Editor’s Note: This anonymous guest view is from someone who claims to be a Ph.D. but whose name to Frank Report is unknown. The observations are interesting and are published as written. This was originally submitted as a comment on the post Guest View: In Defense of Allison Mack – Salzmans did far worse crimes
Guest View: By Ph.D.
My background is as a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology although I have never served in forensic psychology capacity in court.
I have never clinically examined Mack but I have been around many people with similar characteristics that she presents. Furthermore, as a student of this trial, I’ve had the opportunity to observe her behavior in court during several appearances at MDC Brooklyn.
In my direct observation, Mack’s behavior at court was frequently hyper and “over-friendly” to everyone so much so it was not appropriate to the circumstances and graveness of the situation. It appeared that Mack was more concerned with pleasing others and having others like her than acting in accordance with the seriousness of the situation.
Mack strikes me as someone who has what is known as a “false self”. People like this don’t know who they are or how they feel. They rely on their sense of self from others’ opinion of them and are thus frequently targets of manipulation and abuse from others.
People with a false self will do anything to please others even if it means hurting themselves or acting against their own interests. Mack is possibly this kind of individual and it is strongly possible that Mack had no intent to harm other women while she was serving Rainiere.
I believe 3 things:
1) Mack has little sense of her own self worth and has adopted a false self.
2) Mack is the type of individual who can be easily manipulated to please others
3) Mack would have a hard time believing she was harming others if she felt the need to please a significant other (such as Rainiere) was more important. Thus, it is hard to believe Mack had intent to harm another.
I realize there is little empathy for anyone associated with Nxivm because of the outrageous abuses Nxivm created and fostered. However, I hope law enforcement and the EDNY take into account the above factors when considering the case of Allison Mack.