Compelled by Fantasy

1. Compelled by Fantasy When imagination is more satisfactory than direct action, we find ourselves on a slippery slope. (Milkman & Sunderwirth, 2009)

2. Shared Delusions • Fantasy shared can become a symbiotic system: “a shared psychotic disorder” if it is carried to extreme • Heaven’s Gate cult under Marshall Applewhite believed their only chance for survival was to leave the earth via suicide to avoid the end of the world they forecast • Somehow the Hale-Bopp comet was the sign of impending end of the world, so that was the trigger • The suicides were very ritualistic regarding dress, money, & the nature of death

3. Group suicide was triggered by Jones’ paranoia & the fact the group was being investigated by a US Senator, who was murdered. Jones forced members to “drink the Kool-Aid”, but he died by gunshot Jim Jones’ cult suicide

4. The Trenchcoat Mafia • The Columbine murderers called themselves the Trenchcoat Mafia • They took their social rejection as justification for the murders of their classmates • What fired their fantasies was fantasy games, Doom, particularly; even designing more advanced levels and monsters of their own • They expressed their fantasies in death poetry, videos about guns, & displaying murderous slogans on the web • The day of the assaults they dressed alike in leathers & boots, speaking a Germanic lingo, set 4/20, Hitler’s birthday as the day of the assault • The fantasy was wish fulfillment for revenge against those who hurt them served as compensation for feelings of insecurity, loneliness, and deep-seated anger

5. Fantasy mythology • Harris mentioned the murder-themed film Natural Born Killers in his journal, referring to the "holy April morning of NBK." NBK was used as a code name for the attack by both, who were great fans of the work. • Dylan Klebold's role in the shooting had him surrounded in mystery for some time. In his journal, Klebold wrote about his view that he and Harris were god-like and more highly evolved than every other human being.

6. Virginia Tech slayings • Seung Hui Cho, at Virginia Tech, killed 32 people out of a profound loneliness that his writing teacher described as “the loneliest person I have ever met in my life.” • His writings described murder & pedophilia, but were they fantasies? • She said he wore sunglasses indoors, cap pulled low over his eyes, took 20 seconds to answer a question, took cell phone pictures of her in class, & she felt afraid of him • Cho was bullied by fellow high school students who mocked his shyness and the strange way he talked. • When she asked administrators to get him some help, they declined, saying it would be a legal nightmare…

7. Cho’s writings • but he soon began to feel that:- • ... the staff at my university, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and later all of Boston were behaving strangely towards me. ... I started to see crypto-communists everywhere ... I started to think I was a man of great religious importance, and to hear voices all the time. I began to hear something like telephone calls in my head, from people opposed to my ideas. ...The delirium was like a dream from which I seemed never to awake

8. Facilitator-Assisted Fantasy • Sadomasochistic sexual fantasies can be facilitated by another • This can be phone sex workers, prostitutes, or committed partners • There can be fantasies of being a baby, being dominated, being an animal or training an animal/partner • Many props are included in these fantasies and they become problematic when they exclude real/ non-paid partners

9. Sadomasochistic fantasies • Phillip Garrido spent the 1970s on one debauchery after another: LSD trips, cocaine binges, pot smoking, public masturbation. Then in 1976, he found a new way to indulge his twisted sexual fantasies. He kidnapped a woman from a South Lake Tahoe parking lot, handcuffed her, took four hits of acid and raped the victim in a storage unit in Reno. The investigator in the case described the storage unit as a "sex palace," with various sex aids, pornography, stage lights and wine. • I asked him after he confessed why he did it, and he said it was the only way he could get sexual satisfaction. I think he had to use force to get sexual satisfaction," DeMaranville Reno police detective said. The detective asked where he got the handcuffs to detain the 25-year-old victim. "He said it was a present from his wife. He was married at the time."

10. Schizophrenic Fantasy • Szasz in The Myth of Mental Illness (1960) reasons that without evidence of organic dysfunction people shouldn’t be labeled as ill because they hold eccentric beliefs as coping devices • They hypothesis is that these people are dependent on fantasy, much like drug addicts • Genetic disposition sets up an overabundance of dopamine which produces hallucinations. Fantasies are necessary to support self-image.

11. Not everyone is open to treatment- and then we all suffer Ted Kaczynsky (the Unabomber) lived alone for years with paranoid schizophrenia At some point he was destabilized and began sending letter bombs to people he disagreed with He was convicted and is in Supermax prison in Colorado

12. Markers of addiction within schizophrenic behavior • Denial- unwillingness to recognize there is anything wrong with one’s beliefs or perceptions • Compulsion- refusing meds that reduce hallucinations • Loss of Control- damage to social, economic, & health issues because of unwavering beliefs • Relapse Rates- recidivism rates are about the same: 60 – 80% return to their “drug” after 6 – 12 months of abstinence

13. The nature of schizophrenia • Symptomology of schizophrenia • Prognosis • Side effects of Meds • Brain scans of brain/ early behavioral differences

14. Possible causes of schizophrenia

16. Schizophrenia has a strong genetic component

17. Organic effects in the brain

18. Recent studies show there are links between enlarged ventricles in the brain and schizophrenia Similar to the structural breakdown in Alzheimer’s disease Effects on the brain from schizophrenia

19. Side effects of antipsychotic meds Sedation Dry mouth Blurring of vision Movement disorders • Tardive dyskinesia- major signs of the condition are excessive movement of the lips, tongue and jaw, (known as oro-facial dyskinesia) • characterized by involuntary movements most often affecting the mouth, lips and tongue, and sometimes the trunk or other parts of the body such as arms and legs. It occurs in about 15 percent to 20 percent of patients who have been receiving the older, “typical” antipsychotic drugs for many years, but TD can also develop in patients who have been treated with these drugs for shorter periods of • Dystonia - prolonged muscle spasms often involving the face, neck, shoulders and upper limbs. • Heart disease, diabetes, weight gain • Parkinsonian movement disorders - involve stiffness and shakiness, and resembles the unrelated condition of Parkinson's disease. The limbs move slowly and muscles of the face may be quite immobile, producing an expressionless, staring face. Rhythmic shaking may occur but is not usually very severe

20. Prognosis for schizophrenia • Ten years after initial diagnosis, approximately fifty percent of people diagnosed with schizophrenia are either noted to be completely recovered or improved to the point of being able to function independently. • Twenty five percent are improved, but require a strong support network • An additional fifteen percent remain unimproved and are typically hospitalized. • Unfortunately, ten percent of the affected population sees no way out of their pain except through death and ends up committing suicide. People with schizophrenia attempt suicide more frequently than do people in the general population. • Reasons include fears and anxieties associated with psychosis or depression and hopeless feelings that may occur when it is realized that a serious, chronic and life-changing disease has occurred.

21. Terrorist Mind-Set • Fantasy is speculated as a way people who share poverty & marginalization might cope • Scripted images of martyr’s glory, spread across the Internet have become powerful recruiting tools for terrorist organizations • Those who embrace suicidal murder feel comfort from their inner pain, along with freedom from the stress of trying to survive in a harsh world • “Terrorists think rationally, but they think within the limits of belief systems that may be irrational.” (Goertzel, 2002, 98) • “Terrorism is fantasy war, real only in the mind of the terrorist…only real for the one who adopts war values…” (p. 137)

22. Terrorist self-perceptions • Different from/ superior to others because of their intensely held beliefs • Actions seen as a revolutionary struggle of the oppressed • Enemies dehumanized- • for rehabilitation, there must be a transformation of the objects into real people • Validation through immersion with others of similar values • Martyrdom as ultimate reward for faith in action- suicide as an end itself, as it leads to martyrdom

23. Sociocultural Origins of Terrorism • Fundamentalist beliefs promoted through religious schools, media, parents who hold these values, transmitting them to innocent children • For those with little hope of other opportunities, this is made to seem plausible, even as an escape from misery • “Life is cruel” says a young man who has been working in brick-making pits since he was 10

24. Sociocultural Origins of Terrorism • People join religious terrorist groups to transform themselves & simplify life- it is a means to overcome humiliation & impotent rage against a system that has never valued them • They are not mentally ill, but have been led to the terrorist model through praise for their actions, as a means of success they have never seen elsewhere • Groups, including parents, will focus on the glory of such acts • Leaders will engender commitment through trance-like training

25. Armageddon: The Ultimate Fantasy • It is postulated that Armageddon fantasies are common because of a global history over the ages of complete extinction of species and peoples • Aztec peoples destroyed other peoples and many of their own, through a belief that the sun must be appeased with blood sacrifice (this is common in many religions) • Ultimately 75K people were sacrificed in one 15th century ceremony. Obviously this led to ongoing war with neighbors (in order to get victims) & when Cortes arrived, other tribes were happy to support him in his war against the Aztecs

26. Armageddon: The Final Fantasy • Armageddon is described in the book of Revelation as necessary for Christ to return for the Second Coming to establish a holy kingdom on earth • This last battle is to overcome forces of evil by good • Preceding Armageddon, there will be Tribulation, as all the believers will be whisked away during the Rapture • This belief system has been used to justify nuclear weapons development • The Antichrist will be raised up among this fear & he will force people to take the 666 mark of the beast to engage in commerce • Because of the belief that God is in control and will ensure that good will overcome evil, people ignore the fact that such nuclear armaments represent their own risk of annihilation

27. Terror Management • Two common elements of human psychology are: fear of death and will to survive • This generated a belief in immortality through a faith – some part of us will live on after physical death • There is also immortality through living for something grander than ourselves- family, country, religion • We need others to confirm this worldview, so when we face unbelievers, we feel existential anxiety, & we may feel justified in exterminating them • This is possible once you dehumanize those who believe differently- they are subject to conversion or death

28. Terror Management • So in any culture that is threatened, it will respond with fervent patriotism, religiosity, reduction of civil rights • When death anxiety is aroused, people will give up a lot in order to have evidence they are protected • In a free society, however, there can be little control over those who would use fear-mongering to control large blocks of the population. • This is why extensive education is so essential to a democratic society