A son who kills his father in self defence.... psychological issues

Foolonthehill

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One of the main characters in my novel killed his father at age 15 in self defence. Your typical situation, violent alcoholic father etc (though not very typical in Italy where it is set, as alcoholism is not such a big problem here compared to other countries). Basically he kills his father who is beating up his mother during the umpteenth drunken rage. Now, this happens in a time before that when the novel takes place, so it is only going back to explain the background of this man that I briefly describe what happened. The man is now in his early 30ies and has been through drug addiction as a result of the psychological trauma caused by this event, has been to rehab and is now at last getting on with his life. Still, sometimes I wonder whether I should go slightly more in depth concerning the feelings a person who has had to kill his own father in self defence may have. There have been a few cases I have found documentaries about but none about children who had to kill a parent in self defence (only to get their hands on an inheritance etc). Do you have any links? Know of any source where I could get some kind of information?
Many thanks!
 

cornflake

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One of the main characters in my novel killed his father at age 15 in self defence. Your typical situation, violent alcoholic father etc (though not very typical in Italy where it is set, as alcoholism is not such a big problem here compared to other countries). Basically he kills his father who is beating up his mother during the umpteenth drunken rage. Now, this happens in a time before that when the novel takes place, so it is only going back to explain the background of this man that I briefly describe what happened. The man is now in his early 30ies and has been through drug addiction as a result of the psychological trauma caused by this event, has been to rehab and is now at last getting on with his life. Still, sometimes I wonder whether I should go slightly more in depth concerning the feelings a person who has had to kill his own father in self defence may have. There have been a few cases I have found documentaries about but none about children who had to kill a parent in self defence (only to get their hands on an inheritance etc). Do you have any links? Know of any source where I could get some kind of information?
Many thanks!

This is entirely individual. People are affected differently, based on a whole host of factors, including their basic coping mechanisms, mental health, feelings about what happened, etc., etc., etc.

What you describe, just btw - killing his father, who was beating his mother, is not self-defence. It may be justifiable homicide, but it doesn't sound like self-defence.
 

shadowwalker

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Pick up a copy of "And Then We Went Fishing" by Dirk Benedict. It goes into a lot of other things, and it was his brother who killed their father, but it's very insightful anyway.
 

bombergirl69

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Great recommendation (Fishing).

I might add only that moral injury (an act of moral transgression, when we act in a way that crosses a moral boundary) has some interesting dynamics and you might look at the lit around that.

Acts that violate our own moral code can cause a lot of deep emotional shame,the kind we can't talk about. Not easily anyway. If an act does not, if we are able to define it in such as way as to fit in with our conception of who we are, we are probably (emotionally) better off. So, as an example, many Native Americans are told about what it means to "be a warrior". This has proven to be very helpful, as it provides a context for some of the acts people have to do in war. Acts that otherwise people might really struggle with.

On the other hand, there are still things like being told to leave your friend on the field of battle or something that people very much struggle with afterwards ("how could I do that?")

So, you have some interesting options with your guy. Is he now, years later, wondering if he did have options and if he is really the kind of guy who kills without reason? Or, is it clear to him that the threat was real and deadly and that he had no choice.

Trauma research is also interesting. Grossly oversimplifying, people fight, freeze or flee in trauma (for a number of reasons). And what ever they do, if they survive, they'll likely do it again under other circumstances they find threatening. nothing like survival as a reinforcer! But people second guess themselves all the time ("if i had gone a different way home", "If I had't worn the red dress", "If I'd only stopped for milk"), but of course, the fact that they survived means they made the right choice.

If someone else didn't though, the survivor could really struggle with that. And it can be a quite a spiritual journey depending on the person, how we go on with our lives after that event, what is the nature of forgiveness, who has to forgive, is atonement possible or necessary.

Interesting stuff!
 

Cath

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Foolonthehill, it looks like you want links to resources, correct?

If so, I'll leave this thread here. However, if this turns into brainstorming ideas for the story, I'd rather move it on over to the brainstorming sandbox.
 
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Foolonthehill

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Cath, of course. I didn't know about that section and it sounds very interesting.
Bombergirl, great input!