I Am A Psychologist That Evaluates Serial Killers - (Reddit Ask Me Anything)

read it ask me anything I'm the psychologist who evaluated Ted Bundy and had him put in prison ask me anything I'm dr. al Carlisle and I evaluated Ted Bundy after his initial arrest Bundy later escaped from prison and called me from a pay phone to brag which I have taped on an audio recording I have conducted extensive research on serial killers and interviewed Ted Bundy the Haifa colors Arthur Gary Bishop Wesley Allen Dodd Keith Jesperson and many others I retired as the head of the psychology department at Utah State Prison and am now an author and public speaker what would you say to someone who knows they have a mental illness but is afraid of being diagnosed I feel sad for them because they may go through much of their life time running from their fear of the illness it's better to take a clearer look at it and make a decision as to how they will keep the mental illness from keeping them from enjoying life great no [ __ ] answer to a good question Ted Bundy had a reputation for being charming despite what he did did he find that to be the case yes he was charming but to a large degree it was political he was intelligent he had a nice smile and he was articulate he could talk easily with people when I first meet him for the evaluation he walked towards me and said hi I'm Ted Bundy you must be dr. Carlisle his hand was extended towards me he had a smile on his face and he walked rapidly as if he was happy to so me that is so disturbing that some car salesmen [ __ ] what could the average person do to slow the rate of random spree killers for one thing we need to get better control over the bullying problem this comment should be higher the stress that people go through as the result of bullying can really warp a person this reminds me of the thread where that kid stabbed his bully and a lot of people jumped on the kids for handling his bully incorrectly his actions were the result of six years of bullying with no help from the teachers or principal luckily no one was how do you feel about the popularity of fictional serial killers like Hannibal who are depicted as anti-heroes well it's interesting fiction yep what's with all the anti heroes who kill people Dexter Breaking Bad Game of Thrones house of cards justified The Mentalist and I'm sure there are more I had a discussion with an author of horror books about this phenomenon it's sometimes enjoyable to be caught up in horror and come out unscathed in the end in the alien I identified with the hero and not a monster does anyone identify with the monster is there any one thing that all serial killers have in common also with a hindsight view is there anything that friends or family of a serial killer could have done to stop them most of the parents of these guys didn't know that anything was wrong if a child feels he is succeeding in relationships accomplishments etc and feels loved in the home there is less of a chance that he will become a serial killer do you feel that the popularization of these shootings and the media perpetuates the problem to most people it doesn't - a few it does because they admire the guts and determination they believe it took to get revenge they have so much anger and depression that they see these killers as justified it's almost like suicide by cop kill a number of people and then get killed that makes perfect sense I had never thought about it like that do you have any thoughts about how to deal with budding Psychopaths when they're children is there a way to take a baby who is distant and unattached or even a toddler who has begun abusing the family cat and make them feel a empathy or at least get them to fake it for society's sake good question I think there are several things we can do first show an interest in them and in their attempt to learn don't criticise too hard and not show love listen when they talk to men youth won't talk to their children because the parents give advice without listening there are many many things we can do regarding a family cat for example is the child abusing the cat as displaced aggression toward someone in the family or in school who is causing anger and bitterness when my dad was getting his education as a psychologist the predominant notion in abnormal psychology was that criminal aberration was almost all caused by environment especially during childhood development and little of it was inherited a friend who's a psychologist at a local prison recently told me he thought it was about 60% inherited and 40% environmental what do you think I don't know I worked 20 years in a prison and largely worked with violent offenders I could see strong indications that that the problem started in their childhood environmental and I could see a logical connection between those childhood experiences and later pathology there are some cases where a child has been violent beyond what was seen in their environment but a lot more good research need to be done to resolve this issue there are any particular clients where their behavior or stories have shaken you if so do you mind telling us who and what they did say you get used to what you hear Arthur Gary Bishop told me the details about each boy killed I wasn't shaken by it because the guys in prison I worked with were like subjects in a laboratory I didn't enjoy hearing the details about arts homicides but I wanted to know what led up to the collect how did he feel during the act and how it changed his thinking and his personality and why he continued killing casually is on first name basis with serial killer art have you ever felt sympathy toward a killer or after hearing their story did you ever think maybe you could understand how they turned out the way they did I could usually see why they turned out the way they did the purpose of my book I'm not guilty was to show how Ted became a serial killer it's a psychological analysis of the development of the violent mind there were many guys I worked with in prison that I liked I often felt bad for what they did but I didn't feel that they should not have been held responsible for what they did did you get the impression the serial killers actively enjoyed inflicting suffering on others or were they indifferent to the feelings of others it varies from color to color arthur gary bishop was executed for molesting and killing five children he felt very bad about his crimes and he virtually set himself up to get caught Wesley Allen Dodd on the other hand killed two boys as an experiments to see if he could actually do it it was his plan to have sex slaves and keeps him and kill the others thanks for the reply I knew it was a simplistic question when I asked it but I went ahead anyway I hear the word sociopath thrown around a lot and I think that's a very simplistic way of looking at these colors how do you deal with a lot of the terrible stories you are told by each violent offender does it get to you our prison has a set of gates at the entrance I taught myself to shut off all prison stuff when I went out those gates and didn't consider prison problems until I drove back through those same gates into the prison the next morning I was with arthur gary bishop the evening of his execution and I was given the charge of talking to the press after following that I went home to bed and slept it can be done do you think that ability the total ability to leave potentially traumatic events at the gates makes you any closer to potentially being able to disassociate yourself from potential evil you may express in your own actions you say it doesn't affect you yet the ability to disassociate yourself from negativity as a tre often seen in some of society's most evil people thoughts I like your question I and most others I personally know who have learned to do this don't disassociate ourselves from evil I try to be aware of my actions in the effect they have on others and my intent is always to do good and not harm I don't always succeed but I keep trying I'm not disassociating from negativity only a specific Cariah emotion a person can worry and worry about something they can't change and it causes harm to their system if they don't get some level of control over it or to be able to shut down the war a negative process doesn't make them more prone to evil do you agree with capital punishment and do you think it is a deterrent in any way to the criminals did you talk to the offenders about the punishment they received this question came up frequently when I worked in the prison most of the inmates I talked to said that capital punishments was not or would not have been a deterrent to their criminal behavior did you ever feel sad for a convicted killer or realized that they couldn't help themselves much like throught his liangzi how much time in prison was he sentenced to I believe it was 115 if he hadn't tried to escape he could possibly have been out in two years there's a question of whether or not Colorado had enough to convict him was Bundy the most frightening evaluation you've done number I enjoyed evaluating Bundy I loved my work as a psychologist at the prison and there were no inmates who were threatening to me one guy did hint that when he got angry at someone he wouldn't kill him he would harm his children I still wrote a very negative report on him I enjoyed interviewing all the serial killers I worked with what are your thoughts on the recent shootings that have been happening in the u.s. is there a pattern as far as the killer's mental state this is an area that we need to do a lot of research on when a precedent has been set it's easier for another person to do the same thing the basis of so many of these killings is a combination of loneliness anger depression and feelings of despair have you ever interviewed a person who was later exonerated and was there any difference between them and your average killer not the famous ones I worked with one person who was in prison for homicide and I came to the leave he didn't do it I have worked with rapists who said they were not guilty and there was one that I actually felt wasn't guilty whilst the differences between them and the average comma no strong differences in what they said or how they presented themselves to me how long did it take you to realize that Bundy was a sociopath were there any instant signs not sure what you mean by instant signs the people who worked with him in political campaigns didn't see any strong indications that he was a sociopath was Bundy ever diagnosed with any mental illnesses what is his psychological profile like compared to others you have studied Bundy was never diagnosed as having a mental illness until he came to prison then he was viewed as a sexual sadist the problem with the term mental illness is that it's too broad it included all categories of depression anxiety and such was Ted psychotic was he insane he was not insane because he understood the consequences of his actions there were no voices that told him to kill and he didn't believe there were any conspiracies directed towards him his psychological profile that's an interesting question because it depends on what stage of life is being considered Ted killed for a different reason than the happy face killer Keith Jesperson and so their psychological profiles are similar in some ways but different in other ways what's the difference between psychotic and insane psychotic is like a person hearing voices that tell him to kill himself or others insane is a legal term referring to the person's capability of understand that his actions are against the law that's a simple definition do these serial killers come off as pure evil when you sit down with them and talk for a while I'm just wondering if there was any hope of rehabilitating them at any point in their adult lives before they started murdering people if I pick three killers and had them come and talk to a group of college students the students wouldn't see anything evil in them they don't come across as monsters it's not that they can totally fake it and seem to be good when they are not it's more that each other's had a persona and a shadow a good and a bad side to us I once asked a group in a seminar I was conducting if good and evil can't how exist within the same person most said it's impossible I think we need to consider that people can have good and evil thought and action potential within them and they choose which one to thanks for the response so let's say hypothetically these killers were released what kind of odds would you give they would never kill a human again is killing literally an addiction for this type of person I believe that you could let the majority of killers out of prison the day they come in and most of them wouldn't kill again however I don't include gang members in this group were you happy at all or relieved maybe when Bundy was executed did you attend I didn't feel happy or sad when Bundy was executed however had it been my choice I would have kept him alive on condition that he revealed himself more we need to understand better the step by step development of the mind of the serial killer that's what I am trying to do through the books I'm writing have you read the stranger beside me by an rule if so what is your feeling on her characterization of Bundy and his mannerisms I have read the stranger beside me it's been so long ago that I can't remember just what she said about his mannerisms tell me and I can comment on them she described him as very charming she was surprised when he was arrested as he would walk her to her car every night and advised her to lock her doors yes he was a lot that way he caught a purse-snatcher when he and Liz were shopping I also believe that he saved the life of a boy he reportedly told someone out of suicide when he was on the crisis line one lady the wife of an influential leader in the city told me she would be happy to have Ted Gandhi marry her daughter this was all before he was convicted can someone be born a psychopath without the influence of environmental factors such as abuse or neglect if so what are the warning signs that a parent can identify and what can be done to stop them turning into the next Ted Bundy good question I don't know I think we need to look at the brain studies of small children who show psychopathic trees and do longitudinal studies on them have you ever grown to like one of your subjects innocent or not I had a lot of friends among the inmates when I was at the prison one of my best friends was a contract killer it's not that I like evil things it's that I like a person who can be open and friendly and treat people respectfully hi dr. Carlisle thanks for doing this when bundy called you after escaping what was going through your head why do you think he called you was there a bit of an eggo intellectual battle going on there I understand you are both very intelligent men I was excited about his call because I wanted to find out why he escaped we talked for over 15 minutes when I went over the conversation later I could have predicted that he will try to escape again he called me and he wanted to be on a par with me so we could talk person to person and not a psychologist to engage I think he wanted to see me as a friend is it not obvious why someone would want to escape prison I mean it's prison however people have escaped from our prison when they were within a month or two of going home and they were allowed to go on work release what are your thoughts on genetic influences for antisocial behavior for example mao-a and whether or not someone should be held accountable for their behavior if they inherit a predisposition even should a person be genetically predisposed I believe that everyone needs to be held accountable for their behavior to me to say otherwise is predetermine ISM and obviates choice what was the most chilling thing Ted ever said to you remember he was still saying he was innocent of having committed any crime when I evaluated him so he didn't say anything that was really chilling however there was one point during the interview when he was talking about his girlfriend going out with another guy and he said that was the last straw the look of hate in his eyes at that point was intense was there anything about them that you found particularly surprising when interviewing the serial killers what were the most unusual trays that they all had in common I have interviewed and depth several serial killers what was surprising was that they were so easy to talk to they were open about themselves a common element was emotional vulnerability as their child in making wrong choices after that do you think Bobby might have had a dissociative disorder an excellent question I don't think he had a dissociative identity disorder multiple personality disorder that I think he'd associated to some degree during the crime the process begins prior to actually having the victim he didn't dissociate to the degree that he wasn't aware of what he was doing the dissociation ends when he has completed the cycle was there ever a point where you found out in hindsight a subject was stringing you along how did you handle that edit accidentally a word many times you win some and lose some and you live with it it's expected because some people are extremely good at faking it row you made it to the end you're ducking Beast thanks for watching mate make sure to smash that like button and subscribe for more high quality content

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Id: xaVZxMFMBT4

Length: 17min 40sec (1060 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 11 2019