BRACE Character Profile™

Name of Person Rated:  Eric Rudolph

Input Ratings by:  J. Arturo Silva, M.D.

Date rated:  May 16, 2005

BRACE Character Profile™ analysis by:  Russell L. Smith, M.S.

Date of report:  May 21, 2005

Thank you for referring domestic terrorist Eric Rudolph to BRACE Analysis to profile. We appreciate the opportunity to provide you with this BRACE Character Profile™ consult. The input ratings you provided were used to generated the graphics and correlation charts included in this report. Thank you again for your confidence.

GENERAL INFORMATION:  The underlying structure of the BRACE Character Profile™ is based on three prototypical character types (Type A, Type B, and Type C), which are each rated on a 5-point scale on eight Cognitive variables, eight Behavior variables, and eight Existential or Motivation variables. The basic graphic generated by a BRACE Character Profile™ represents the degree to which the rated individual’s characteristic manner of thought, behavior, and motivation is similar to or different from each of the three prototypical character types. Once rated, the individual can be compared and contrasted with any previously rated individual, real or imagined, dead or alive, and to any other “prototypical type” in the BRACE Character Profile™ database (DSM-IV-TR™ personality disorders, 40-point Hare PCL-R, Asperger’s Disorder, etc.).

The input ratings for the BRACE Character Profile™ can be completed by anyone with basic reading skills and the ability to objectively rate statements about a well known or accurately imagined individual. The BRACE Character Profile™ provides a wealth of information, but the individual rated must be well known or clearly imagined. Consensus ratings by two or more individuals increases the knowledge base and minimizes rating biases. However, one objective rater with good knowledge of the character being rated is sufficient. An analysis of the BRACE Character Profile™ graphics and correlation charts requires basic knowledge of the three prototypical character types, which is available on the internet in the Frequently Asked Section of www.BRACEanalysis.com.

In the final analysis, the BRACE Character Profile™ merely puts the image that is in the rater’s mind into an objective and meaningful format, which can be shared and considered from many different angles, much like a hologram or a virtual reality tour of a house. The bits and pieces of information included in the input ratings are transformed into a virtual persona of the individual in the mind of the rater. This process is certainly affected by the knowledge base for input ratings, the objectivity and critical thinking skills of the rater, and the adherence of the rater to the BRACE Character Profile™ rating procedures, which are printed on the input form.

Eric Rudolph’s Basic BRACE Character Profile™ Graphic:

Analysis of Eric Rudolph’s Basic Graphic:  Eric Rudolph’s basic BRACE Character Profile reveals significant pathology in each Domain (Cognitive, Behavior, Existential), dominated by matters of power and control (Type B characteristics). The V pattern formed by the Type B characteristics from Cognitive (high) to Behavior (relatively low) to Existential (high), indicates very strong situational restraint. He is very much preoccupied with matters of power and control, perceiving the world primarily in terms of power dimensions (Cognitive Type B). He is actively oppositional to and actively competes with legitimate authority (educational, government, religious) and is willing to impose his will on others through force and violence. He is destructive rather than constructive, quick to anger, easy to offend, and is a loner. In Eric Rudolph’s case, his extreme desire to acquire and exercise power and control (Existential Type B) is only restricted by practical limitations (e.g., resources) and imposed structure (e.g., being hunted, being incarcerated).

The decreasing trend in Type A characteristics from Cognitive to Behavior to Existential suggests a cultivated habit of self-justification based on simplistic generalizations and discriminations, a lack of insight, a narrow range of interests, and a tendency to actively avoid the normal complexities of life, both cognitively and behaviorally. However, the relatively low Type A characteristics in the Behavior domain, particularly in light of the extreme Cognitive and Existential pathology, indicate good impulse control and self-discipline.

Visual Comparison of  Eric Rudolph’s basic BRACE Character Profile™ graphic to the 10 DSM-IV-TR™ personality disorders (see graphic on next page):

This graphic is used for a simple visual comparison to help rule-in and rule-out clusters of characteristics. Although a very gross level of analysis, for some cases a simple visual comparison is all that is needed in order to clarify the basic graphic. A visual comparison of Eric Rudolph’s basic graphic with the 10 personality disorders in DSM-IV-TR™ results in the following general findings:

Most similar to Eric Rudolph based on visual comparison: 

301.0 Paranoid Personality Disorder

Unclear but possible matches or traits based on visual comparison:

301.20 Schizoid Personality Disorder

301.22 Schizotypal Personality Disorder

301.7 Antisocial Personality Disorder

301.83 Borderline Personality Disorder

301.81 Narcissistic Personality Disorder

301.82 Avoidant Personality Disorder

301.4 Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder

Most dissimilar to Eric Rudolph based on visual comparison:

301.50 Histrionic Personality Disorder

301.6 Dependent Personality Disorder

These findings are consistent with the analysis of the Basic Graphic, but shed little new light.

However, with this and other graphic comparisons, one must keep in mind that similar Type and similar Domain scores may be generated by different underlying structures. When a more sophisticated analysis is required, the ratings that make up each component part of the graphics can be correlated for direct comparison with any “prototypical type” or any other individual in the database. It is a quantum leap into the nature of the person rated.

BRACE Character Profile™ CORRELATION SUMMARY ANALYSIS AIDES:

NOTE:  A clinician using the BRACE Character Profile™ graphics and correlations for the DSM-IV-TR™ diagnostic categories will need to keep in mind that the DSM-IV-TR™ Personality Disorders are not equal in terms of the types of information used as a “diagnostic criteria” --- nor are they equal in terms of the number of available criteria that must be met in order for a diagnosis to be made --- nor are they equal in terms of the number and types of other qualifiers which must be taken into consideration in order to make a diagnosis. DSM-IV-TR™ is a categorical classification, but all members of a diagnostic class are not homogeneous, class boundaries are not clear, and there is significant overlap between “classifications.”

The BRACE Character Profile™ is a dimensional classification system which provides numerical and graphic information, which may be subthreashold, based on a quantification of core characteristics common to human nature. In fact, negative correlations provide as much clinical information as positive correlations. Bottom line is that a visual comparison of BRACE Character Profile™ graphics correlation charts help inform clinical opinion or the opinion of anyone familiar with the BRACE Character Profile™. Some alternatives can be ruled-out and others more seriously considered through a more detailed analysis of underlying variables and correlations.

The color coding used in the BRACE Character Profile™ correlation charts is somewhat like a traffic light: 

•         green is a GO for high positive correlation (.05 or higher).

•         yellow is a CAUTION for a positive correlation which deserves consideration (.1 to .06).

•         red is a STOP, which indicates a negative correlation of .1 or higher.

Actually, the negative correlations provide as much useful clinical and practical information as the positive correlations. It is the combination of high correlations, both positive and negative, that yields the analysis. If one knows how a person thinks, what a person thinks about, what a person does, and what a person wants, then the person is 100% profiled. On the flip side, if one knows how a person does NOT think, what a person does NOT think about, what a person does NOT do, and what a person does NOT want, then the person is also 100% profiled.

Consider the 10 DSM-IV-TR™ personality disorders. When there are several significant positive correlations and several significant negative correlations that consistently complement each other in terms of the functional characteristics, the individual profiled is well formulated and has a high level of definition provided by the stark contrasts.

Note that “Diagnostic Considerations” means exactly that ... consider ... and apply clinical skills. The correlations are indicators, but analysis requires consideration of known facts, other sources of information, and the analysis of each Type (A, B, and C) and each Domain (Cognitive, Behavior, and Existential). The BRACE Character Profile™ reflects patterns, characteristics of thought, behavior, and motivation --- it does not presume to make clinical diagnoses. There are many potential clinical paths to any cluster of cognitive-behavioral-existential characteristics.

The following correlation charts ... analysis aides ... include the 10 DSM-IV-TR™ Personality Disorders, a prototypical 40-point Hare PCL-R, and Asperger’s Disorder.

The 12 columns in the above chart are as follows:

Column 1 =  Paranoid Personality Disorder (301.0)

Column 2 =  Schizoid Personality Disorder (301.20)

Column 3 =  Schizotypal Personality Disorder (301.22)

Column 4 =   Antisocial Personality Disorder (301.7)

Column 5 =   Borderline Personality Disorder (301.83)

Column 6 =  Histrionic Personality Disorder (301.50)

Column 7 =   Narcissistic Personality Disorder (301.81)

Column 8 =   Avoidant Personality Disorder (301.82)

Column 9 =   Dependent Personality Disorder (301.6)

Column 10 =  Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder (301.4)

Column 11 =   prototypical 40-point Hare PCL-R

Column 12 =   Asperger’s Disorder  (299.80)

OVERALL DIAGNOSTIC CONSIDERATIONS (in rank order):

Significant positive correlations:  301.0 Paranoid Personality Disorder (r = +0.59), 301.4 Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder (r = +0.37), and 301.22 Schizotypal Personality Disorder (r = +0.26).

Significant negative correlations:  301.50 Histrionic Personality Disorder (r = -0.40), 301.83 Borderline Personality Disorder (r = -0.28), and 301.6 Dependent Personality Disorder (r = -0.23).

Analysis:  In combination, these positive and negative correlations indicate that Eric Rudolph is a loner who actively seeks to control and impose his will on others. He has a distorted, simplistic world view based on negative stereotypes, but is very independent and confident in his ability to take care of himself and control circumstances. He is generally suspicious of others, has no intimate friends, and prefers social detachment. He is rigid and narrow in his beliefs, oppositional to legitimate authority and social control, and is primarily motivated by resentment and anger, yet he is emotionally and behaviorally disciplined.

DOMAIN DYSFUNCTION:

Cognitive Domain Dysfunction:

Significant positive correlations for 301.0 Paranoid Personality Disorder (r = +0.57) and 301.7 Antisocial Personality Disorder (r = +0.40).

Significant negative correlations for 301.50 Histrionic Personality Disorder (r = -0.57) and 301.83 Borderline Personality Disorder (r = -0.43).

Analysis:  Eric Rudolph’s preoccupation with matters of power and control is marked by increasingly deviant and violent countercontrolling strategies and tactics. He willingly uses force and violence to attack competing power forces, including all forms of legitimate law and order (legal, social, moral). He has an extreme sense of entitlement, little or no concern for others, and a tendency to overestimate his ability to control people and events. In spite of his cognitive isolation, he has high self-esteem and a cultivated sense of superiority. He has an accurate, self-fulfilling expectation of opposition from others when his selfish, expansive, and destructive motives are discovered.

Behavior Domain Dysfunction:

Significant positive correlations for 301.0 Paranoid Personality Disorder (r = +0.42).

Significant negative correlations for 301.83 Borderline Personality Disorder (r = -0.37).

Analysis:  Eric Rudolph is focused, determined, disciplined, exploitive, and destructive. His behavior reflects both his defensive and offensive “survival” mentality, founded on a “do unto others before they do unto you” approach to life and living in which the “laws of the jungle” rule. The most remarkable finding in the Behavior Domain is how low the Type B scores are, suggesting active inhibition based on external, imposed conditions. However, such patterns may also reflect successful deceptions. A more detailed analysis of the nature of Type A, Type B, and Type C characteristics within the Behavior Domain will be required to help clarify this matter.

Existential Domain Dysfunction:

Significant positive correlations for 301.0 Paranoid Personality Disorder (r = +0.71) and Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder (r = +0.58).

Significant negative correlations for 301.6 Dependent Personality Disorder (r = -0.54), 301.50 Histrionic Personality Disorder (r = -0.44), and 301.83 Borderline Personality Disorder (r = -0.39).

Analysis:  Eric Rudolph sees the social world as a threatening and hostile environment which must be dominated and transformed to conform to his self-serving values. He is fiercely independent and defines himself in terms of his strong oppositional tendencies, what he is against rather than what he is for. There is an ongoing approach-avoidance conflict based on his respect for power and his oppositional and destructive approach to acquiring it. He wants social power, control, respect, and autonomy but his active opposition to legitimate authority and his use of force and violence as a primary problem solving strategy predictably leads to his social isolation and loss of freedom. This paradox suits Eric Rudolph’s self-concept as an “outlaw” and his self-promotion through opposition and violence. Being able to confront authority figures and “take on” the social order and government directly, initially by creating fear and avoiding capture, and subsequently by maintaining his arrogant and oppositional demeanor in court and prison. He views himself as a warrior-prisoner, not a criminal-convict, and his war continues.

CHARACTER DYSFUNCTION:

Type A: 

Significant positive correlations for 301.81 Narcissistic Personality Disorder (r = +0.47), 301.4 Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder (r = +0.41), and 299.80 Asperger’s Disorder (r = +0.40).

Significant negative correlations:  none

Analysis:  Eric Rudolph has a narrow range of self-serving interests, a high sense of entitlement, is arrogant, lacks empathy, and is preoccupied with destructive power and control. He has “cognitive tunnel vision” with rigid and simplistic world views and is socially isolated.

Type B: 

Significant positive correlations for 301.22 Schizotypal Personality Disorder (r = +0.66), 301.82 Avoidant Personality Disorder (r = +0.62), 301.0 Paranoid Personality Disorder (r = +0.51), 301.81 Narcissistic Personality Disorder (r = +0.42), traits of 301.20 Schizoid Personality Disorder (r = +0.37), and traits of 301.4 Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder (r = +0.35).

Significant negative correlations for 301.7 Antisocial Personality Disorder (r = -0.42).

Analysis:  The Type B characteristics dominate the entire profile and may be as important for diagnostic considerations as the overall correlations. Given the extreme pathology indicated by the high Type B scores, it is surprising that there is a negative correlation for Antisocial Personality Disorder. However, Eric Rudolph is not a stereotypical criminal. He is a domestic terrorist whose underlying motivation and patterns of thought and behavior are inconsistent with the usual criminal patterns. However, he is certainly against the social order and the rule of law and is more than willing to kill and maim the objects of his contempt. His cognitive-behavioral isolation, distorted and simplistic world view, arrogant self-regard and disregard for others, and his generally sound intelligence, survival skills, determination, and self-discipline make him an exceptionally dangerous individual.

Type C: 

Significant positive correlations for 301.20 Schizoid Personality Disorder and traits of 301.22 Schizotypal Personality Disorder (r = +0.38).

Significant negative correlations:  none.

Analysis:  Eric Rudolph displays a pervasive detachment in social relationships and appears to be quite comfortable in social isolation. He is a loner who defines himself in oppositional terms and is dedicated to destroying the established social order. His simplistic and maladaptive world view allows for few pleasures that do not involve winning the struggle for power and control. His superior opinion of himself combined with his suspiciousness and distrust of others minimizes their importance of other people in his life and their influence in shaping his beliefs and values.

CHARACTER X DOMAIN DYSFUNCTION:

COGNITIVE:

Type A:  No significant correlations.

Type B: 

Significant positive correlations for 301.0 Paranoid Personality (r = +0.89), 301.82 Avoidant Personality Disorder (r = +0.80), and 301.22 Schizotypal Personality Disorder (r = +0.72).

Significant negative correlations:  none.

Type C: 

Significant positive correlations for 301.20 Schizoid Personality Disorder (r = +0.80) and 301.82 Avoidant Personality Disorder (r = +0.80).

Significant negative correlations:  none.

Analysis:  Consistent with previous findings, Eric Rudolph is a loner with few pleasures, particularly social pleasures. His thoughts are preoccupied with matters of power and control, both defensively and offensively. However, the significant positive correlations for schizotypal and avoidant characteristics suggest an underlying discomfort in social situations which goes beyond his paranoid resentment and mistrust. He is suspicious and distrustful of others, particularly others who are different from him in ways that he can easily discriminate against (e.g., race, lifestyle, religion, origin, language). His discriminations against others and for himself result in an increasingly simplistic and distorted world view. Combined with his cognitive-behavioral isolation and tendency to promote himself at the expense of others, his maladaptive discriminations and generalizations make him increasingly deviant and dangerous and increasingly subject to delusions of grandeur.

BEHAVIOR:

Type A:  No significant correlations.

Type B: 

Significant positive correlations for traits of 301.22 Schizotypal Personality Disorder (r = +0.66).

Significant negative correlations:  none.

Type C: 

Significant positive correlations for 301.0 Paranoid Personality Disorder (r = +0.74), 301.20 Schizoid Personality Disorder (r = +0.71), and 301.22 Schizotypal Personality Disorder (r = +0.71).

Significant negative correlations:  none.

Analysis:  In addition to successful deceptions and imposed external limits, the generally suppressed Behavior Domain reflects Eric Rudolph’s paranoid fears, careful planning, his reduced capacity for close relationships, and his narrow range of interests.

EXISTENTIAL:

Type A: 

Significant positive correlations for 301.0 Paranoid Personality Disorder (r = +0.79) and 301.81 Narcissistic Personality Disorder (r = +0.71).

Significant negative correlation for 301.6 Dependent Personality Disorder (r = -0.79).

Type B:  No significant correlations.

Type C:  Not calculated (Mean = 1, no standard deviation).

Analysis:  Eric Rudolph desires power and control for self-promotion and self-justification.

SUMMARY CONCLUSIONS:

Eric Rudolph is a domestic terrorist who wants to define the social order according to his own narrow-minded, simplistic, and self-serving world view. He is actively oppositional to legitimate authority and his personal identity is defined by the nature of the forces he opposes. He is a loner whose sense of self-worth is enhanced by successful deceptions and displays of destructive power. His simplistic and self-serving generalizations and discriminations are marked by both cognitive and behavioral avoidance of the normal stresses of life. He projects blame for his personal failures, has an arrogant disregard for the well-being of others, and uses force and violence for self-promotion. His expressed values are a matter of current convenience and self-justification. He very much wants to be a leader but has no adaptive, constructive leadership skills. His life is full of missed opportunities, cumulative legal and social consequences, and increasingly ingrained and defensive patterns of thought and action. His “us against them” mentality evolved into “me against the world,” making all things extremely simple and sinister. His ambition is to get “us” to follow his lead, which is a destructive path to nowhere. Ironically, Eric Rudolph has found his place in society, a place of imposed structure and order in which he will be cared for and to which he can be oppositional 24 hours a day.

DSM-IV-TR™ diagnostic consideration should be given to the following:

Axis I:  799.9 Diagnosis or Condition Deferred on Axis I

There are no clear indications of psychosis in Eric Rudolph’s BRACE Character Profile™, but there is insufficient information to rule out 297.1 Delusional Disorder, Mixed Type and 295.30 Schizophrenia, Paranoid Type.

Axis II:

301.0 Paranoid Personality Disorder

301.22 Schizotypal Personality Disorder

301.4 Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder

Also, note that there are significant clusters of traits for 301.7 Antisocial Personality Disorder, 301.81 Narcissistic Personality Disorder,  301.20 Schizoid Personality Disorder, and 301.82 Avoidant Personality Disorder. Due to the dominance of Type B characteristics, refer to Type B correlations for other primary diagnostic considerations.

Again, thank you for the opportunity to provide this consult,

Russell L. Smith, M.S.

BRACE Analysis

www.BRACEanalysis.com