Charles Whitman Hateful Act Essay

Improved Essays
We commonly hear the horrific disturbing stories about people who commit hateful acts against others including their own. When I hear about a serial killer the first thought that comes to mind is, what was crossing his mind? Scientist and doctors have been trying to solve the mystery of why a human can commit such hateful acts. We ask ourselves what made them snap? We have seen many cases where the father or mother murders their own family. We cant help but wonder what was going on inside this person’s brain. What once seemed a perfect family now becomes a criminal case of hate. Doctors and Scientist has researched many serial killers brains after the act was committed. We question what chemical imbalance causes a person to become inhuman …show more content…
On August 1, 1966 Texas faced a terrible tragedy where many innocent life’s where lost in the hands of a man. Whitman killed a total of 14 people and wounded 32 others after killing his wife and mother. The story that left many people questioning themselves; why this individual would commit such a hateful act. Whitman medical history was researched and an autopsy was later performed upon his request. Doctor records described a poor mental state and inability to control thoughts and emotions. He looked for help and visited with several doctors and psychiatrist the year prior to the massacre. Whitman explained to the psychiatrist the fears he felt with overwhelming violent thoughts and impulses. He felt as mental state and thoughts where not normal and reached out for help. Unfortunately, the psychiatrist only prescribed him medication and didn’t see Whitman as a threat to himself or others. Whitman described inedible feelings of hostility, which he could not control. In his suicide letter he explains he did not know what was happening to in his brain and did not know why he was committing such crimes such as killing his own …show more content…
Web. 17 Mar. 2016. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Whitman).

Doctors concluded the tumor could have been pressing against the amygdala region of the brain, which controls our fight-or-flight responses. They could not determine if the tumor caused Whitman’s thoughts however the concluded; the tumor position could have contributed to his inability to control his emotions and actions. The research conducted on Whitman’s case; helped psychiatrist further understand the reasoning behind a person who commits such acts. Because of this case and other similar cases psychiatrist have taken necessary precautions to help prevent other scenarios like this one. In conclusion Whitman was looking for help with his thoughts and emotions. He knew his thoughts where irrational and preposterous. If technology was advanced as it is now and MRI could have been performed and the tumor could have possibly been removed. Whitman’s case is one of thousands of archived cases in the world. Unfortunately, we cannot always prevent a tragic event from taking place however; with technology we can help those who suffer from mental issues and take the proper

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    The State of American Healthcare Based on the technology and innovation of the twenty-first century, one would like to think that the American health care system is healthy and always in the best interest of the patients. However, this is not always the case. Susannah Cahalan tells her own story through the eyes of a patient being drastically affected by America’s crippled healthcare system. Upon completion of medical school, most medical doctors will take the Hippocratic Oath, essentially pledging to not knowingly harm patients.…

    • 841 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Susannah Cahalan is not only a journalist, but also someone who struggled with a mental illness. She combines these two attributes in her book Brain on Fire, in which she tells the story of her life with Anti-NMDA receptor autoimmune encephalitis. She retells how frightening it was to not understand what was happening to herself. Cahalan uses the book as a platform to get her point on living with a disease across. First off, Cahalan states that we do know have sufficient knowledge on mental illness and the brain in general.…

    • 501 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    He examines famous serials killers and professional theories, as well as studies concerning them and the general characteristic traits they possess. He states that serial killers are “frequently the products of broken or severely brutal homes, where they have themselves been subjected to gross cruelty, sexual abuse, and in some cases prolonged and systematic torture, in deprived childhood: negative parenting as the jargon has it. Vulgatim: the brutal father is the father to the brutal father.” (Egan 327). Serial killers bare painful memories from their childhood, of abuse, humiliation, frustration, or being bullied, they use fantasies to escape, comfort themselves, and even develop an alternate identity that feels more powerful or provides greater ego status.…

    • 1174 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    My healthcare hero is Oliver Sacks, he is a scientist, neurologist, educator and psychiatrist. Oliver was born July 9th ,1933 in London England, there he studied at queens college, Oxford, then became a neurology professor at Albert Einstein college of medicine. In his time he has written a few books on health and some of his experiences in his work, all of which included the weird or unusual symptoms that his patients had. One of his patients had a disorder that caused him to mistake his wife for a particular hat constantly, and another one suffered from constant migraines.…

    • 238 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Great Essays

    Finally, Whitman drove to Texas A&M, armed with rifles and handguns; where he ascended a clock tower, from which he shot forty-six innocent people. For Whitman, the agony of not meeting his self-made expectations triggered an idea for achieving eternal infamy. Charles Whitman was a Psychopathic College…

    • 3892 Words
    • 16 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    On April 20, 1999, Littleton held their breaths as thirteen lives were torn from unsuspecting arms. In the rush of the moment, memories were whisked away by blindsiding bullets and two boys with one malicious dream. Attempts were made in vain to try to make sense of the massacre but none would come close for some time. Through words, Cullen disentangles the violent psyches of Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold as they imagined, illustrated, and executed the attack in his nonfiction novel, Columbine. Disturbing accounts from the mouths of victims and parents of the shooters are also included to assure that no detail was spared.…

    • 786 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Psychological theory says that behavior is a result of deep-seeded issues that are capable of surfacing at any time. Harris suffered with anger management problems. Even though this issue surfaced many times and doctors had prescribed him antidepressant medication, this anger issue clearly surfaced to an extreme level during the planning and execution of the Columbine massacre. These medications play a significant psychological role in Harris’ mind with unknown side effects of the time of suicidal thoughts and increased violence. The doctors prescribed a disaster for a child struggling with anger problems by increasing his violent behaviors and decreasing self-worth.…

    • 804 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The tumor was aggressive and pressing up against a key part of the brain. He had complained of headaches and in his suicide letter seemed to be very confused about his own actions in his suicide note (Midd, 2000). This all suggests that even if it was not the main cause, his brain tumor may have been a large contributor to his actions and may have been what pushed Whitman over the edge and commit such an act of violence. The combination of factors placed on Charles Whitman put him at a high risk to engage in criminal behavior. What took place on August 1, 1996 was an unfortunate compilation of Whitman’s environment and biological…

    • 1165 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Serial Killer Logos

    • 867 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The article explained the three main ideas such as how killers develop, how they act, and ways killers kill. Simon describes that killers become who they are because of mental illnesses or because of the environment they grew up in. According to the author, serial killers could have grown up in an abusive home, been isolated as a child, or bullied in school. The killer could also have an illness and psychopathy or sociopathy…

    • 867 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Physician Assisted Suicide

    • 1434 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Physician Assisted Suicide. It is the act of committing suicide with the aid of another person, most commonly a physician. This act involves the physician sitting down with the person, and guiding them through the process of ending their life, usually done by medication, counseling them through the lethal doses of drugs that would be used, prescribing and supplying said drugs to the patient. Many people do not agree with this act, mostly due to religious beliefs. In fact, out of the 50 states in our country, only 5 provide these kind of services.…

    • 1434 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Elizabeth Williams Ms. Blair English 4 2 April 2015 What causes serial killers to become what they are: Nature or nurture? There are many speculations of what makes a person do and be the things they are but it is not only nature or nurture it’s a combination of both. For a long time people have wondered what makes people act the way they do. People especially wonder about the people of the outcast of the society, the killers. People are fascinated of how these people can do the things they do.…

    • 2039 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Intellect nor the imagination define a person’s reason for killing, rather the deeper things like socialization and childhood express the reasoning behind the gruesome murders (Ioana). Despite two-sided evidence and common perceptions, the more supported answer to the question is that serial killers are made. People are the most impressionable in their early stages of life. Children tend to mimic the actions of the people they are around (Langdon).…

    • 1250 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    He asked questions that particularly did not coincide with the time he was writing in, but resinate with anyone who hums through one of his poems. A few works where Whitman really explores self and peace in the naturally…

    • 720 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Serial Killers Essay

    • 1038 Words
    • 5 Pages
    • 6 Works Cited

    Many believe that neither brain abnormalities or childhood abuse compels someone to become a serial killer; but the combination of both factors creates a serial killer. All the evidence combined represents that if one was to suffer from intense abuse as a child and had certain brain abnormalities than that person may be compelled to be a serial killer. A serial killer is not created; a serial killer is not born. A serial killer is a product of a fatal mixture of brain abnormalities and childhood…

    • 1038 Words
    • 5 Pages
    • 6 Works Cited
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The picture painted in our heads upon hearing these words may be those of Ted Bundy, Jack the Ripper, or H. H. Holmes, the notorious serial killers of the last two-hundred years. These people are seen as the fore front of killers and murderers, but in David M. Buss’s book, “The Murderer Next Door: Why the Mind is Designed to Kill”, he illustrates his new theory on how everyone, including you and I, are naturally hardwired to kill. This book, being one of 7 books published, represents his conclusions after what he claims was “the largest scientific study ever carried out on people’s homicidal fantasies”, going through 375 murders…

    • 1484 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays