The Woman Who Helped Shape FBI Profiling: A Conversation with Dr. Ann Burgess
Terror Talk: True Crime, Serial Killers and HorrorShow Notes
In this special interview episode of Terror Talk – True Crime • Serial Killers • Horror Movies, we sit down with one of the most influential figures in modern forensic psychology: Dr. Ann Wolbert Burgess, trauma researcher, pioneer of the FBI Behavioral Science Unit, expert witness, and author of the new book Expert Witness. This conversation is aimed at listeners who want more than true crime storytelling — they want psychological insight, behavioral science, and the real challenges behind criminal investigations. If you’re a woman who loves true crime, forensic psychology, or the history of profiling, this episode was made for you. We explore how her early research in trauma, victimology, and sexual assault shaped her groundbreaking career and opened the door to her work with law enforcement and the FBI. As well as:*Her Role as an Expert Witness — Including the Eric Menendez Trial*The Early Days of the FBI Behavioral Science Unit • What It Was Like to Sit with Ed Kemper• Being a Woman in a Male-Dominated FieldExpert Witness - the bookHer new book explores decades of clinical work, expert testimony, and behind-the-scenes insights into some of the most challenging criminal cases in the United States. We discuss its themes, its impact, and why her voice is so important in today’s true crime landscape.Music Credit Special thanks to Mannequin Uprising for our show music. Instagram: @terrortalkpodcast YouTube: Terror Talk Podcast Facebook: Halloween All Year Long
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Why would members of the Order of the Solar Temple kill a three-month-old baby they had never met? ⚠️ Trigger warning: This episode includes discussions of murder, ritual killing, the murder of an infant and of children, mass death, cult trauma and coercive control. Listener discretion is advised. In 1994 the Order of the Solar Temple, led by Joseph Di Mambro and Luc Jouret, killed a baby in Morin-Heights, Quebec because his name made him the Antichrist, then left 53 dead across Switzerland and Canada. Cults Part 2 follows the same question through Adolfo Constanzo's Narcosatánicos in Matamoros, Mexico and Charles Manson's Family in Los Angeles.
Have you ever left a relationship more confused about yourself than about the person you were with? ⚠️ Trigger warning: This episode includes discussions of emotional abuse, coercive control, gaslighting and intimate partner violence. Listener discretion is advised. Therapists Shannon and Cathy open Season 9 with the question everyone asks and almost nobody asks clinically: what does it actually mean to call someone a psychopath, and what does it feel like to be in a relationship with one? This is not a diagnostic checklist for your partner. It is a map of a pattern, from the inside. IN THIS EPISODE: - Why psychopathy is not a DSM diagnosis, and what antisocial personality disorder actually covers - Robert Hare and the PCL-R, the Hare Psychopathy Checklist Revised - Factor 1, the interpersonal and affective traits: glibness, charm, grandiosity, shallow affect, no remorse - Factor 2, the antisocial lifestyle traits: need for stimulation, impulsivity, irresponsibility, early behavioral patterns - Prevalence: under 1% of the general population, roughly 25% of incarcerated populations - Subclinical or "successful" psychopathy, and Snakes in Suits by Paul Babiak and Robert Hare - Why corporate, legal, political and even mental health environments show elevated rates - The honeymoon phase: love bombing, mirroring and future faking - Why mirroring works, and why it is a performance rather than recognition - The shift: devaluation, intermittent reinforcement, gaslighting and isolation - The slot machine effect, and why unpredictable reward builds anxious attachment - What gaslighting actually is, and how "you should get some therapy" gets weaponized - Why an outsider can see it and the person inside cannot - Trauma bonding as a neurobiological response, not a weakness - Why couples therapy is contraindicated, and what to ask a couple's therapist before you start - Safety planning, and why leaving is the most dangerous period even without physical violence - Trauma informed care, somatic approaches, trauma focused CBT and EMDR - Karin Huffer's work on Legal Abuse Syndrome, and litigation as a tool of control - The closing thought: the grief is real, even though the relationship wasn't CLINICAL TERMS: psychopathy, antisocial personality disorder, PCL-R, Hare Psychopathy Checklist, narcissism, sociopathy, coercive control, love bombing, mirroring, future faking, devaluation, intermittent reinforcement, gaslighting, isolation, triangulation, trauma bonding, anxious attachment, betrayal trauma, plausible deniability, safety planning, EMDR RELATED EPISODES: Stalking, Surveillance and Coercive Control Parts 1 and 2 · How to Identify a Narcissist · Spiritual Narcissism: Twin Flames on Fire · CULTS: Heaven's Gate, the Zizians and Jonestown Two licensed therapists, one forensic psychologist, one clinical LMFT, take apart the minds behind the crimes. 🎧 LISTEN TO THE FULL PODCAST APPLE PODCASTS: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/terror-talk-true-crime-serial-killers-and-horror/id1435529687 SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/show/07JEm5Qm7cohukkEUOYt7P PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/cw/terrortalk 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/terrortalkpodcast/ 📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/newterrortalkpodcast 🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@dark.psychology.girls?_r=18_t=ZT-99iWlxm05in 🎶 Music by Mannequin Uprising