Violence as Secular Evil: Forensic Evaluation and Treatment of Violent Offenders from the Viewpoint of Existential Depth Psychology

Violence is the preeminent evil of our day. Though the causes of destruc-tive violence in our society are complex, the troublesome human emotions of anger and rage play a central role in the genesis of violent behavior and psychopathology in general. In this paper, the author discusses forensic evalu-ation and psychotherapeutic treatment via “existential depth psychology”—a synthesis of Freudian, Jungian, and existential theory—focusing on the over-looked links between repressed anger or rage, pathological narcissism, anti-social personality, and violent behavior. KEY WORDS: existential psychology; antisocial personality disorder; pathological narcissism; forensic evaluation; psychoanalysis; violence; evil; criminology. Violence is the preeminent evil of our postmodern era. American cul-ture is bedeviled by violence in its many manifestations. Indeed, violence is in certain ways condoned—even glorified—in our “civilized ” society. Vio-lence as entertainment is pervasive in America today, as attested to by the insatiable popularity of boxing, wrestling, football and hockey, as well as ou