Psychiatrist Takes on Pattern of Behavior Displayed By Some Child Abusers

Annel Martinez

So, what about those perpetrators of child abuse that show no remorse for their actions? In some cases, perpetrators carry out these acts as a pattern of behavior. Doctor Martinez shared some insight on these very complex situations.

Dr. Annel Martinez, Psychiatrist

“It is a very complex situation when somebody doesn’t accept that they are doing something wrong, because what am I going to change if there is not something to change? We find that this happens, especially in people who have a dysfunctional personality type. I guess, most commonly, we would know them as personality disorders. These are actually diagnoses which are recorded. And, what we see in these types of individual is that there is no empathy for another. In some brain studies we actually see that people, especially those who end up in some sort of anti-social personality category, that when they see painful things happen to other people, the pleasure center in the brain actually lights up. So, they are attracted to other people having negative experiences. It brings them satisfaction. So, they tend to pick up behavioral patterns that hurt other people. They go against moral codes. They go against social codes. They go against legal codes and there is no shame, there is no guilt. There is definitely no remorse for what they do.”