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A Catastrophic Solution: Psychoanalytic Perspectives on a Samurai School Attack in South Africa

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School Shootings

Abstract

The case of a rampage attack using a samurai sword is explored from a psychoanalytic perspective. The offender’s upbringing, his interaction in the school context, associated behaviors, and personality characteristics are used to shed light on unconscious and preconscious dynamics evident in the build-up to the rampage attack. A disorganized attachment system and the presence of “false-self” pathology appear to have important implications for the case. The role of malignant shame, dissociation, compulsive fantasy, and deficiencies in the capacity to mentalize are discussed.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Unless otherwise specified all details of the case were obtained from the public records of the South-Gauteng High Court, case number JPV 08/0216.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Applied Psychology, University of Kwa-Zulu Natal, Durban, South Africa

    Duncan Cartwright

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  1. Duncan Cartwright
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Correspondence to Duncan Cartwright .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. , Institute for Interdisciplinary Research, University of Bielefeld, Universitaetsstrasse 25, Bielefeld, 33615, Germany

    Nils Böckler

  2. Institute for Interdisciplinary Research, University of Bielefeld, Universitaetsstrasse 25, Bielefeld, 33615, Germany

    Thorsten Seeger

  3. University of Bielefeld, Universitätsstraße 25, Bielefeld, 33501, Germany

    Peter Sitzer

  4. Inst. Interdisziplinäre Konflikt- und, Gewaltforschung, University of Bielefeld, Universitätsstr. 25, Bielefeld, 33615, Germany

    Wilhelm Heitmeyer

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Cartwright, D. (2013). A Catastrophic Solution: Psychoanalytic Perspectives on a Samurai School Attack in South Africa. In: Böckler, N., Seeger, T., Sitzer, P., Heitmeyer, W. (eds) School Shootings. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5526-4_10

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