Is Attraction to Crime a Mental Disorder?

Attraction to risky behavior isn’t rare, and lots of people love to tickle their nerves by traveling in extreme directions, practicing extreme sports, or even enjoying sexual kinks and unusual intimate practices. All this is not harmful to mental health in general, and it is quite acceptable in modern society.

Yet, there is another pattern of risky behavior which embodies sexual and personal attraction to crimes. It is known as hybristophilia, and in culture, you can find multiple examples of such attraction from Britney Spears’ lyrics ‘Mama, I’m in Love With a Criminal’ to romanticized legends about Robin Hood and Lady Marion. Yet, is hybristophilia a mental disorder or just a specific trait of personality? Let’s consider what it is and how it impacts the lives of men and women.

What Is Hybristophilia?

The term ‘hybristophilia’ was offered by sexologist John Money in 1986 as a subtype of paraphilia (also known as fetishism) [1]. While paraphilia refers to specific triggers (fetishes) that induce high sexual arousal and attraction in individuals, hybristophilia refers to criminal violence as such a trigger.

That is, hybristophilia makes a person (mostly females) be attracted to and then involved in romantic relationships with criminals (murderers, serial killers, maniacs, etc.) It is quite interesting that most researched cases of hybristophilia are related to women, but today, the phenomenon of aggressive hybristophilia in men is also under the focus of researchers [2].

Types of Hybristophilia

There are two types of hybristophilia, passive and aggressive. Passive hybristophilia is more typical for women. It is embodied in an interest in people who were engaged in crimes.

• Passive hybristophilia is characterized by becoming a fan of a person with a criminal background, which starts with communicating with the criminal, then falling in love with him, and sometimes even maintaining long-lasting relationships with him.
• Aggressive hybristophilia is another type of paraphilia which makes a person more engaged in actions related to the crime. A person with aggressive hybristophilia is not only attracted to a crime but also takes part in various activities related to it. There is evidence of women who lured victims, hid bodies or clues, and committed crimes themselves. Their actions are aimed at helping their love interests and winning their admiration and love.

In any case, hybristophilia leads to unhealthy and sometimes even dangerous relationships.

How Common Is Hybristophilia?

There are still no relevant statistics about how widespread hybristophilia is yet we can highlight some facts about it.

• Hybristophilia is more likely to develop in females than in males;
• With the advent of cinema, the levels of interest in serial killers and true crime stories increased as well as the number of movies/TV series about them.

Moreover, while you may not notice signs of hybristophilia in people around you, this paraphilia has active communities with thousands of followers on TikTok and Reddit.

Causes for Hybristophilia: Why Does It Occur?

What makes people so sexually interested in criminals who have outraged someone else? The studies of hybristophilia causes are still in progress, and researches have several hypotheses about them.

1. Most diagnosed cases of hybristophilia relate to people who suffered from childhood trauma and issues of sexual abuse in childhood or being young adolescents [3]. In these cases, hybristophilia is a kind of compensation mechanism like Stockholm Syndrome, which makes the victim remain devoted to a predator.
2. Another hypothesis links hybristophilia with narcissistic traits. Narcissistic people can be attracted to criminals by both the feeling of their power and the opportunity to get the lion’s share of popularity in the media through their romance.
3. Some psychologists consider hybristophilia a radical manifestation of natural selection. According to their studies, female apes (orangutans) tended to be sexually attracted to strong partners, and committing a crime is evidence of such power.
4. For some people, especially among women, hybristophilia’s cause is their striving to change the nature of cruelty in such partners. They often think that their crimes’ roots are in being unhappy or unloved, and a partnership with a loving person can change the crime’s nature.
5. One more point of view is that hybristophilia occurs in women and men who do not want to be engaged in a healthy relationship and dream about a ‘perfect romance’. They create illusive personalities and believe a real criminal is that personality and they sincerely fall in love with a dream partner. At once, they subconsciously avoid relationships that can be consummated, and the romance with a convict helps them keep the illusion of being in romantic relationships for a long time.

The Symptoms of Hybristophilia to Be Alarming Signals

What can show that someone in your surroundings has hybristophilia?

• High interest in true crime stories and media;
• Experiences of childhood trauma and/or abuse which impacted cortisol balance in the body;
• Being prone to risky behavior;
• Romanticizing criminals;
• Sexual arousal dysfunctions.

At once, some studies link hybristophilia to psychopathic traits like the lack of empathy, irresponsibility, and manipulative behaviors.

Is Hybristophilia a Mental Disorder?

Typically, hybristophilia is not a mental disorder but a particular type of paraphilia. In milder cases, it can be considered a specific kink and refer more to personal preferences. At once, considering childhood trauma as one of the main causes of hybristophilia, we can say that some people with this type of paraphilia can have co-occurring mental health issues, which are also induced by traumatic experiences (i.e., PTSD, NPD, or Bipolar Disorder).

Treatment for Hybristophilia: What Can Be Helpful?

The main types of treatment for hybristophilia include as following:

• Psychotherapy methods like cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), individual expressive-supportive therapy, and family therapy.
• Group therapy;
• Medications which help to manage hormonal balances and specific co-occurring symptoms (for example, anti-depressants, mood stabilizers, etc).

Typically, people with hybristophilia do not seek therapy, and they visit their mental health provider only under pressure from family or if it is required by legal action.

Notorious Cases of Hybristophilia

If talking about the most notorious cases of attraction to crimes, you probably have heard about the following ones:

• Ted Bundy’s ‘groupies’ – when serial murderer Ted Bundy was trialled for a life sentence, hundreds of women in the US became obsessed with him and wrote him letters with marital proposals, although his victims’ list included over 30 women.
• Charles Starkweather killed his love interest, Caril Ann Fugate’s family, after she turned him down. Despite this, she agreed to run away with him and remained his sexual partner for a while.
• Bonnie and Clyde, notorious robbers and killers of the first part of the XX century, are also an example of mutual hybristophilia. Besides, thousands of their fans show signs of this issue.

Moreover, the phenomenon of ‘prison groupie’ syndrome is quite ubiquitous in some countries. For example, in Eastern Europe, there is a special term ‘zhdulya’ used for women engaged in romantic relationships with criminals and waiting for their release, although their crimes are severe and repeated. There are specific communities devoted to such paraphilia types on local social media, likewise, we already mentioned similar communities on Reddit in English-speaking countries.

Bottom Line

The phenomenon of hybristophilia is still arguable, and its studies are quite diverse and controversial. Today, it is not officially a mental disorder, but it can accompany other mental disorders, mostly caused by childhood trauma. At once, the causes for hybristophilia are diverse and heterogeneous. This ‘philia’ type is hardly diagnosed but the treatment for it exists. If you have concerns about your sexual preferences or suspect your loved ones have hybristophilia, the first thing is to contact an experienced therapist to consult about this issue. In our rehab center, you can get relevant consultation and help to move the focus to healthier relationships.

Resources:

1. https://archive.org/details/lovemapsclinical0000mone/page/262/mode/2up?q=hybristophilia
2. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/332587840_Aggressive_hybristophilia_in_men_and_the_affect_of_a_female_serial_killer
3. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Melissa_Matuszak/publication/341275309_Hybristophilia_A_White_Paper/links/64d5ca12c80b930269049c3e/Hybristophilia-A-White-Paper.pdf?origin=publication_detail&_tp=eyJjb250ZXh0Ijp7ImZpcnN0UGFnZSI6InB1YmxpY2F0aW9uIiwicGFnZSI6InB1YmxpY2F0aW9uRG93bmxvYWQiLCJwcmV2aW91c1BhZ2UiOiJwdWJsaWNhdGlvbiJ9fQ&__cf_chl_tk=4LW01_GbVPrhtngmV0jIkC7ygiDEhSHt.SBb9Oh8wjw-1743409905-1.0.1.1-HCl7HSPnKXo6DAnsVd6jUdznaJPT2UG1SDstq8XaFxo