A commonplace leads to define, not always but often, “crazy” subjects who are staining with particularly violent and extreme crimes.
In the world climate of terror that has been created starting from the famous September 11, the theme widens, causing doubts about the mental health of terrorists.
At least sometimes we had the doubt: “But are the authors of terrorist massive massacres?”. Trying to do a research, it is observed that in the literature there are not many scientific evidence that the mental disorder is the basis of terrorist violence.
It seems strange but at the moment we do not even find concordant definitions on what we call terrorism or terrorist: the mafia who in making attacks – to terrorize the state and bring it to a negotiation – have killed innocent victims, were terrorists? Those who knew that their toxic factories brought workers and inhabitants to death and, despite the alarming and irrefutable data, tried to reassure public opinion from the climate of terror that was spreading, were anti -terrorists?
Common sense comes to our aid and in the end we find an agreement in everyday language; In principle we have a shared idea of terrorist, we know what we are referring to.
Those who try to study the phenomenon, from a psychopathological point of view, immediately realize that a spectrum of terrorist mentality United by the use of violence, even against civilians, with the voluntary intent to achieve ideological, political or psychological objectives.
There are those who identify a difference between separatist/independence terrorism (see Ireland, Spain or South Tyrol in Italy of the 60s) and terrorism linked to religious extremisms (such as the one present in the Middle Eastern area).
We will focus on the latter in which there is a differentiating element: the presence of suicidal conduct of the absolutor. These suicides must be inserted in a cultural context – non -psychopathological – in which martyrdom is placed in the foreground.
Death will give a reward in an otherworldly life. This mental structure is already present at the entrance to the terrorist group, the indoctrination operation has already been done. Those who opt for martyrdom has already had the opportunity to conceptualize it before, participation in the Holy War is a consequence of a reflection that is upstream.
Once the group belonging to the group is made official, strategic tactical training is provided, there is no need for anything else. Suicide is part of a gesture of martyrdom, the renunciation of life for a greater good. We could consider this at most a cultural disease, not a mental illness.
Wanting to use elements of psychology we can hypothesize in these subjects of little elastic mental structures, unable to take different points of view, which they operate mentally by selecting what confirms their theses and discarding what puts them in crisis, with the tendency to jump immediately to the conclusions and with an inability to put themselves in the role of the other.
But all these are characteristics that we can find in many non -terrorist personality structures. They are not specific elements of the mentality of a terrorist. From a medical point of view they are certainly organisms with high basic energy levels – I guess it takes a lot of basic energy to be a terrorist – but in a way not dissimilar from that present in many entrepreneurs.
All the elements really seem to highlight the more than psychopathological cultural structure. If this is plausible for subjects coming directly from the countries where those cultural realities have been structured for centuries, how would Western subjects be understood, born and raised in totally different cultural contexts, who detach themselves from their social and cultural structure to become part of terrorist groups?
Those who tried to study this phenomenon realized that poverty or type of religion has noticed is not enough to explain the phenomenon: in the West there are about 50 million converted to Islam that have no intention of joining the terrorist groups – even among those who present Islamic radical beliefs only a few would enter a terrorist organization – not to mention the number of subjects who have been knowing for some time. the state of poverty and do not contemplate their possible participation in any type of punch, whether holy or not.
Even for the Foreign Fighters, the question would seem more linked to psychological factors rather than a conclato mental illness.
They would not join psychopathic subjects or victims of a brainwashing but young people who fall into daily life, in a phase of social transition, often on the line of the social border, during the identity crisis, certainly hostile to the western system.
Personally, they are of the opinion that these subjects do not enjoy good health, probably have an undernough pathology, but there are no elements to assert it with certainty. Many questions remain open: the reality is that they are non -evaluable personalities
. The psychological profile It is only hypothesized, built on the basis of “a posteriori” news or stories of neighbors and acquaintances and a assessment made in the prison environment I do not think they have their collaboration to be evaluated in a psychological point of view.
In conclusion, however, it is worth stopping to think, since understanding the mentality of them does not mean accepting or minimizing the severity of such conduct, but starting to build more articulated and effective preventive paths – we have seen that the only control is not enough – in a period in which we too are forced to deal with our systems of beliefs and valuable patterns.
