Casey Anthony Suffering From 'Identity Suppression Syndrome?' Forensic Psychiatrist Tells All
Months after Casey Anthony’s contentious murder trial, there is still much speculation about the events surrounding the death of 2-year-old Caylee Anthony. Now, renowned forensic psychiatrist Keith Ablow has offered some insight on the case and the “unseen dark reality” that is Inside The Mind Of Casey Anthony.
On July 5, 2011, Anthony was found “not guilty” of murdering her daughter Caylee. The acquittal sparked a firestorm of shock and outrage, leading to threats against her life. Casey Anthony has since been deemed America’s "most hated woman" – with many wondering about "the real Casey Anthony." Is she the “party girl” that entered a “Hot Body” contest just four days after Caylee allegedly drowned? Or is Anthony a grieving mother, misunderstood and deserving of sympathy?
Dr. Ablow told The Christian Post there was a tremendous lack of self and “profound suppression” of Anthony’s identity.
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“When people as estranged from themselves as Casey Anthony appears to be, they have very little empathy for others and they can suddenly tap into internal reservoirs of rage,” he explained.
Ablow’s tell all book, Inside The Mind Of Casey Anthony: A Psychological Portrait, paints a picture of the 25-year-old that is the first attempt to “describe the destructive decades of toxic, emotional violence that deprived Anthony of ever having a true identity.”
“We need now a special classification for those people who have buried elements of themselves so deeply that they have very little access to those parts of themselves,” he shared. According to Ablow, Anthony demonstrates what he calls “identity suppression syndrome.”
Anthony’s attorney Jose Baez, alleged that Caylee accidentally drowned in the family pool and that Anthony “went into a dark corner, to pretend as if nothing was wrong,” instead of reporting the incident. Meanwhile, prosecutor Jeff Ashton claimed that Casey murdered Caylee, because she was faced with “the life she wanted,” or her daughter.
“I think the prosecutor missed the boat,” said Ablow. “The most psychologically credible way to view this is as a mercy killing, namely deciding that it would be better for her daughter to be dead and in God’s hands than to leave her behind to fall into the hands of Cindy and George Anthony.”
Ablow discusses five theories in his book regarding the way in which Caylee could have died. One of the arguments speculates that Anthony, when faced with losing custody of her child to her mother, Cindy, either consciously or unconsciously considered that it would the end of Caylee’s “beautiful life.” According to Dr. Ablow, it was either inattention that allowed the 2-year-old to wander into deep water or Anthony intentionally ended Caylee’s life or contributed to it.
He told CP that for those people who believed Casey Anthony was sexually abused as a child, her failure to report Caylee’s disappearance for 31 days was consistent with the type of behavior abused children display.
“(They) hide their real feelings and don’t respond normally to grief and many other emotions,” Ablow explained.
Dr. Ablow believes parents George and Cindy treated Casey like a “puppet” and that they failed to recognize their daughter as a person. He listed several instances where Anthony’s parents failed to acknowledge her lies – throwing her a party when she never graduated high school or not recognizing that she was seven months pregnant.
“These are all grave signs that her reality and genuine problems that she was having in life are of no concern to them whatsoever,” Ablow stated.
Regardless of Cindy’s frantic 911 call reporting Caylee’s disappearance, there is a much bigger issue of why the Anthonys spent an hour arguing with the tow lot owner about the price to tow the car.
“How frantic can you be if upon finding the abandoned vehicle that you thought your daughter was driving around Florida for the past two weeks (you argue pricing),” Ablow questioned. “You have to be completely estranged from your emotions and have very little regard for others.”
Casey Anthony is currently serving probation on an unrelated check fraud case. As a result of threats on her life, she is living at an undisclosed location in Florida. Anthony has begun psychological treatment and is doing “well” a source close to the 25-year-old revealed. However, the question remains of whether she can ever lead a somewhat normal life.
“It’s very clear that Casey Anthony requires extensive help from a very talented psycho-therapist, even with that help she may or may not ever be able to resurrect enough of her core self to avoid catastrophe again in the future,” said Ablow. “But it’s always worth that effort,”
He added, “Jeffrey Ashton, the prosecutor, thought of Casey as a cold-blooded murderer and because of that he couldn’t fashion an effective prosecution. Casey Anthony is much more complicated than that.”
Ablow told CP that his book tells the story of how Casey was created and why Caylee Anthony is dead – “a critical story for people who want to understand how murder happens.”
Inside The Mind Of Casey Anthony: A Psychological Portrait hit store shelves Nov. 22.
