"Every story glorifies the hunter, until the lion learns to write."

So let me write this in the lion’s stead. Let me show you the hunt from the other side of the gun.

Welcome to the descent - into the minds you fear, dismiss, or scroll past. Into the blueprint of what happens when survival becomes personality, and pain becomes identity.

You call them monsters.
I call them maps.

This isn’t about right or wrong.
But rather looking deeper.

Inside the Mind: Where It Actually Begins

Before the mugshot.
Before the blood.
Before the headline.

There’s a child.

And that child learns early: emotion is a liability. Vulnerability gets you hurt. So they shut it down , like flipping a switch they didn’t know they’d never be able to turn back on.

They grow emotionally numb. Hyper-aware. Their brain wires itself for survival, not connection. Peace? It’s a foreign language. Defense becomes their mother tongue.

And when everything around you is dangerous, you grip control like a weapon.
That control turns into manipulation.
Manipulation becomes personality.
And with time? That personality doesn’t feel wrong.
It feels safe.

Coping Isn’t Pretty. It’s Performance.

You think they’re cold.
But cold is what happens when warmth gets punished.

They don’t cope with trauma , they perform through it.
Smile when they’re numb.
Flirt when they’re afraid.
Fight when they’re overwhelmed.

Being real? Costs too much.

Some dissociate , mentally checking out the moment a crisis begins. It’s called dissociation: the mind's way of disconnecting from pain. Their crimes often feel like someone else’s actions because their body was there, but their mind wasn’t.

Others lash out in a flash , not because they don’t care, but because they feel everything all at once. Or nothing at all. There is no middle ground. Just extremes.

Personality Built by Pain

These minds aren’t born evil.
They’re layered , like sediment , with grief, abandonment, and rage that no one ever named.

So they evolve:

Reactive detachment : They fear closeness, so they sabotage it.

Charm as currency : Connection doesn’t get your needs met, but charisma does.

Emotional detachment : They don’t cry. Not because they’re proud. Because they’ve forgotten how.

That’s not psychopathy.
That’s protection in disguise.

The worst part? It works.
So they keep doing it.
Until something , or someone , breaks.

Socializing With a Mask On

They’re not “antisocial.”
They’re non-socially safe.

They’ve learned to observe connection, not feel it. So when you talk to them, what you get isn’t intimacy , it’s imitation.

Small talk? Rehearsed.

Smiles? Calibrated.

Apologies? Scripted.

But underneath all that, there’s still a craving. A human need for comfort. The problem is , when comfort has always been a trap, how do you even ask for it?

The Body Remembers What the Mind Hides

You want to know the real evidence?
Check their bodies.

Some are hyperaroused – jumpy, twitchy, constantly scanning for exits.
Others are hypoaroused – frozen, slow to respond, shut down emotionally.

This is nervous system dysregulation , their body stuck in either panic or numbness. The system that should help them feel safe has been hijacked by their past.

Their bodies flinch at affection.
Go blank when confronted.
They’ve internalized every slap, insult, and scream , and stored it in their posture, breath, and silence.

"The body keeps the score." By Dr. Bessel van der Kolk

Criminal ≠ Inhuman

It’s easy to call them monsters.
But what if they’re just people who were never safe enough to be soft?

That’s not sympathy. That’s honesty.

Some hurt to feel power.
Some hurt to feel anything.
Some don’t even realize they’re hurting others because no one ever taught them what hurt looks like from the outside.

They weren’t born without conscience.
Conscience just never had the chance to grow.

So, Born or Built?

Truth is: some were born with storms in their brain.
Others were built in the wreckage left by other people’s storms.
Some are both.

But no one is born a monster.

Every “criminal” mind was once just a child , waiting to be heard, soothed, and seen.

What We Miss When We Judge

Do you want to stop crime?

Then stop thinking punishment alone will fix it.

Start with understanding the blueprint.
The silence they were forced into.
The mask they built because no one accepted their face.

Instead of building more prisons,
Maybe we can start building better people.

"Every story glorifies the hunter… until the lion writes its version."

So let this be that version.

Let this speak for the minds no one listened to.

Let it ask the questions we were always too scared to ask , not to excuse…

…but to understand.

Because that’s the only way we stop the next headline.

📌 Citations

• Van der Kolk, Bessel. The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma
• Perry, Bruce D. & Oprah Winfrey. What Happened to You?
• Maté, Gabor. In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction