Shared beliefs and not delusions are behind most cases of targeted attacks.
This book will challenge forensic practitioners’ traditional diagnostic and forensic frameworks. It is also a very good read.
—Stephen J. Morse, J.D., Ph.D. Ferdinand Wakeman Hubbell Professor of Law, University of Pennsylvania
About Tahir Rahman, MD
Dr. Rahman is Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Washington University in St. Louis, School of Medicine. He completed his psychiatry residency training at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. He is a key educator on the prevention of extremism and violence. His new book was published by Oxford University Press. Dr. Rahman is a lecturer for medical students, psychiatric residents, and international professional associations. He primarily treats cancer patients needing psychiatric attention and he also supervises general hospital consultations. He is an avid aviation and space enthusiast, historian, memorabilia collector and dog owner. He has won awards for teaching and clinical research on the prevention of breast cancer. Dr. Rahman has served as an expert in numerous insanity and civil cases. He has now shifted his academic focus to ending targeted attacks, especially school shootings by the end of this decade.
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About Extreme Overvalued Beliefs
Riveting and surprising in its persuasive simplicity, Extreme Overvalued Beliefs (Oxford University Press) makes a profound argument that most violent targeted attacks are incorrectly classified as motivated by delusions or obsessions. Drawing on exceptionally clear and vivid details of crimes such as the JFK assassination, Oklahoma City bombing, and the January 6th US Capitol attack, as well as the Sandy Hook and Uvalde school shootings, the monograph illuminates three easily understood cognitive drivers of targeted attacks, arguing that we must embrace these in order to thwart future incendiary acts. Reprising the work of neuroscientist Carl Wernicke, Dr. Rahman elegantly separates culturally shared, relished, and extreme ideologies from delusional thinking. Extreme Overvalued Beliefs belongs in the libraries of mental health and legal professionals but will also appeal to those yearning to learn more about the epidemic of mass violence we have become accustomed to living with.
“Psychiatry and indeed society at large must embrace the definition of extreme overvalued beliefs to describe rigidly held, non-delusional thinking which is shared by others. Why? Because doing so will yield more concise definitions of violent behavior to be used in criminal proceedings, as well as aiding in the identification of perpetrators before they carry out their heinous deeds. Without a better understanding of how extreme overvalued beliefs lead to violence, the violent attacks we have come to expect on an almost-daily basis will continue.”
Praise
No reader will finish Rahman’s book without appreciating the importance of his convincing thesis about extreme overvalued beliefs.
—Gerald Posner, New York Times bestselling author of Case Closed: Lee Harvey Oswald and the Assassination of JFK
This book provides the best analysis of the role that extreme overvalued beliefs play in assassinations, school shootings and mass murders.
—Phillip Resnick, MD, Professor of Psychiatry, Case Western Reserve University, School of Medicine
With his analysis of extreme overvalued beliefs, Dr. Rahman has made a substantial contribution to the field and secures his position as a preeminent clinical scientist.
—James L. Knoll, IV, M.D. Past President, American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law
Case Study: JFK
Could the JFK attack have been thwarted? YES, with modern threat assessment tools.
On November 22, 1963, Lee Harvey Oswald left the gold wedding band he had purchased in Minsk, Russia for his beautiful wife Marina in a cup on the dresser in his room—a symbol of his triggering event and also a last resort warning behavior.
Clinical and Forensic Dimensions
An extreme overvalued belief is a fixation that is shared by others in a person’s cultural, religious, or subcultural group. The belief is often relished, amplified, and defended by the possessor of the belief and should be differentiated from an obsession or a delusion. The belief grows more dominant over time, more refined and more resistant to challenge. The individual has an intense emotional commitment to the belief and may carry out violent behavior in its service.
Dr. Rahman and his colleagues have reached back over 125 years to bring us forward with a renewed understanding of overvalued ideas as a new category of criminal behavior.
Also by Tahir Rahman
We Came in Peace For All Mankind
The Untold Story of the Apollo 11 Silicon Disc
Upon returning from the moon, Neil Armstrong was asked by a journalist what we should do next, travel to Mars? He responded:
"Human character- this is the area we have made the least progress- learning more about the brain, about our behavior and the ways we relate to one another."
Dr. Rahman met Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin in 2008 to discuss how a tiny silicon disc tucked in Buzz's sleeve pocket took the messages of mankind to the moon. The disc will last on the moon for a thousand years.
