The Cult of Terrorism
By Stephanie L. Whyche
InteliHealth News Service
You've seen the photos of their faces — the 19 terrorists who attacked
the U.S. two weeks ago. But the grainy images show only their physical
selves.
What, if any, shared psychological traits lurked just beneath the surface?
Perhaps their compatriots, their families, know for sure. But based on
the sketchy facts known about their movements, activities and demeanor
in the days preceding the Sept. 11 attack, two psychiatric experts suggest
that the men shared characteristics of rigidity, narcissism, intolerance
and an extreme hatred of people different from themselves. Their sense
of community or cult commitment was such that no defense alone is likely
to be impregnable and simply eliminating cult members is likely to only
encourage copycats. Our best means for defense is thus to proceed with
an offense designed to overthrow those repressive regimes, which spawn,
protect and cultivate such murderous cults and manufacture weapons of
mass destruction for their use.
"I don't think there is a special type of personality that turns
into a terrorist," says Art Rousseau, M.D., an Oklahoma City psychiatrist
who serves on the American Psychiatric Association's National Disasters
Committee. "There could be a lot of people who have all kinds of
different personality structures who fall in this pattern."
And yet, Dr. Rousseau says, "there becomes a pattern of thinking
that terrorists, in general, begin to develop. It is a prejudicial thought
[religious, political or other] that becomes very rigid and unbending."
There's also an element of narcissism, Dr. Rousseau says. There is "a
strong narcissist component in many of the leaders of the terrorists
groups," he says. "By definition, narcissism means an excessive
feeling of love for oneself, giving more value to oneself over someone
else. The thinking is, "I can use other people and then get rid
of them, as if they were a used empty milk carton."
Harold J. Bursztajn, M.D., a Harvard Medical School forensic psychiatrist
who studies mass murderers and is interested in the psychodynamics of
terrorists, agrees.
"You almost invariably get an authoritarian leadership and organization;
a regimentation of members," says Dr. Bursztajn, co-director of
the Program in Psychiatry and the Law at the Massachusetts Mental Health
Center. The leader and followers "insist on absolute conformity
— not only conformity of action but of thought and feelings."
Dr. Bursztajn also says narcissism played a role, but not just in the
leader or leaders of the terrorists' organization. "These were basically
ordinary people who had a tremendous amount of hatred in them, who worshipped
themselves," he says.
This type of self-worship, says Dr. Bursztajn, reflects a cultlike mentality.
"This particular cult has hijacked Islam for its own purposes," he
says.
"A cult, is characterized by a group of people who are fanatically
dedicated to exercising power at the expense of anyone who is not a member
of the cult," Dr. Bursztajn explains. "Often cults take the
form of worshipping the leader as 'God' or worshipping the group members
themselves. Both are elements of idolatry, which preceded the monotheistic
religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam."
Dr. Bursztajn says other personality characteristics members of a cult
possess include "renunciation of worldly pleasures; a doctrinaire
belief that the cult has exclusive access to ultimate truths; and an
attitude of infallibility, perfectionism and moral superiority."
Dr. Bursztajn says terrorists also have elements of sadism in them, minus
the sexual gratification that is ordinarily associated with that word.
Terrorists, he said, "gain pleasure by inflicting domination, humiliation
and pain upon others."
So what kinds of individuals are most vulnerable to becoming members
of a violent cult?
"Generally, the people who are most vulnerable to become members
of a cult are perfectionists, intolerant and who have a difficulty owning
their own aggression, or acknowledging that they have aggressive feelings
thoughts," Dr. Bursztjan says. "Such people are open to being
manipulated by people who promise them they will go to heaven by sending
everyone who is not a member of the cult to hell."
Dr. Bursztajn notes that it was this type of mindset that led to the
Holocaust. Within a larger military conflict, Hitler and his "cult" of
Nazis were obsessed with what they called "purifying" the planet
of Jews and others they deemed inferior.
"It comes back to the concept of genocide," Dr. Rousseau says. "One
group defines another group as so bad that they want to wipe them out.
This is not something new. It goes back in time historically."
It's important to note, these doctors say, that while certain personality
traits can contribute to dangerous thinking and behavior, having one
— or more — of the traits does not equate to mental illness.
"There are many who suffer from major mental illness, who would
never in a million years — even if they were oppressed — act like this," Dr.
Bursztjan says.
The Sept. 11 terrorists ultimately committed suicide, Dr. Bursztajn notes.
But they weren't suicidal in the 'I'm alone, depressed and I want to
die' sense of that word, he says. Rather they had a strong local community
or cult based sense of murderous direction and purpose.
Moreover, unlike someone with a mental illness, the terrorists did not
likely experiences emotional discomfort and pain, Dr. Bursztajn says.
Instead, they were "perfectly comfortable and perfectly committed
to carrying out their aims." These were people without doubts, regrets,
conflicts or a love for anyone or anything different from themselves
and their idolatrous ideals. They are likely, even in death to encourage
copycats.
From history we have learned that in World War II it was not enough to
assassinate specific Nazi party leaders such as Hyedrich who were committed
to murdering Jews in Europe. As in World War II, we will need to overthrow
governments in order to prevent ongoing attempts at mass murder by cult
members. That is why it is important not just to find and eliminate the
specific cult members, but also any government which protects them, as
the Taliban does in Afghanistan, and any government which manufactures
weapons of mass destruction for terrorist use, as the Iraqi government
of Sadam Hussein does their chemical and biological weapons program.