Documents from De Paul: Dahmer’s Alcohol Treatment Programme

Sentenced to five years probation following the molestation of a minor in 1988, Jeffrey Dahmer found himself saddled with a bill for mandatory alcohol rehabilitation therapy at Milwaukee’s De Paul Hospital.¹

Across his six months as an outpatient, he attended group sessions with minimal involvement, met routinely with counselor Patti Antony (once his group work had been deemed futile), was subjected to a psychological evaluation to rule out clinical depression, failed to complete an assignment to write a letter to his increasingly exasperated father or see the point in socialising with the local Serenity Club, noticeably deteriorated in his personal hygiene, and openly admitted he had no intention of staying sober once his probation was finished².

He also continued to drink at weekends, regardless, and murdered another four men in his spare time.

Dahmer’s drinking had started in his mid-teens and had been the cause of an early Army discharge in 1981 (having previously drank himself out of one semester at Ohio State), a municipal citation after becoming drunk and abusive at a Bath Ramada Inn, and one of the reasons it was eventually deemed best that he move out of his grandma’s home at the age of 28.³ He had also been drinking directly prior to the murder of both victim one, Steven Hicks⁴, and victim two, Steve Tuomi – the heavy consumption of 151-proof rum likely factoring into why he could not remember details of the latters death.

At his sanity trial, the prosecution would use the fact that Dahmer had to be drunk to overcome his inhibitions against killing and dismemberment as proof that he was capable of governing his own behaviour and had to chemically repress a baseline passivity⁵ (though defence attorney Gerry Boyle contended that, even if his client had quit drinking, he still would have gone on murdering until he was stopped).

While it would be unreasonable to cite alcohol as the sole reason for Dahmer’s propensity towards violence⁶, it was a significant and constant factor in his life which made several doctors make a diagnoses of alcohol dependence.

“Jeff is not psychotic,” Dr. Evelyn Rosen – tasked with counselling Dahmer following a 1987 charge of Disorderly Conduct – wrote, “but not much is needed to push him, and alcohol serves this purpose.”

In a 1989 letter sent to Judge Gardner following the second-degree sexual assault, Lionel Dahmer (oblivious to the five murders Jeffrey had already committed by then) also pointed out that every time his son had been in trouble, alcohol had been involved.

“My judgement isn’t always so good when I’m drinking,” Dahmer would later tell assistant attorney Wendy Patrickus. “Especially when I drink a lot.”

Despite his intractable attitude as a patient, the only notable issue at De Paul arose when two of Dahmer’s thrice-weekly urine tests came back positive, which he attributed to his use of the sleeping pill Halcion. He neglected to mention that the pills had been retained in surplus in order to sedate the men he strangled.

Previously unpublished in their entirety, some of Dahmer’s De Paul documents are available to view and download below; including his initial consent form, treatment plan, psychosocial assessment, chemical history, drug and alcohol tests, discharge summary, and various counsellor notes.

^{Click to enlarge / save 🔍}

Consent Form

Treatment Plan

Psychosocial Assessment and Chemical History

“The patient stated emotionally, he suffers from guilt, shame and remorse… Patient stated that ‘yes, his alcohol and drug use has been involved in his legal problems, because his [Second Degree sexual] assault would not have occured had he not been drinking.'”
– From Dahmer’s initial assessment at De Paul

Drug and Alcohol Tests

“The patient was not able to remain chemically free throughout his involvement with outpatient… The patient originally denied using anything, but when confronted on a dirty drug screen, he admitted to taking some Halcion that he had “on reserve” for emergencies when he couldn’t get any sleep… He agreed to throw the remaining two to three tables away… He seemed to struggle with understanding his own powerlessness with chemicals.”
– Counselor Patti Antony

Discharge Summary

“Overall the patient was simply complying with the court and did not seem interested in learning about chemical dependency and recovery. He verbalised that being on probation for five years was enough motivation for him to stay sober, however he had no commitment to staying sober after he was off probation… He seemed to see himself as a victim and tended to blame people and forces outside of himself for the predicament that he was in.”

Misc. Counsellor and Psychiatrist Notes⁸

“The patient attended all eight of the seminars that were offered and attended a total of five group therapy sessions before it was determined that it would be more beneficial for the patient to [be seen just] on a one to one basis [due to his continued isolation from the group and lack of involvement]… The patient was seen a total of twelve times by this counselor, over a four month period.”

Written by counsellor Patti Antony:

“Due to some observations by [counsellor Antony], it was determined that it would be appropriate for the patient to have a psych evaluation to rule out depression.”

Written by psychiatrist Dr. Greg Krembs:

^(cont.)

Though Dahmer had only three appointments with Dr. Krembs before giving up on seeing him, the doctor noted that Dahmer had not been responsive to Nardil on the low levels it had been prescribed at, and it was to be adjusted accordingly. He “continues to isolate,” Krembs added.

Three months after being discharged from De Paul, Dahmer murdered his tenth victim, 17-year-old Curtis Straughter.

Sources: Official case documents, My Friend Dahmer blogspot, The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer by Brian Masters (1993), Wasche & Associates

Special thanks to Snowy for help with the transcriptions.

Footnotes:

1. Sometimes spelt ‘DePaul’, one word. Official hospital documents refer to itself as De Paul. Dahmer’s insurance had covered some of his treatment there, but he complained to P.O Donna Chester about the rest of the costs ↩︎
2. At the trial, prosecutor Michael McCann would cite Dahmer’s lacklustre approach to his outpatient treatment as yet another example of the defendant shirking personal responsibility and refusing to accept help (including the fact that he had even postponed his first appointment). Although, by the time of his De Paul sessions, the opportunity for Dahmer to get himself back on the straight-and-narrow, after the murder of five men, had long passed ↩︎
3. Other instances in which Dahmer’s drinking caused problems include: performing disruptive antics in high school (often while already intoxicated) for more alcohol; receiving ten paddles on the backside from a teacher after being caught drinking on school property; routinely donating plasma for more beer money during his time at Ohio state, and missing classes due to regular intoxication; drinking heavily during Army training, resulting in his entire platoon being punished and his subsequent beating by fellow privates, which left him with a ruptured eardrum; and being unable to pay motel rent while briefly living in Miami after spending most of his wages on alcohol. He also claimed intoxication when caught exposing himself by the Kinnickinnic River, though by that point such behaviour had become habitual and he later admitted to the offence ↩︎
4. After the murder of Hicks, drink also became a means for Dahmer to try and assuage his memory of the incident ↩︎
5. “If he had an impulse to kill or a compulsion to kill,” Dr. Park Dietz testified, “he wouldn’t have to drink alcohol to overcome it. He only has to drink alcohol to overcome it because he is inhibited against killing.” ↩︎
6. While not a psychiatrist, author Brian Masters (The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer, 1993) eloquently explains it as such: “The descent into necrophilia can only be achieved at the expense of true emotional realisation of what one is actually doing, and this stifling of residual emotion has to be carefully nurtured. Dahmer prepared himself by getting drunk. He needed alcohol to give him courage to go seeking at the bars, alcohol to smooth the rite of drugging, more alcohol to smother his inhibitions against murder and drive up his urge to keep someone, yet more to cope with dismemberment. But alcohol could not do it alone. There was in addition the much longer preparation of secrecy, as he fought to protect what he knew was a degenerate personality from the interference of morality.” Dahmer himself also admitted to the FBI that his serial murder was “still a mystery to me… Lots of people are big drinkers and they don’t go out and do this.” ↩︎
7. On May 20, 1990 – just over a week after his treatment plan was put together and he had been orientated – Dahmer murdered 32-year-old Ricky Beeks. Between the course of his De Paul sessions, he would also murder 27-year-old Edward Smith (June 14), 22-year-old Ernest Miller (Sept. 2) and 22-year-old David Thomas (Sept. 24) ↩︎
8. While these don’t cover all of Dahmer’s sessions with Patti Antony and Dr. Krembs, they document the bulk of them. Copies of other notes were largely illegible due to photocopying issues, etc.^. ↩︎
9. After a long time spent trying to decipher Krembs’ handwriting, we couldn’t say with 100% certainty that the word in question is ‘creature’ – although it fits in with the idea of Dahmer’s noted low self-image and habit of denigrating himself ↩︎