I Read A Book

Group Therapy

Group therapy is a form of counseling in which a small number of people come together under the guidance of a professionally trained therapist to help themselves and one another. For over 50 years it is a counseling approach used to promote growth and change.  In group therapy people receive understanding, support, and encouragement, along with perspectives, ideas, and view points. It is “intended to help people who would like to gain support, increase self-awareness, and learn new ways to cope with personal or interpersonal challenges”.  The benefits of group therapy include feedback from multiple people, modeling, and imporved social skills. It is also less expensive. Role playing and engaging are major aspects of group therapy. Groups should be small; a number less than 12 is most effective.

The Mind of A Mass Murderer

The sad truth is that serial killing and mass murdering very much surrounds our lives. But what might I ask causes it? And what exactly is the difference between a mass murderer and serial killers?

In the group therapy episode of greys anatomy I learned that a serial killer has to kill multiple people over a period of over 30 days whereas a mass murder must kill 3 or more people in one place and time period. “Serial killers, forensic psychiatrists say, derive sexual gratification from their killings. The Ted Bundys, the Jeffrey Dahmers, the John Wayne Gacys -- they don't want to be caught. They often enjoy taunting police. The violence is, in its own perverse way, about pleasure”. Mass murderers on the other hand are prepared to be caught or commit suicide. They are often angry, depressed, hurt, and humiliated. Mass murderers “tend to be rejected in some romantic relationship, or are sexually incompetent, are paranoid, and their resentment builds. They develop shooting fantasies for months or years, stockpiling dreams and ammunition”. The event that finally sets them off, Welner says, “is usually anticlimactic -- an argument, a small personal loss that magnifies a sense of catastrophic failure”. The psychology behind the mind of a mass murderer is somewhat unknown. "In mass shootings, the killer is often killed themselves, so we don't really have the ability to interview and analyze them -- all you can really do is work off their behavior," says Neil S. Kaye, an assistant professor of psychiatry and human behavior at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. What we do know research tells us that about 95 percent of mass killers are men, they tend to be loners, and they feel alienated. They look normal on the outside and are really, really angry inside.