Serial Killers

Reading My Friend Dahmer gave me an incredible look at mental illness and psychological problems. The book was such an interesting read, and really showed another side of mental illness. I have did a lot of research on serial killers before, mainly for classes during my high school years. I find it incredibly interesting learning about their behavior. I've watched a few documentaries and movies on Jeffrey Dahmer, but reading My friend Dahmer really opened up my mind about serial killers. Before I did my personal research and read this book I always thought serial killers just were born to kill. However, I learned that it's mostly what happens in their past that shapes how they act in the future. Helping these mentally ill people with their problems before they kill would be extremely hard. It's very hard to determine when these individuals will kill, if they even will at all. A lot of times, serial killers are seen as completely normal from the outside. In today's society and time it's a lot less common to have serial killers than it was during the times when Jeffrey Dahmer was around. There's more medication, therapy, assisted living, etc, to keep these mentally ill people from committing horrible crimes. When I was reading My Friend Dahmer, my perspective of the human condition changed. I think that if Jeffrey's friends would have helped him with his problems, he might not have turned into the serial killer he is most famous for. This can be said about a lot of things in life. Most often after a terrible tragedy, people find themselves feeling like it was their fault for not stepping in and helping before it was too late.

A really good interview on Jeffrey Dahmer :http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aY7nSIl299s