This essay presents analyses of two articles: a cover story that focuses on psychopath's mental health by a neuroscientist, Kent Kiehl, and an article on serial killers and the evil behind them written by a professor in Psychiatry, Robert Simon. In both cases the narratives provide not only a means of better understanding the violent offender's view of the world but also a potentially useful option to help deal with such individuals. When we hear the word psychopath we probably think of cold-blooded killers, selfish opportunists, or even evil. Because we think they have a choice between doing good or bad they shouldn't get any sympathy. But as Kent Kiehl describes in his article: "Inside the Mind of a Psychopath", they actually suffer from a brain deformity that causes their abnormal behavior, and they deserve medical help as anyone else with a mental illness.
Kiehl educates us to look beyond the fact that psychopaths usually appear normal and don't show the classic signs of mental instability - hallucinations, anxiety, insanity - that lead us to common belief they are simply egocentric monsters. Instead, to see that they actually are misjudged victims, people with emotional debilities and not simply selfish individuals. By having this acceptance and the fact they are not untreatable, it could help create more efforts toward new treatments and strategies, which would be more effective and would save the lives of innocents. Kiehl concludes his view with optimism, about new treatments that promise not only to help them but also bring sanity to society. .
Robert Simon begins his article "Serial Killers, Evil and Us" by questioning what is in serial killers that brings fascination to people, and answering it by stating they appear to be normal, like that friendly neighbor and not someone crazy with a mask and chainsaw as portrayed in movies. Simon tries to explain how it is possible for someone with so much normality and intelligence to be able to commit horrible and indescribable acts of cruelty, stating "feelings of worthless, envy, devaluation of others, failure to empathize and sometimes evil" as reasons for such intolerable behavior.
