Inside the Mind of Casey Anthony: A Psychological Portrait

Keith Russell Ablow, MD

Nov 2011 · Sold by St. Martin's Press

About this ebook

The trial of twenty-five year old Casey Anthony for the death of her daughter Caylee was the most sensational case in America since O.J. Simpson's—with a verdict every bit as stunning. After being acquitted in July 2011, Ms. Anthony instantly became one of the most infamous women in the world.

Dr. Keith Ablow distills tens of thousands of pages of documents he has obtained, his behind-the-camera, one-on one interviews, and his decades of experience in the world of forensic psychiatry to make sense of a woman whose defense attorney described as an innocent victim of childhood sexual abuse, but the state insisted was a cold-blooded murderer.

Inside the Mind of Casey Anthony delivers an incisive, riveting way of understanding this troubled young woman.

Ratings and reviews

A. I had read one of Ablow's novels, Projection, and saw this book on the non-fiction shelf under new books at the library. It was published just this year (2011). So I thought I'd try it. Also, I like true crime as a genre in general. Q. What did you think of the book? A. Well, he does provide some insights but I think he was trying to write an entire book with very little material to work with. Thus, he tends to repeat things over and over. He says in the acknowledgements that the publisher or his agent more or less asked him to write this book. They probably liked the way he had done a similar book on Scott Peterson about five years earlier. Q. So he was repeating information in order to pad the book, you think? A. That's how it seemed. He goes on and on about the family dynamics, first from one family member's viewpoint and then from another. Then the same material is presented from the viewpoints of the authorities or from friends of Casey and the family. Also, he notes that Casey and her parents refused to talk to him, so he was without those sources. Q. Aside from the repetitions, was there value in the book? A. He concludes that Casey had learned to lie and make up fantasy lives for herself, mostly because of family dynamics. Her mother, Cindy Anthony, was the boss and would not give an inch. Her father, George Anthony, who wanted to be a character at Disney World or some such place, seems to be just that, a clown. His wife also circumscribed his life. Ablow goes back even further into the family's history, to Cindy's parents and even grandparents. Q. So the author believes that Casey's problems were rooted in problems from prior generations? A. Yes. Also, her problems may or may not have been caused by physical abuse. Since she lied so much, and no one confirmed her assertions about abuse, no one was ever sure if she had been abused or not, physically. But Ablow makes it clear that she was abused psychologically, in short, she was never allowed to be herself. Thus, she never developed a real ego as normal people do; and of course, without an ego, there is no superego, or conscience. That's how she could lie so easily and even get the tough cops frustrated with her coolness. Q. Did you think he did get into Casey's mind, given the materials he had to work with? A. Yes, but I think some of what he wrote is just his own opinion. Certainly, the Anthony family had raised a psychologically sick person; and they themselves seemed to lack the feelings and emotions of many people. But nonetheless, Ablow did not perform a controlled study. Q. What do you mean by "controlled study." A. If you take Alice, Beth, and Casey, all raised with a controlling, unfeeling mother and a weak father, Alice and Beth may not kill their daughters, as Casey apparently did. Thus, there was something more about Casey that led her to murder her child, besides family dynamics. That's only a hypothesis, also. Ablow may be correct, but only if Alice, Beth, and Casey all murder their daughters, or say, two out of three. Q. So do you recommend this book? A. Yes, but be prepared for repetition of the main themes over and over, and be prepared to skim through those, or it might get tedious.

I found the book very interesting. Ablow does a thorough psychological autopsy on what used to be "The Anthony Family". He is not giving Casey a pass, nor does he waste effort in trying to solve the mystery of what really happened to Caylee. I have a background where I work with families that are variants of dysfunctional people uniting to make something that is more hideous than the sum of its parts. "Oh well, Children are resilient" is probably the BIGEST LIE that has EXCUSED more parents and bystanders who clearly see that "something is very wrong" with this picture, but are so invested in maintaining a VENEER of normalcy that they are willing to throw the dice on a child's future. There is NOT ONE person who has spent more than 10 minutes listening to this family who knew right away that something dark and obscene had and is going on inside that family...but yet again, our justice system has no way of knowing, or wanting to know what lies beneath; We all live on the edge of chaos, but some people have been sucked into it and can't come back. They don't even have language to cry out for help

Does this man even know Casey? Or is this another slum bag trying to make a dollar of Caylee's death? Yes, slum bag.

About the author

KEITH ABLOW, M.D., is a board certified forensic psychiatrist who has evaluated dozens of killers and testified in some of America's most famous trials. He has written for the Washington Post, USA Today, and The New York Times. He was the host of The Dr. Keith Ablow Show and has appeared repeatedly on The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Today Show, Good Morning America, 20/20 and The O'Reilly Factor. Dr. Ablow is the on-air psychiatry contributor for Fox News.