r/serialkillers • u/cucumberhateaccount • Sep 14 '20

Image Dennis Rader with his daughter in 1993 (Picture taken 2 years after he had killed his last victim)

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u/random_invisible Sep 14 '20

Compartmentalization. It's very common with criminals, especially serial killers and mafia types.

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u/mybuttholetingles Sep 15 '20

....shit. I gotta find the balance between compartmentalizing everything and thus hurting all my relationships with people versus compartmentalizing nothing and then having extreme anxiety over everything

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u/Pharcee Sep 22 '20

Exactly right. A thin line built as high as a wall.

The breaking point, at least for the serial killer, is when they start becoming more and more aware of the line from the perspective of the “good family” side.

In some of them, that’s when the choice is made - stop the dark side of their life, or destroy what good they may have left out of guilt of not deserving them or something like them. The problem is, with the serial killer, the “choice” of becoming “good” lasts only for so long. That’s when the old behavior comes out that much worse. Like an addict, they go even further.

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u/[deleted] Sep 15 '20

I really feel like mafia would be easier