Still Crazy After All these Years: On the Persistence of Mental Disorder Perspectives on Terrorism

• In Event: A Closer Look at Terrorist Perpetrators

Abstract

There exists a significant disparity in how terrorists and their motivations are perceived. On one hand, research generally suggests that mental disorder does not feature prominently as a “cause” of terrorist behavior. The search for the terrorist personality has by no means been abandoned, but the preponderance of evidence suggests that terrorists tend not be psychologically abnormal. In contrast, popular accounts tend to emphasize mental disorder as one of, if not the, predominant characteristic of terrorists. The image of the “crazy” terrorist is similarly favored in political and law enforcement circles. This presentation offers explanations for why this disjuncture between popular perceptions and research findings persists. We argue that the mental disorder perspective on terrorism is intuitively appealing. As well, it presents significant political advantages, which in turn have important implications for how policy responses to terrorism are framed.

Authors

• Garth Davies, Simon Fraser University

• Stephanie Dawson, Simon Fraser University