may be overly focused on details or schedules, may work excessively,
not allowing time for leisure or friends, or may be inflexible in their morality and
values. (This is not the same as obsessive-compulsive disorder.)
• They need to be in control, they tend to be solitary in their endeavors and to
mistrust the help of others.
• To maintain a sense of control, they focus on rules, minute details, procedures,
schedules, and lists.
• Repeatedly check for mistakes and pay extraordinary attention to details. They
do not make good use of their time, often leaving the most important tasks until
the end.
• Their preoccupation with the details and making sure everything is perfect can
endlessly delay completion. They are unaware of how their behavior affects their
co-workers.
• When focused on one task, these patients may neglect all other aspects of their
life.
• Because these patients want everything done in a specific way, they have
difficulty delegating tasks and working with others. When working with others,
they make detailed lists about how a task should be done and become upset if a
co-worker suggests an alternative way.
• Patients with OCPD are excessively dedicated to work and productivity; as a
result, leisure activities and relationships are neglected. They may think that
they have no time to relax or go out with friends; they may postpone a vacation
so long that it does not happen, or they may feel that they must take work with
them so that they do not waste time.
• They plan in detail and do not wish to consider changes.
• Expression of affection is tightly controlled. They may relate to others in a
formal, stiff, or serious way. They speak only after they think of the perfect thing
to say.

11. Antisocial Personality Disorder

• A pattern of disregarding or violating the rights of others.
• A person with antisocial personality disorder may not conform to social norms,
may repeatedly lie or deceive others, or may act impulsively.
• They commit unlawful, deceitful, exploitative, reckless acts for personal profit or
pleasure and without remorse.
• They justify or rationalize their behavior, e.g. thinking losers deserve to lose,
blaming the victim for being foolish or helpless, blaming those they hurt that
they deserved it or the way life is unfair.
• They may express their disregard for others and for the law by destroying
properties, harassing others or stealing. They may deceive, exploit, con, or
manipulate people to get what they want (e.g. money, power, sex) and they use
alias.
• They are impulsive, not planning and not considering the consequences for or
the safety of self or others.
• They may consume excessive amount of alcohol, take illegal drugs, and speed
driving while intoxicated.
• They may start fights or abuse their spouse/partner.
• Remorse for actions is lacking.
• They lack empathy for others.

Note: The material covered in the self-study handouts is considered examinable materials. Please review the
handouts thoroughly to ensure you understand the key concepts.

Prepared by: Miss Rhea Samson Jimlan, RCrim.