Surgeon recalls 'haunting' experience of scanning the brain of a mass-murderer
Topics: Crime, Psychology, Science, Health, Podcast
Niamh Shackleton
Featured Image Credit: Diary of a CEO
Topics: Crime, Psychology, Science, Health, Podcast
A surgeon has given some chilling insight into what the brain of a mass-murderer looks like.
Dr Daniel Amen is an American celebrity doctor and specializes in brain disorders.
If being a doctor wasn't enough to keep him busy, Amen is also the founder of Change Your Brain Foundation, BrainMD, and Amen University and a 12-time New York Times bestselling author.
With his vast experience in mind, Amen was interviewed by British entrepreneur Steven Bartlett on his Diary of a CEO podcast.
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During their conversation, Amen - who is believed to have scanned over 200,000 brains - was asked about the most unhealthy brain he's ever seen.
"For a 15-year-old, it was Kip Kenkel," he shared. "He's a 15-year-old boy in Springfield, Oregon, who brought weapons to school, got arrested, his parents picked him up from jail and sometime between 6:00pm that night and 8:00am the next morning he murdered his mom and dad and then he went to Thurston High School in Springfield Oregon and shot 25 people."
Dr Amen continued: "Based on my work, they scanned him for his trial. His brain was so awful, like I'd never seen a 15-year-old that had a brain so damaged and his life reflected it."
Kinkel is currently serving a 112-year prison sentence at Oregon State Correctional Institution in Salem.
As to what made his brain so bad, Dr Amen said that Kinkel's brain was 'shriveled' upon examination.
Dr Amen added: "I've never seen a 15-year-old that had a brain so damaged. And his life reflected it."
As Kinkel murdered his parents, Dr Amen wasn't able to speak to him to find out more about the murderer's childhood, but he suspects his unhealthy brain could have been caused by anoxia (when your body or brain completely loses its oxygen supply) at birth, a severe infection or 'something was poisoning his brain' such as lead.
Apparently, all these things are a major cause of psychiatric problems that not many people are aware of.
Dr Amen's website looks into this further and explains that things such as traumatic brain injuries causes a person's aggression rates to go up 35 to 90 percent.
Elsewhere it notes: "Many Amen Clinics patients who exhibited violence (murderers, arsonists, domestic assaults, rapists, bombers, etc.) had left temporal lobe abnormalities. The temporal lobes are located on either side of the brain behind the eyes and underneath the temples.
"Assault, murder, rape, arson, and other criminal behaviors are often associated with problems in this part of the brain.
"Other scientific research confirms that temporal lobe abnormalities are associated with increased aggression and violence."
People have since shared their thoughts on Dr Amen's revelations, and some said that the case of Kipland clearly still affects him.
One person said: "The fact that he had an answer immediately... you can tell it haunts him."
"It’s haunting for him especially because discoveries like this put massive pressure on the modern idea of free will," echoed a second person.