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This is the first article in a two-part series that attempts to explain violence in chronic delinquents and “ordinary citizens who face extraordinary circumstances” (p. 41). In this article, the authors first briefly review the psychoanalytic literature on violent delinquency, starting with Freud's ideas on “criminality as a result of guilt” (p. 43). They go on to mention Aichorn's work on family dynamics involving a “negligent mother's narcissistic love” and a father's “severe treatment” (p. 43). In closing their review, the authors note several dimensions regarding the dynamics of violent criminal behavior that are agreed upon by many, including the importance of developmental factors, the “cry for help,” particular ego and superego disturbances, and specific defense mechanisms.
Next, the authors detail their 10-element model of the psychodynamics of the chronically violent delinquent. They caution that the model simplifies and makes coherent something that is neither. The first element in the model is repetitive relational trauma and deprivation that lead to feelings of powerlessness, helplessness, and emptiness. This factor also results in destructive envy of the object, who is felt to possess and hoard what is needed. The despair over this destructiveness leads to the search for an idealized object to fill the resultant void.
Such trauma and deprivation also lead to identification with the aggressor as a way to defend against the feelings of powerlessness and helplessness. Identification with the aggressor in turn leads to the “domination of the ideal ego over the superego” (p. 47) as a way to avoid guilt over destructiveness. As this occurs, narcissistic, grandiose fantasies