Serial Killers : the unconcious killing of the mother

Abstract

This thesis covers major psychoanalytical theories and previous studies on the formation of ego in its earliest stages and the influence of the mother in its development resulting in the disturbing act of the serial killer. Staring with the ego formation through the theory of Object Relation, how an anxious and humiliating mother is a main contributor to the disruption of the infants psychological developmental and the formation of a semi-fragmented ego which in adulthood might result in repeatedly seeking to ease its inner aggression and anxiety through primitive behaviors, a description of previous study done on serial killers, their behaviors and killing motives of each, and finally three case studies done on serial killers in the Lebanese prison.