Dr. Carl Goldberg, a psychoanalyst, is currently the editor of two journals, The International Journey of Psychotherapy and The Journal of Adult Development. In his recent book, Speaking With the Devil, Goldberg explores the development of the malevolent mind and attempts to outline the steps of the human emotions that lead up to violent behavior.

1) Quiescence: The person feels in harmony with other people prior to a painful intrusion in his life.

2) Intrusion: An outrage is done to him or to someone important to him.

3) Injustice: He experiences the act/event as unfair/unjust.

4) Anomie: He experiences a startling upheaval in his sense of trust and confidence in the social order.

5) Shame: He feels considerable shame and humiliation for having been a victim, or a helpless observer.

6) Inarticulateness: He is unable to express his feelings of hurt and unfairness/injustice.

7) Self-contempt: He feels self-contempt for how he dealt with the outrage.

8) Panic: His feelings of self-contempt are intolerable; he undergoes strong autonomous nervous system reactions of panic, fear, confusion, and intense anger.

9) Contemptuousness: Feelings of rage are directed at those who are held responsible for the outrage and/or those who did nothing to stop it.

10) Rationalization: Because acting contemptuously is not a customary way of behaving, he needs to justify his angry impulses.

11) Dehumanization: Justifying his contempt makes it possible to dehumanize temporarily those he holds responsible or unhelpful.

12) Numbing: Dehumanizing the victim (s) allows him to become indifferent about his actions toward the victim (s); the transformation of consciousness he incurs is similar to that which a butcher might assume in cutting up the carcass of an animal.

13) Attack: Violence is directed at the victim (s).

14) Agitation: Following the attack, the perpetrator feels shame, regret, and remorse.

The stages of developmental violence of a usually violent individual:

1) Shame: Chronic feelings of shame and humiliation have been turned into self-contempt.

2) Inarticulateness: The person who will commit the violent act has difficulty expressing his shameful hurt verbally.

3) Agitation: The self-contempt has been turned into intense contemptuousness, and he is restless and excitable.

4) Excitement: He feels energized as he searches for opportunities to express his contempt.

5) Frenzy: He experiences a heightened excitement in finding a vulnerable victim. This is often a person who reminds him of his own shame and hurt.

6) Attack: He violates his victim with minimal deliberation.

7) Quiescence: The perpetrator feels serene and superior to his victim (s).

Goldberg, Carl. Speaking With the Devil: Exploring Senseless Acts of Evil. New York: Penguin Books USA, Inc., 1996.