Theses and Dissertations

This thesis aims to interpret, analyze, and bring forward the connections between psychological disorders and serial murder. As part of that, the essay will be emphasizing specific diagnoses such as antisocial personality disorder, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and delusional disorder while profiling serial killers throughout history known to suffer from these mental illnesses. Using the accounts and known diagnoses of serial killers such as Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, John Wayne Gacy, and others, this thesis will further reflect the psychological history and evolution of these mental health disorders. To do that, this thesis will also show the romanticization of serial killers in popular culture. Utilizing the scholarly research made available in the psychological and criminal justice literature, this thesis will further the conclusion that psychological disorders are the root of serial murder and explore the possibility that continued advances in the study of psychological disorders are the primary cause of serial murder and that criminal profiling may have the potential to reduce the incidents of murder that we do see in serial killer tendencies. We are further exploring the possibility that continued advances in the study of psychological disorders and criminal profiling can reduce the incidents we do see.