Carol R. Hartman

Sexual Homicide A Motivational Model

The findings from this exploratory study are reported in terms of the descriptive background characteristics of 36 sexual murderers, their behaviors and experiences in connection with their developmental stages, and the central role of sadistic fantasy and critical cognitive structures that support the act of sexual murder. A five-phase motivational model is presented: (1) ineffective social environment, (2) formative events, (3) critical personal traits and cognitive mapping process, (4) action toward others and self, and (5) feedback filter.

Sexual Killers and Their Victims Identifying Patterns Through Crime Scene Analysis

The study of crime scene profiling efforts elicits two important patterns of sexual murders: organized and disorganized. These law enforcement categories have been derived from evidence and patterns of evidence at the site of sexual murders. The study then explores victim information and its relationship to the two categories. In particular, we explored victim response to the offender in terms of no resistance and active resistance to the assault. We found that regardless of type of resistance, active or passive, and category of offender, death ensued. When we examined nine victims who survived, the category of offender was not the predictor, rather, “chance happenings” preserved life.

Murderers Who Rape and Mutilate

In comparing sexual murderers with a history of sex abuse (n = 12) with murderers without such a history (n = 16), findings that approach a level of significance between early sexual abuse and sexual deviations include zoophilia (.06) and sexual sadism (.07) with the ultimate expression of the murderers perversion being the mutilation of the victim. Murderers with sexual abuse histories report fantasizing about rape earlier than murderers without sexual abuse histories (.05) and report aversion to peer sex in adolescence and adulthood (.05). Significant differences in behavioral indicators comparing across developmental levels of childhood include cruelty to animals (.05), and differences approaching significance include isolation (.09), convulsions (.09), cruelty to children (.09) and assaultive to adults (.09). Significant differences in adolescence between murderers with child sexual abuse history versus nonhistory include running away (.01), sleep problems (.05), daydreams (.05), rebellious (.05), assaultive to adults (.05), and indicators approaching significance include temper tantrums (.09) and self-mutilation (.09).

A randomized control trial of cardiac rehabilitation

A randomized trial using controls tested whether psycho-social rehabilitation of acute myocardial infarction (MI) patients would improve significantly their return to work rate and assessed the importance of various psychological, social, occupational, socio-demographic, and medical factors in facilitating or impeding rapid return to work. Eighty-nine patients were assigned randomly to participate in an experimental cardiac rehabilitation program (rehab care), and 91 patients were controls who received conventional hospital rehabilitation (usual care). By the first follow-up interview at three months, patients assigned to experimental treatment were significantly less distressed psychologically and less dependent on family support than controls (P = 0.04 and P = 0.05, respectively). By the final follow-up interview at 13 months, there was a marginally significant difference in favor of the experimental group in the frequency of reported deterrents to work resumption (P = 0.07). However, the intervention did not result in a statistically significant difference in the return to work rate (P greater than 0.10). In each group, 88% were back at work by approximately the first year after infarction. In addition, the two groups were similar in the amount of time patients remained out of the workforce (median days rehab care = 75, usual care = 81; P greater than 0.10). A multi-stage data analysis procedure utilizing the Cox regression technique indicated that while several independent variables had significant univariate associations with the length of time patients convalesced, outcome was most influenced by the patients initial cardiological status and clinical course, by the patterns of family support, and by the several variables measuring the presence of obstacles to resuming work. Our findings suggest that rehabilitation programs intervening on multiple levels (psychological, social, occupational, and physical) may best meet the needs of chronically ill cardiac patients. Results indicate that implementing measures addressing the patients general psycho-social adjustment to MI may improve existing programs.

Stalking Behaviors Within Domestic Violence

An examination of data from 120 male and female batterers of varied age and marital, educational, and economic status, who attended group treatment for batterers or who were charged with domestic violence from January to February 1996 in a district court setting, produced the following findings: Stalkers tended to live alone, were less likely to be married, not living with children, and used more alcohol than nonstalkers. They also tended to have had a history of prior stalking offenses and of being abused themselves. Factor analysis found three stalking groupings: one in which discrediting was the key, a second revolving around love turning to hate, and a third with violent confrontation with the ex-partner.

Information processing of trauma

This article presents a neuropsychosocial model to explain a victimization experience. It surveys the relation of sensation, perception, and cognition as a systematic way to provide a framework for studying human behavior and to describe human response to traumatic events. This framework is an information processing approach. The goal of information processing investigations is to identify how incoming external stimuli or intentionally engendered stimuli enter the central nervous system and eventuate in some kind of final response.

Children's drawings

Childrens drawings have been used in clinical interviews to provide direction for recollection and memory of events. Drawings encourage the retrieval of experience in the motoric, visual, and auditory recall. The drawing itself gives an expression of motor sensory discharge; the objects in the drawing help with the perceptual cues that are remembered; the cognitive dimensions are represented in the organization, interpersonal patterns, and verbal discussion of the picture. The premise of this paper is that childrens drawings are useful as an associative tool for assessing and accessing traumatic memories.

Biology of Memory and Childhood Trauma

Examples have been presented of childrens behaviors that demonstrate the trauma-learning pattern of re-enactment, repetition, and displacement. They become persistent parts of the symptom complex of PTSD. The encapsulation phase occurs when the trauma event occurs and symptoms present themselves, but the events as yet are undisclosed. The trauma-specific behavior patterns, the general hyper-arousal symptoms, and the avoidant, numbing symptoms persist; the emerging disruptive behaviors are not linked to the traumatic event and reactions to the trauma. The response of the childs social and interpersonal context to the internalizing or externalizing behaviors post-trauma, continue shaping the internal cognitive schema of the child. When the child is unable to link ongoing, self-defeating, disruptive behavior to trauma experience, the underlying fear persists. This interferes with the childs ability to modulate emotions either through altering the persistence of refractory, self-limiting cognitive schema or the inability to use new experience to develop and grow. The flexibility of children to discriminate new information may be lost; the children are either numb to new information or hyperalert and perceive danger. Issues for treatment include childrens distress over memories of the trauma and the lack of capacity to learn and develop from new interpersonal experiences. It has been our experience that nurses first must help the child relearn flexibility through self-observation, the element of self-soothing and calming behaviors, processing of new information, and strengthening of social relationships. With new and strengthened personal resources, the child then is able to begin to process the traumatic memories.

Information Processing of Trauma Case Application of a Model

Using a conceptual framework drawn from the cognitive sciences of information theory and cybernetics, theories of stress response syndromes, and psychodynamic formulations, a trauma learning model describes how the child victim thinks and processes information about sexual abuse. Critical to the trauma experience is the encapsulation process, in which a defensive silence insulates the ongoing abuse, holds the event in present (rather than past) memory, depletes the childs psychic energy, and interrupts the childs academic, social, and personal development. A case involving a 3-year-old girl victim and a 5-year-old boy aggressor illustrates evaluation principles that address the three information-storage domains: sensations, perceptions, and cognitions.

Batterers Stalking Patterns

This clinically based study asked 165 batterers attending a court-mandated assessment program to quantify a series of behaviors that occurred since being convicted of battering. The behaviors clustered into 2 factors: (1) an Ambivalent Contact Pattern whereby behaviors of batterers were associated with contacting their ex-partner, sending gifts and letters, and watching her without her knowing while harboring conflicting feelings of love, hate, and anger; and (2) a Predatory Contact Pattern whereby the behaviors of batterers were associated with hang up calls, entering her home without permission, threatening or physically causing harm to her while harboring a propensity for abusiveness. Clinicians should assess batterers for predatory thoughts about the estranged partner, and reason for the contact since separation. Presence of stalking behaviors and predatory fantasy is a window to determine repetitive and escalating domestic violence.