Personality Disorders:  Narcissistic & Borderline Disorders
 

People drawn to terrorism may have milder forms of personality disorders.

 

  
 

Problems with this theory:

 

  
It is hard to tell if the disorder is a cause or an effect of becoming a terrorist.  People are identified as terrorists after a long period of affiliation to a segregated group.  It is hard to tell if the narcissistic traits that a terrorist has were there before they joined the terrorist group or whether the traits developed after joining.

 

 

  
Narcissistic Traits Associated with Terrorists:

 

  
  • Extreme sensitivity to criticism
  • Lack of solid relations with other people
  • Inability to form intimate bonds
  • Extreme fluctuations of mood
  • Unrealistic self-evaluation
  • Poor reality testing
  • Tendency to split the world into black and white
  • Lack of nuance
  • Lack of sensitivity to other's needs and feelings
  • Lack of purpose
  • Negative identity

 

  
Group affiliation makes them feel proud, worthwhile, and can feel like a redemption.

 

 

  
There are living examples of trajectories, where people end up getting involved in terrorist organizations little by little, at times by coincidence, and often without having made the decision to do so.  
 

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This is a site created for Biotechnology and Human Values (ISSI470), an academic course at Monmouth College.