Last week we reviewed some aspects of the case of the confessed killer Marry Winkler, and we tried to make an educated guess as to her mental state when she shot and killed her husband. To do that, we had to agree on what certain psychological terms meant. For example, "psychotic" means in the grip of mental illness so completely that one doesn't know right from wrong, because of a gross impairment of one's perception of reality. Then we learned a different term, "psychopath." We now know that a psychopath (unlike the helpless psychotic) is one who, though basically without a conscience, is clearly quite "able" to know and conform her behavior to the law, but makes the conscious "choice" not to obey.

For examples of people who have no conscience, and who were able to know that their actions were against the laws of man and God (psychopaths), we need only to turn to the news. Andrea Yates was convicted of murdering her five children (now granted a retrial), and Susan Smith is doing time for killing her two little boys. Both mothers used drowning as the method of murdering their children. Both mothers "knew" the consequences of what they were doing. Both apparently "knew" the consequences of using water to deprive their babies of oxygen. Both had a plan to drown them. Both murderers displayed evidence of prior knowledge of the consequences of their acts.

If you, dear reader, are "normal," and most of you are, your reaction, to what Andrea Yates and Susan Smith did to their innocent young children, would surely be to say that they were "crazy." Those of you who are normal cannot imagine doing such a thing to anyone's child, especially your own. Yet, your reaction is partly based upon your need to reassure yourself that you are normal: "I would not do that," or "nobody in their right mind could do that." But, undoubtedly the response of a "tiny fraction" of you is a fogged phantasy remembered: "I've thought about getting rid of my children, because they're in the way of my getting thus and so, or doing . . . ," or "they would be better off dead than living like this," or "I can't have this baby now, it's just not convenient?" In other words, a small percentage of you have had such "evil" thoughts, but those thoughts didn't rise to murder. There was not a "condition," an opening to evil, present at the time of those thoughts.

As a prelude to a partial understanding of what we mean by "evil," we must first add another psychological term (description) to our conversation: "narcissism." [Ok boys, altogether now, say "nar- suh- sizz- zum"] The word comes from Greek myth. Narcissus fell in love with his on reflection in the waters of a spring, and became so fascinated by his own beauty that he accidentally fell in and drowned, at least that's one version of the story.

Healthy narcissism to me means a strong self-esteem, which makes people feel good about themselves without the "need" to be bragged on by others. Unhealthy narcissism is quite another thing. Some harmless examples of mildly unhealthy narcissism include the "need" to reassure oneself of one's delicate self-image of "status," by wearing only "designer"shirts. The strong need for "reassuring" (security blanket) clothing symbols, and, say, owning a vehicle known mainly for its huge cost, rather than its value or utility are, to psychologists, clearly recognizable, but extremely mild, symptoms of harmless narcissism, and/or infantilism.

Serious narcissistic personality disorders (from the DSM-IV "bible" of mental illness classification) include a grandiose (hold on now boys, it'll be clear in minute) sense of self-importance. That's someone who expects to be recognized as superior without any basis in achievement. Another symptom is an enormous need for excessive admiration. Here's another: a sense of entitlement, that is, an unreasonable expectation of extremely favorable treatment, similar to Rep. Cynthia McKinney's apparent attitude when she slugged that Capitol Building cop. In a nutshell, people with narcissistic personality disorders pimp for compliments, and in extreme conditions, will injure, maim, and sometimes kill, for lack of "respect," or self-gratification. And, the slightest hint of criticism will trigger feelings of rage, shame, or humiliation, which they may release explosively.

Narcissistic psychopaths are extremely selfish, and highly concentrated on securing the luxurious comforts of life, often to the exclusion of everybody in their lives. They cannot delay their gratifications, or set aside their long held resentments and hatreds. They have, in their history, parents who have overindulged them, and they have parents who have reinforced their "resentments." Parents of young, developing, narcissists routinely cover-up their children's mistakes, and go to war for them with their teachers, and others of authority, even when their narcissists-in-the-making are wrong. I think you get the idea?

Narcissists are usually outwardly charming, eager to please, and quite often very smart. But, when they're "crossed," out of control narcissists will hurt you, one way or another, and sometimes, given the right combination of circumstances, they'll murder people with the ease of stepping on a bug. And yet, narcissists are not legally "insane." They, like other psychopaths, just do what they do, and feel they are above the law. One never knows, you may be creating a narcissist in you own home. You may be married to one? You might know a potentially dangerous narcissist, without "knowing it."

In trying to get one's head around the idea that one needs to recognize evil when dealing with abnormal psychology's theories about how "good" people become murderers, I've been reviewing, and re-reading, many of the late Dr. Morgan Peck's (a psychiatrist who held a distinctly religious point of view) essays, and have re-read one of his books with more interest than before, perhaps looking for confirmation of one's own poorly developed theories. In his "Children of the Lie: Toward a Psychology of Evil," Dr. Peck wrote this about when evil is combined with narcissistic psychopaths: "Their narcissism makes the evil dangerous . . . because it deprives them of the restraint that results from empathy [compassion] and respect for others. . . . Narcissism permits them to ignore the humanity of their victims. As well as gives them the motive for murder, so it also renders them insensitive to the act of killing. The blindness of the narcissist to others can extend even beyond the lack of empathy; narcissists may not 'see' others at all." I no longer find Dr. Peck's insights "corny," as I did earlier in my life. I find Dr. Peck's observations instructive and chilling.

Now, let's ask ourselves: "What if Mary Winkler is a lifelong mildly affected "mini-narcissist," covering it with good manners all these years, and able to do so because evil had not yet been awakened in her? And what if her husband was a full blown closeted "narcissistic psychopath," who opened the gates, so to speak, to evil, by bringing evil, in some form, into their home? Evil, plus Mary's mild narcissism and possible clinical depression, plus some shocking behavior of a husband with a severe narcissistic personality disorder, could be summed with MSNBC's characterization, "Slain Minister's Wife Confesses to Killing Husband," couldn't it?

Kenneth Kinchen is an independent writer with a background in international business and foreign service contracting.