POST TROUBLED CHILDHOOD DISORDER

By Ima Schmuck

Exclusive to The Unconventional Gazette
August 7, 2013

Sherryl H. Goodman, editor of the Journal of Abnormal Psychology revealed that the American Psychiatric Association will add Post Troubled Childhood Disorder (PTCD) to its official list of Mental Disorders. Dr. Goodman said the recognition of PTCD was based on a five year study conducted by researchers from the University of California, The University of Texas and Columbia University. The study will be published in the November issue of the journal.

The study was conducted from April 2008 through June 2012. Dr. Emil Schmidtlapp, professor of abnormal psychology at UC Berkeley, and his students interviewed 719 inmates on California’s death row. University of Texas-Austin psychology professor Robert Downhill, an expert in deviant behavior, and his students interviewed 369 Texas death row inmates. Dr. Andrew Cornwall, professor of psychiatry at Columbia and Chief of Psychiatry at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital, and his associates interviewed 1,736 prison inmates convicted of forcible rape and 2,118 child molesters in New York, New Jersey and Maryland prisons. All three teams also conducted meticulous studies on the background of each inmate interviewed.

Of the 1,088 death row inmates studied, all but six were found to have had a troubled childhood. Most of them had been repeatedly beaten by their fathers, their stepfathers or by their mothers’ boyfriends. Most of them had been raised in homes or neighborhoods where the illegal use of drugs was prevalent. The six death row inmates that did not have a troubled childhood were diagnosed as having a sociopathic ideation.

Of the 1,736 rapists, 1,679 had been sexually molested either by a father or stepfather, by a relative, by their mother’s boyfriend, by a priest, rabbi or pastor, or by numerous individuals during their early childhood. The 57 rapists that did not have a troubled childhood were diagnosed as having a sociopathic ideation.

Dr. Cornwall and his associates found compelling evidence that Susan Brownmiller and her fellow feminists were dead wrong in contending that 'rape is not a crime of lust but a crime of violence and power.' Cornwall’s team found that rapists had either one of two motives. Some rapists suffering from PTCD were motivated by a hatred of women because they blamed their mothers for participating in or not intervening in the beatings they suffered during childhood. Most rapists were motivated by a strong desire to have sex, and because of PTCD, they failed to exercise any self-restraint. These rapists were often aroused by the dress of their victims – miniskirts, low cut blouses, see-through clothing, etc.

Of the 2,118 child molesters, all but 17 had been sexually molested in their early childhood. The 17 who did not have a troubled childhood were diagnosed as having a sociopathic ideation.

Drs. Schmidtlapp, Downhill and Cornwall concluded that based on their extensive and peer reviewed study, almost all murderers, rapists and child molesters were suffering from PTCD at the time they committed their crimes. After presenting their findings to a standing committee of the American Psychiatric Association, the APA concurred that PTCD belonged on their list of Mental Disorders.

The three researchers were also emphatic that with the exception of the sociopaths, none of the murderers should have been sentenced to death. They also agreed that a number of the killers could have been handled civilly, instead of criminally, and committed to a psychiatric facility for treatment. Dr. Cornwall recommended that rapists suffering from PTCD should also be handled civilly and committed to a psychiatric facility for treatment. As for the child molesters, Dr. Cornwall would not send them to prison, but would have them committed for life to a psychiatric facility.