Editing Jeffrey Dahmer (section)

==='''Borderline personality disorder'''===

Dahmer was repeatedly diagnosed with a borderline personality disorder, which is defined by the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diagnostic_and_Statistical_Manual_of_Mental_Disorders DSM-IV-TR] as "A pervasive pattern of instability of interpersonal relationships, self-image, and affects, and marked impulsivity that begins by early adulthood and is present in a variety of contexts." Following his 1991 arrest, Dahmer completed the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_Multiphasic_Personality_Inventory Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory] (MMPI); the results of which indicated that he was sane, was conscious of the difference between right and wrong, capable of dissimulation, and generally maladjusted. The MMPI revealed Dahmer as alienated from both others and from himself, as strongly depressive and hopelessly oriented toward the world and other humans, and filled with specific paranoid fears of others' hostility. Dahmer's MMPI scores suggest that these characteristics conclusively demonstrated that he was a deeply troubled man who was unable to control his impulses.

Although in the years immediately following his birth he was doted upon by his parents, by the time he was approximately 4 years old, his mother had little time for her son. Moreover, his father was seldom at home as he studied for his Ph.D. in chemistry. As a result, Dahmer received little affection or nurturing throughout his childhood from either parent and he is known to have had difficulty making or maintaining friendships. Moreover, by the time Dahmer was 8 years old, his family had moved home on 6 separate occasions. When his brother, David, was born in 1966, much of his parents' attention was focused upon the needs of their younger child, possibly increasing his sense of neglect.

Reportedly, Dahmer struggled to accept his homosexuality. He did not divulge to his father and stepmother that he was homosexual until after his 1988 arrest for molestation. Although he later recalled the frank manner in which he informed his parents as to his sexual orientation, his probation officers did note repeated inferences of Dahmer's conflicts regarding his sexuality: the first recorded instance in which Dahmer indicated to his probation officer that he had fully accepted his homosexuality was in January 1991.

In reference to his 1989 plea for [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clemency clemency] regarding his conviction for molestation, Dahmer had stated: "What I've done has cut both ways. It hurts the victim, and it hurts me... I don't know what I was thinking when I did it. I know I was under the influence." Perceiving oneself as the victim of one's own crimes and externalizing blame onto others or onto substance abuse are typical borderline defenses. Dahmer told his probation officer that his life lacked purpose; a sign of the chronic emptiness experienced by someone with BPD. Moreover, Dahmer had a strong reason to both hate and fear abandonment. During his parents' bitter divorce in 1978, they fought over custody of Dahmer's younger brother. Having just turned 18 at the time of the finalization of his parents' divorce, Dahmer was considered an adult and thus did not require legal custody. Left alone in the house with neither food nor money and only sporadic contact with his father (who resided in a nearby motel), Dahmer committed his first murder— an experience which he later described as one which "tainted" his life.

Although Dahmer was insistent he had had no hatred or animosity towards any of his victims, some doctors theorized he projected his self-hatred as to his sexual orientation onto his adult victims through his actions — a classic borderline personality disorder defense.

The forensics team that examined Dahmer's apartment and possessions following his arrest and who conducted the autopsies upon the remains of his victims he had opted to preserve or otherwise store as opposed to destroy or discard, concluded that the murders were rooted in an unconscious hatred of his victims and were the result of Dahmer's "ambivalent homosexuality." All agreed that he suffered from a borderline personality disorder.