Author name: Derry

Joanna Dennehy is the third woman in British history to receive a life imprisonment sentence, after killing 3 men in March 2013 and attempting to kill several others (Keenan, 2014). Dennehy was diagnosed with psychopathic anti-social personality disorder after a stunt in prison a year she began killing (Dodd, 2014), which has led many to speculate that a psychiatric explanation for her crimes focusing on psychopathy would be most fitting (Morris, 2014). At age 16, Dennehy moved out from her familial home with her partner John Treanor after frequent attempts at running away, and had two children (Morris, 2014). Treanor left Dennehy in 2009 and took the children with him (Morris, 2014), giving rise to a developmental explanation of her extreme behaviour given the lack of attachment to her relatives that may have skewed her internal models. However, it is hard to ignore the fact that Dennehy is a female in a patriarchal society and therefore feminist explanations have strong credence, especially as all her victims were male. An integrated approach of all three theoretical perspectives therefore would be the most fitting and explain the most of her abnormal behaviour.

Freud’s psychodynamic theory fundamentally suggests that ‘Das Ich’– the self, is created through conflict and resolution in childhood, and is hugely influenced by the unconscious. Individual differences rise from parental attachment, trauma, and how the psychic apparatus develops. This is similar throughout all of psychodynamic theory but is particularly crucial in the development of the self, as it is critically to psychoanalysis.

Psychometric testing may be used to determine capacity, comprehension, disability and resilience in individuals in clinical settings (Lichtenberger & Kaufman, 2013.) In the context of psychological and neuropsychological assessment, psychometric tests assess the suitability of therapies or interventions and availability of resources- although psychometric tests can be used in many other settings, such as in educational or work contexts (British Psychological Society, 2019; American Psychological Association, 2019). Clinicians use the results of psychometric tests to influence care planning, overall assessment of needs, for legal purposes, and potentially as evidence in court (Lichtenberger & Kaufman, 2013), but must be used in conjunction with other tools to give a bigger picture. The biggest issues with psychometric tests are; that they are not always appropriate for certain individuals with low motivation, they struggle to compete with physiological tests where comparable, and sometimes lack construct validity- particularly in the case of intelligence tests. Therefore, it cannot be overstated that psychometric tests can only be used as part of a wider assessment to cope with individual differences (British Psychological Society, 2019; American Psychological Association, 2019.)

This was my first ever essay at degree level. It has a lot of issues and some strengths, but overall it is a fun read!

BDSM has been defined in many ways, with the clearest definition of the term from a modern perspective specifying that “there are three different terms, there is S & M [sadism and masochism], B & D [bondage and discipline], and D & S [dominance and submission]”(Musafa,1988). Over the years, these interchangeable acronyms have formed the umbrella term of BDSM, and have been operationalised differently by different researchers. Recently, BDSM has come into mainstream consideration due to the popular ‘50 Shades of Grey’ franchise, leading some psychologists to delve deeper into the BDSM community and support the notion that BDSM is healthy and can have many benefits. However, older research condemns sadomasochistic activity; labelling them as unhealthy and psychotic. This notion is still held by much of the public, shown by the Governments ‘Digital Economy Bill’ and the debate over the influence of aggressive erotica.