Evil Deeds

A forensic psychologist on anger, madness and destructive behavior.

Dangerous Genius: The Rise and Fall of Phil Spector

In his second trial, sixty-eight -year-old legendary rock music producer Phil Spector was convicted  of murdering actress Lana Clarkson. Touted as a creative genius in his heyday, Spector's notorious inner demons gradually got the better of him. Creativity and evil live in close quarters in artists like Spector.   Read More

Emotional Immaturity

In my opinion, evil exists because we don't emotionally grow out of our terrible childhood memories. The amygdala is the "low road" wharehouse of those memories. It doesn't remember new pain from old pain. When the wrong button gets pushed it just kicks out pain. If there was a brain component I could cut out. It would be the amygdala.

Emotional Immaturity

That would be so nice. To just "cut it out." So clean and quick and done with. Ready to move on with one's life. Poor Phil could never do that, and now he will probably rot in prison for what's left, just thinking. He is very intelligent, and he will have to think a lot.

narcissist

A clear case of malignant narcissism; idealization of the aggressive, sadistic features of the pathological grandiose self. This man should be put into prison until his dies. No more Phil Spector please.

Poor baby. A victim of his

Poor baby. A victim of his inner demons. Hell, tens of millions of people fight their demons everyday sometime they win and sometimes they lose, but they don't go around blowing peoples brains out.

Lock him up forever, he is predator.

What he did was wrong, but he needs help more than punishment

How do we analyze human behavior these days. We talk about his child hood memories, inner demons, his amygdala, his ego, his eccentricity, his creative genius and his evil nature. Does it explain everything. And if it does then what have we understood. The person whom he killed( accidently or intentionally) is dead. Now what remains is Phil Spector. He needs help and if state cannot provide it then some one else should. He is going to suffer the consequence of his actions, but it would be much better if he realizes whats wrong with him and how he can deal with it. If he could not become a good person out side in society by his own then at least he should be helped to become a good genuine human being inside prison. This is how we should see this case. It would be better for Phil and for the society of which he is a product. Do not explain why , but tell how can this be prevented in future and the society can be made more humane.

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Dr. Stephen Diamond, Ph.D., is a clinical and forensic psychologist in LA and the author of Anger, Madness, and the Daimonic: The Psychological Genesis of Violence, Evil, and Creativity.

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