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Psychological observations of bank robbery

Published Online:https://doi.org/10.1176/ajp.135.11.1377

Bank robbery has been only partially examined in the psychiatric literature. It has been publicly considered an act of men of strong will to obtain money. According to the author's observations in a federal penitentiary, bank robbery more often is a symptomatic act with psychological meaning. The author describes several of the unconscious motives and defense aspects of bank robbery in the hope that this will assist in demythologizing the bank robber.

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