As the medicalization of criminal behaviour expands through forensic psychiatric practice it is reliant upon a therapeutic ideology based on clinical assessment and effective application of treatment strategies. When such criminal offenses are particularly heinous the perpetrators are often referred to as evil by non-professional accounts. However, the extent to which the concept of evil affect...

DNA delivery of IL-12 has shown promise in reducing the toxic side effects associated with administration of recombinant human (h)IL-12 protein while maintaining the ability to inhibit tumor growth and abolish tumor metastases in animal models. We have developed a more potent version of IL-12 by using DNA shuffling and screening to improve its expression in human cells and specific activity on ...

According to the life mission theory, the essence of man is his purpose of life, which comes into existence at conception. This first purpose is always positive and in support of life. This is not in accordance with the everyday experience that man also engages in evil enterprises born out of destructive intentions. This paper presents a theory about the evil side of man, called the "anti-self"...

The Exorcist (1971; “E”) by William Peter Blatty, one of horror’s all time greatest bestsellers, starts off with three quotations and three names. The first quotation is from the Bible, from the famous possession narrative in the gospel of Luke (8:27-30). The second is an excerpt from a FBI recording of two Mafia killers laughing and discussing how they had hung their victim on a meat hook and ...

It may legitimately be asked, “What is a psychiatrist doing delving into the longstanding philosophical question about the nature of evil?” As we know, finding meaning and redefining reality to incorporate the experience of trauma is a fundamental task for the survivor of overwhelming life experiences (Herman, 1992; McCann and Pearlman, 1990; Janoff-Bulman, 1992). So too, is it one of the funda...

RICHARD CAVENDISH, The powers of evil in western religion, magic and folk belief, London, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1975, 8vo, pp. ix, 299, £5.95. Evil supernatural agencies are part of every culture in degrees varying with their sophistication. As is to be expected, primitive man is surrounded by them, but they are of course still believed in by races who boast advanced social and cultural devel...