I'm a forensic psychiatrist and I work with killers - here are 5 myths people believe about murderers

A forensic psychiatrist has debunked five myths about murderers in a video on YouTube - and some of them may surprise you.

London-based forensic psychiatrist Dr Sohom Das, 44, has a channel called A Psych for Sore Minds, where he covers a range of mental health and crime-related topics.

He opened the video by explaining: 'I'm a consultant forensic psychiatrist. I assess mentally disordered offenders for a living...so just to give you some context, I'm talking from my own clinical experience. 

'I work as an expert witness. I give evidence in a whole wide range of cases, different crimes, different mental illnesses. I speak in court during criminal trials. I do about 50 cases a year, and about four or five of them are related to murder and I've been doing this for about 10 years....'

A forensic psychiatrist has debunked five myths about murderers - including the myth that they all have serious mental illnesses (stock image)

He continued: 'And I've also worked in a lot psychiatric units. I've probably looked after about 50 men - and they are mostly men who have killed somebody in the past -  usually related to their illness because that's why they got to the psychiatric units in the first place.' 

Dr Das, 44, said that the first myth he wanted to debunk is that all murderers must be mentally ill. 

'Some definitely do have mental health diagnoses, but most do not. The ones in the psychiatric units, obviously do.'

He continued, explaining that it 'depends how you define mental illness'.

'If you're the layperson, you might say that anybody who does something as extreme as killing another person - especially if it's somebody they don't know - is mentally ill,' Dr Das explained.

'But that's not the psychiatric definition. The psychiatric definition is somebody that has to have like a recognised mental disorder like depression, like bipolar, like schizophrenia...and of all killers, only a very small proportion have those things. 

'And here's something to throw a pie in the ointment - even if they do have symptoms of mental illness, or if they are mentally ill, most of the time, it's quite mild symptoms...not severe enough to control their actions.'

To put that into context, he explained: 'Let's say you had a gang murder. So you've got two boys....who live in South London. There's a lot of back and forth....one of them stabbed and killed another one. 

The second myth Dr Sohom Das tackled was that most people are killed by strangers. In fact, most people are killed by people they know - especially women (stock image)

'The chances are, the killer - the murderer - if he was in a gang, probably does have a background trauma. Probably does have a degree of anxiety and depression probably has...substance misuse issues as well. 

'But I think most people would agree that that they're still in control of their actions. So what I'm saying is just because you have a mental illness doesn't necessarily equate to any kind of psychiatric defence for severe mental illnesses that do have a psychiatric defence, like diminished responsibility, [or] not guilty by reason of sanity.'

The second myth he discussed was that most murderers kill strangers.

He explained: 'That's true, but it's actually more commonly not true. So there are cases [like that]... which shock the nation because [it can happen to] complete strangers who were at the wrong place at the wrong time. 

'But you're much more likely to be killed by somebody you know, especially if you're young, and especially if you're female.'

According to Dr Das: The Office for National Statistics said that in the year ending March 2020, which is when the most recent statistics are available, 62 per cent of of victims of murder knew their killer - and this was higher for females - 70 per cent compared to male victims,  52  per cent, and for victims under 16, the proportion that knew their suspects was even higher - about 88 per cent.'

According to the expert, myth number three is that murderers will kill again.

But, he said: 'Actually, it's very unlikely for somebody who's killed before, to go on to kill again.'

Moving onto myth number four, he said that it is that 'serial killers are these brilliant criminal masterminds'.

'I get it,' said Dr Das. 'I really do get it. It makes for like a snazzy, interesting, sexy, cool film or TV programme. 

'If you have this really clever kind of provocative serial killer that leaves behind clues. So this is like a bat and mouse game. And then you have this homicide detective who may or may not have an alcohol problem and kind of you know, it's like a cognitive emotional chess game and they try and outwit each other.'

He added that around 40 per cent of serial killers have low I.Qs, they live on the fringes of society, and they attack their victims randomly. 

'So [there isn't that sort of pre planned effort, stalking people for a long period...they just have this like, this frenzied urge and rage to kil, so they go out and do it randomly. 

'They often don't move the bodies, they literally just leave the scene, they try and hide. Or they try and disguise the trend evidence because they just want to get out.

The expert's fifth and final myth about killers is that...'they are all inherently evil or they are all monsters' - he explained just one of the situations he'd been involved in which this was not the case (stock image)

'So what I'm saying, is all of those things are not in keeping with this method that is the  criminal mastermind.'

Dr Das's fifth and final myth about killers is that...'they are all inherently evil or they are all monsters. 

He added: 'So to me, this paints a simplistic and harmful picture. People who've taken life before come from diverse backgrounds, they have different motivations, experiences, have different mental states.

'So judging them solely on this one act ignores the complexity of their life and circumstances, even taking morality out of the question.'

He added: 'I guess what I'm saying, is somebody can have done something horrendous, and it doesn't necessarily reflect their entire personality or character.'

Dr Sohom Das (pictured) is a London-based forensic psychiatrist who also makes YouTube content on his channel A Psych for Sore Minds

He gave an example he has written about in his book, In Two Minds: Stories of Murder, Justice and Recovery from a Forensic Psychiatrist.

'I'll call her Yasmin, she was 18 years old, who killed her nephew in a flash of psychosis.

'She genuinely was mentally ill she thought he had demons inside of him. She didn't try and cover her tracks. She was astounded when the police arrested her because in her psychotic delusional mind, she thought she'd not done anything wrong. 

'But point being is she's not a horrible antisocial person. What she did was horrific. Can't deny that, but she's not an evil person beneath it all.' 

Dr Sohom Das can be found on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok, as well as YouTube.