Aberrational Behaviour - Or Why People Go Bad?

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Crime seems to have run rampant in our world. No matter where you go, it seems as though there are so many people who have gone bad which gives the public reason to worry. When the public becomes worrisome, our society tends to nurse this irrational fear against everyone who may possibly be the next serial killer, murderer, rapist, burglar, or other social degenerate who will get involved in our lives and screw things up.

By having easy access to 24//7 news on the television, radio, newspapers and magazines, instead of coming up with a variety of different types of news from around the world, they tend to harp on about some aberrant person who has committed some kind of heinous crime. By focusing so much attention on that person, they create a twofold problem -

1. They keep the people in a fear state so they will overreact in irrational ways to stop this type of behaviour from ever happening again which creates bad solutions that only keep the people in a fear-state, but does little to fix the problem that created the bad behaviour in the first place.

2. It feeds the mind of the individual who already has those sick tendencies and encourages them to act on their aberrational behaviour. In some cases, it is because they see others getting attention for acting out. In other cases, it is because they see examples of people letting there muddled thinking go astray and feel it gives them permission to act out their own mind thoughts. In most cases, it is merely because they are being given a steady mind-feeding of bad behaviour example leaving them feel helpless, or the world is corrupt anyway, or wanting to be on top because there is no one out there who cares about them.

It all boils down to simple, or not so simple, mental health.

Are Bad People Crazy?

Yes, but to some degree, aren't we all? What is crazy behaviour is not always mental illness. Those who commit the most serious crimes are mentally ill, but not all who are mentally ill commit serious crimes. The problem lies with how society deals with mental illness. By sheer ignorance and fear, we don't help those who need help the most. What exactly is "mental illness"?

A normal brain has a complex circuitry of nerve cells called neurons which carries information from one branch to another. Along this complex wiring, we are fed information with biochemical reactions which helps us process the information. This complex structure helps us to think and reason obviously, but it also helps regulate other process such as visual, auditory, olfactory, and sensual effects of touch and taste as well as emotional output.

In the brain of a mentally ill person, the neurons have gotten off track. They are no longer connecting the same way as when the person was healthy. As a result of disease or brain injury which is common with stroke and those deprived of oxygen, it is very easy for these neurons to get off track.

In some cases, especially in criminals, mental illness is a result of nursing aberrational thoughts until it becomes an obsession and at that point they cause their own inner wiring to misfire which creates compulsive bad behaviour and the inability to correct their thinking on the spot. This means while they know in some part of their mind it is the wrong thing to do, they still feel compelled to do the bad thing. Then they disconnect from the wrong action as if they are no longer in the seat of the person in control of the action which makes it easier to rationalize the act, yet they are locked into a fear and shame cycle to dodge the issue of what is making them do it and could easily blame others for their bad choices because they have no conscience. It is easier to be the bad criminal monster than to admit to being weak-minded. It is better for the esteem to appear to be in the controlling seat when inside you are really out of control.

Either way, the once normal brain is now stuck in a pattern of misfiring neurons sending out faulty signals throughout the body in various ways. This is why some people hear voices that are not there because the auditory portion of their brain is sending out signals in the mind to recall voices that are not really there at the present. This is the same reason why people see things that are not there. This is why a person who is clinically depressed cannot just cheer up. They are all caught up in a cycle of the brain sending out the wrong message at inappropriate times.

Some mental illness can be more serious than others, but they all tend to diminish the life's potential of the victim. The obsessive compulsive shopper or gambler is not as much a danger to society as the mugger or the serial killer, but all of them can create havoc on their own lives as well as those around them.

Instead of trying to understand mental illness, our society has not deviated from old thinking about this disease. Historically, before the advent of modern medicine, much of the disease was attributed to being punished by God or as a test.

Mental illness, in particular, was different. While people could eventually treat a disease where a cause could actually be seen, with mental illness such cause is not obvious. The symptoms of mental illness led to the only obvious conclusion that people without all the facts could come to - they were possessed by a demonic force trying to take over their weak, sinful souls.

As this was the thinking, those who exhibited behaviour which classified them as mentally ill, society regarded them as willing participants with the evil forces and if they don't "snap out of it" and accept God's forgiveness, they would have to force it out. Of course, all the cures only either killed the victims or rendered their brains useless or they kept them locked up in prison conditions worse than where they put the criminals.

While we live in a great society where medicine has advanced to the point where we now know the cause of mental illness, the feelings about people with this disease has not changed much. Thanks again to the media for not spreading the message about the reality of this condition, people turn a blind eye when they practically call everything a mental illness, including mere bad behaviour or bad judgment. Not everyone who does the wrong thing or makes a bad decision is mentally ill and by labeling everyone as a potential mentally ill person, it waters down our compassion for those who actually are mentally ill.

Those who actually are obviously mentally ill are still looked down upon as if they can help how they got there in the first place. Some still believe they are possessed by demons.

Mental illness is merely a brain illness. You wouldn't vilify a person with heart or kidney failure. You wouldn't show hatred to a person born with a genetic defect. You wouldn't abandon the person who developed cancer and deride them for their condition, even in the types of cancer where their lifestyle may have played a hand in their own disease.

A mentally ill person has a biological disease within the brain. With a proper team of help from psychiatrists, psychologists, medical doctors, social workers, family, friends and the right prescription drug - a person with this disease can live a somewhat normal life. Sometimes the right drug will never be found in their lifetime or the support network is not there which leaves the victims a prisoner of their minds. Sometimes the victim will get to that rare point where the neurons get back on track and they can resume a normal life. Most everyone with the disease fall somewhere in between the two points.

Does This Mean There No Way To Prevent Aberrational Behaviour From Creating Havoc?

No. With more public awareness of the problem of mental illness, we can show proper compassion to those who suffer with this disease and lead them to proper treatment which will help them. Instead of shoving them away in some callous institute where they are treated as inhumanely as possible or ignoring their plight as they live on the streets, we could try to understand why it is happening to them and treat them with the dignity all humans deserve.

The majority of mentally ill people would never harm you. They are mostly more of a danger to themselves. These are not the criminals we constantly see profiled on the news. These are not the ones they make the movies about. These are the ones we wrongfully tend to treat as inferior to ourselves, when the truth is any one of us could be in their shoes at some time in our lives.

Go into a nursing home where a family has abandoned a once great father or mother who has been subdued to Alzheimer's Disease and put yourselves in their shoes because one day it could very well be you.

Go to a state run mental ward as a volunteer and see the people who have been thrown in there to merely get meds, a place to sleep and three meals a day, but are otherwise neglected and abandoned by their families and put yourselves in their place as you very well could easily become one of them.

Take a look at some homeless person on the street who may act a bit bizarre and get to know them and see how they live and understand you could easily be them.

Look at the chaos in the prison system and get to know the prisoners who are stuck in a revolving door cycle that many do not know how to get out and realize one wrong turn in your life could lead you down the same road.

As there are ways to help those who only pose a danger to themselves, there are also solutions to those who are dangerous to society at large. First we have to answer the questions: How did they get this way? How to we prevent it from happening again? And What do we do with them when they have passed the point of being unfit for redemption by society?

First, it is hard to escape the faulty brain wiring in the mind of the criminal. This is not to excuse what they have done nor to make their punishment for the crime invalid, but to understand the problem to try and circumvent future bad choices. Let me make it clear, it is society's duty to make laws for citizens to live by and consistent, just punishment for those who break its rules. While the standards may change from time to time, it is society's responsibility to dictate what the rules are to be followed.

Many, not all, criminal minds suffer from obsessive-compulsive behaviour. In other words, they are obsessed with a certain thought or condition which blocks out rational thought which would otherwise dissuade a normal person. With this obsessive thought, they feel compelled to act out in a certain way. There are meds and therapy routines which can help a person with this condition. While in prison, perhaps society ought to think about treating the criminals with these conditions and encouraging them to get help on the outside.

Some of these aberrational thoughts include murder, torture, rape, assault, robbery and other various crimes. If criminals convicted of such crimes are merely sent to prison and not treated for the underlying cause of their behaviour, they come right back out of the institute to do what they do best, especially when there seems to be no other viable options for them on the outside. If prisons were merely more than just housing for the dangerous to protect the innocent from their presence, perhaps we could cut down on the numbers of the criminals who escalate to more and more violent behaviour.

Prisons need to treat the criminals and rehabilitate them in order to make them actually productive citizens in the outside environment. A good course of treatment is better in the long run on society and to taxpayers than a shoddy stay in prison where they learn to be better criminals. If they are released and feel they don't belong to "normal" society or have viable options to fit in, they will retreat to the behaviour that got them sent to prison in the first place.

Prisoners need mental as well as medical treatment. Those who are addicted to drugs and alcohol need to get the help to manage their addictions before they leave the prison. Those who lack education or job skills need to learn viable skills in order to procure proper employment opportunities. They need more of a social net on the outside than a parole officer. They need a full support group of people to help keep them on track and to encourage them when life feels like it is pulling them down. Those who suffer from obsessive-compulsive behaviour need a network to keep them grounded on their meds and for counseling.

Granted, this will not "cure" everyone in the system nor eliminate crime, but it will help a lot of people in the system who may be able to live a semi-normal life. The more people we can pull off this cycle, the better our society becomes. Those who can be helped won't take the crime to the next more dangerous level. If we can treat these people, this leaves more room in the prison system for others who need to be there. If we could separate those who are merely drug addicts from the general population and put them in a rehabilitation program we would also save more money on the taxpayers while helping them redeem their lives.

Others are a lost cause who cannot come back from the brink of their sickness and crimes against society. Sometime people do not want to be helped or will admit they have a problem that needs help. Sometimes we cannot fix everyone or every problem. However, even some people who have gone so wrong and end up on death row have proven with the proper support network, love and understanding, they can behave like a normal person although their past behaviour requires society carries out the punishment.

The majority who get started on this path do so early in childhood.

Most people say that one develops a fully viable conscience by the time they are 9. Those who fail to develop a conscience cannot really distinguish between right and wrong. They may know on a logical level the difference, but are unable to relate to it on a deeper level.

Babies who were born prematurely and others who were adopted may have bonding issues and develop the inner wiring which creates a permanent distrust of all people and leads to a lack of a conscience. Even a very traumatic experience such as molestation, rape, abuse, witnessing violence or acts of war, witnessing a parent being abused, a messy divorce and other things can cause a child to disconnect from people. Obviously not all who were born premature or who were adopted or suffer trauma become serial killers, but sometimes this becomes one of the many factors that lead a person down the wrong path.

Sometime the problems a child faces may not be traumatic, but it seems very urgent and important to the child. As an adult responsible for that child, we may tend to discount it as we are consumed with things we deem are more important problems and brush them off. When we consistently don't take the problems a child thinks of a serious, even that sometimes can lead them into distrust of others because if no one cares about what seems like a big problem to them, why should they care about anyone else? Not all children who are brushed aside by a trusted parent go out and kill.

Then there is the "outcast syndrome" where some children just seem to have trouble relating to other children. They are socially awkward and never seem to fit in. Kids can be cruel and not understanding of those who are in this situation tend to make fun of these other children. This leads the so-called outcast to feeling like they are not normal and will never fit in. They become discouraged at an early age and are very easy to fall prey to faulty thinking gone unchecked. Not all outcasts end up in jail, some can even be very successful people.

A handful of children are overindulged by the parents who don't make the time for a quality relationship with their kids. They buy them everything they want. They let them do whatever they want. The impose no rules or boundaries or safety net. They turn a blind eye when the kid does something wrong. Sooner or later, this child gets it in their head that they can do whatever they like because no one really cares about them. The word "No" is a foreign concept to this child.

By this point, a child with one or more of these factors can easily be wired on the inside through faulty thoughts and logic. No one is really paying attention to what is going on inside of them and it festers into a mental illness if left unchecked. Already stuck with a mind-set that something is not right with them, people don't care about them, and they don't fit in anywhere, this can create faulty mind circuits which repeat this message in their minds constantly.

Add to this problem, put in a bad crowd who will accept them or drugs or merely sick behaviour or thoughts or a bad movie, music lyrics or violent video games and the child that is wired wrong can go down a dark path. Other children with normal faculties could filter out the bad crowd, the drugs, sick behaviour, and not be affected by the movies, music or games. The children with faulty wiring cannot distinguish the world of fantasy and reality and can be locked into a bad cycle that could last a lifetime if there is no intervention.

Perhaps if we paid more attention to the children and treated their problems, no matter how small or insignificant they seem to us, with full dignity then we could catch more of them before they reach the point of no return. Round up all the children that seem to be bullied too much or do the bullying. Gather up all those who are loners or outcasted children. Find the children who are at risk due to abuse or witnessing violence. Seek out the children in need of help while they can still be redeemed and give them all the help, love, support and understanding you can give them. If they need medical or psychiatric treatment, wouldn't it be far more inexpensive to get them while they are young than to let them fester in the system for a lifetime? Help all children learn to respect one another, even those who are different.

If we could catch most of these people while they are young, there is a good chance many of them will never become criminals. It may never "cure" their inner wiring, but it could go a long way in helping them live a more productive life.

In a society that is so disconnected from a sense of family or community, it is very easy for a child to become lost. When too many children become lost, it creates more potential criminals. This creates more fear in the public at large which discourages kindness, understanding and treatment of those who could be dangerous leaving them untreated and dangerous. This chain reaction is reported and overblown by the media which feeds into the problem and it escalates.

Please, pay more attention to the children. Even if the children are not your own, if you see a child on the brink it is your duty to do something about it without overreacting or becoming fearful of that human.

As a society, we must do something more with our justice system that does little to prevent the cycle that keeps criminals coming back until they commit a crime so serious it warrants execution. Once they enter the system, reasonable efforts must be made for rehabilitation and to treat any underlying mental illness. When they leave the system, they need to have the skills and support to live on the outside and to fit in or else they will return to the comfort of what they know which may not be comfortable, but the routine is consistent and known and far less scary than trying to make it on the outside where they are not familiar with the way things work.

This message was about prevention. By stopping as many people as we can before they go too far, we can create a better, more safer place to live for everyone.

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