Editing Dennis Andrew Nilsen (section)

==Personality==
At his trial, The defense witness, Dr. James MacKeith, discussed the various aspects of an "unspecified personality disorder" from which he believed Nilsen suffered. When questioned by the Crown, Dr. MacKeith did state that [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borderline_personality_disorder borderline personality disorder] was the most likely personality disorder at play in Nilsen, but Dr. MacKeith declined to make the diagnosis and left it at "unspecified personality disorder". However, He then described how Nilsen had always had "trouble expressing his feelings, and he always fled from relationships that had gone wrong. His maladaptive behaviors had been in place since childhood. He had the ability to separate his mental and behavioral functions to an extraordinary degree, which implied diminished responsibility for what he was doing". The psychiatrist also described Nilsen's association between unconscious bodies and sexual arousal. He stated that Nilsen "also had narcissistic traits, with the added hindrance of blackouts from excessive drinking. He had an impaired sense of identity and was able to depersonalize others to the point where he did not feel much about what he was doing to them". Dr. MacKeith did concede that impairments in sense of identity were classic symptoms of borderline personality disorder. On strenuous cross-examination, MacKeith was forced to retract his judgment about diminished responsibility in all of the cases. He said that was for the court to decide.

The second psychiatrist, Dr. Patrick Gallwey, diagnosed Nilsen with [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borderline_personality_disorder borderline personality disorder] with occasional outbreaks of schizoid disturbances that he [Nilsen] managed most of the time to keep at bay. Such a person is most likely to disintegrate under circumstances of social isolation. In effect, Nilsen was not guilty of "malice aforethought."