Psychology Of A Terrorist

In bomb attacks or suicide bombing psychology, the terrorist sees the world as black and white. While he remains on the “white”, that is, clean and good end, the rest of the world is on the “black”, that is, the bad and dirty end. As a result of this split, he will either eliminate the evil or play godliness by saving the evil and polluted humanity.

The split defense mechanism, is a very primitive defense mechanism, under any terrorist attack there is an intense split mechanism. In the first stage of our development, the year we were born, we do not yet have a sense of self and of the world. As we establish relationships with our caregivers, we create a good and bad perception of ourselves and the world. At first there is no difference between the world and me. There is only good and bad.

In the following times, we begin to distinguish between the good me and the bad me and, the good world and the bad world. As there are two people, oe is good and the other one is bad. We still dont have the ability to see that the good and bad sides belong to the same person, and or the same world. Our ability to perceive ourselves and the world as a whole, with our good and bad features, has not yet developed.

Towards the age of three or four, we begin to integrate these two sides. That is, we begin to perceive ourselves as an average person with good and bad sides. So are the ones in the world: standard people with good and bad sides. However, when this integration does not occur, which happens when the child does not receive enough positive emotions from their caregivers to cover their bad sides, it divides the world into good and bad. What provides this integration is the color of the relationship with the caregivers. If there is a lot of positive exchange of emotions, we can immediately regulate the negative events and melt our bad sides into our good ones. Otherwise, everything is either black or white. There are no intermediate colors. Everything is very sharp. And there is no tolerance for the bad part, it must be destroyed.

Terrorist organizations cannot tolerate any ideology and view of life other than their own due to this splitting mechanism. Their survival depends on the other being bad. Two opposing views cannot coexist. There must be an angel and a devil. And if something is bad, they must destroy it. The personality disorder in which the intense splitting defense mechanism is used is defined as Borderline Personality Disorder. Psychologist Ariel Merari, who works at Tel Aviv University, found that these people are mostly individuals with borderline and/or narcissistic personality disorder, in her research with suicide bombers.

Secondly, as it is found in Merari’s research, another pathology that suicide bombers or terrorist attackers have is Narcissistic Personality Disorder. People who did not receive adequate approval, whose emotional needs were not met, who were abused and devalued as children become addicted to being seen and praised for life to cover up these feelings.They devote their lives to it. When they become adults, they feel intense negative feelings such as worthless, homeless, and not belonging. Terrorist organizations specifically select people who have such emotional damage. They see them by giving them “value”, making them a part of their organization. Even the worst way of being seen is better than not being seen at all. A person who is a part of terrorist organizations that deify themselves begins to perceive it as an extension of a divine power. He begins to perceive that he is seen, exists and is part of a divine power. Naturally, everyone outside the group is evil and demon, and they take on the lofty task of clearing the world of demons.

Terrorist organizations emphasize the injustices and evils in the world to these people and approach them with the dream of an ideal world, religion and state. The one who is hungry to be seen, heard and be praised, to feel powerful and immortal sacrifises himself to save the world that is covered in mud and becomes a hero forever. In his mind, by him or a bomb blasting he thinks that the rotten world and bad people in it no longer exist so that the world become a better, fairer and cleaner place. Second benefit is the theatricism ( bomb blasting) makes him unforgettable hero in history of humankind. Everyone sees and hears about him. In a sense he becomes immortal.

But… Our survival instinct has been with us since human history. We are programmed to survive. That is why we as humans did not extinct through wars, pandemics, natural disasters through out history. Adding our conscience to it, it becomes very hard for one kill oneself. The development of social conscience also takes place in early development stage of our lifes. Approximately between the ages of 5-6 on average. If a person’s conscience mechanism is even a bit healthy, it is not easy for him to explode himself or anyone else.

For this, he needs to be under an intense hypnotic suggestion. Most of the time, the organization focuses that it does good to the world, cleans it from the filth, ends the cruelty of the oppressor, and he will become a true hero. Both reinforcing the division mechanism and covering up the sense of worthlessness, adding false value they give hope and convince him that he will be rewarded for his heroism.

Finally, when choosing the people they will assign, terrorist organizations choose people who have nothing or no one to lose, considering the possibility of canceling or giving up at the last moment. Generally, these people are chosen from people whose family has died or whose ties have been completely cut off, who have been rejected, who have a serious illness or have committed serious crimes, who have been left out by the society, who do not have any real and healthy connection with anyone so that there is no one to change their mind at the last moment. The belief that there is no family, friend or state to cover, forgive, accept, and see him increases his commitment to the organization and makes it easier for him to perform the given tasks.

Şeyma Koçak

Clinical Psychologist