What do you do when someone seems to have the exact same personality as you?

I don't have any memories, I had vivid dreams with themes that made me think I might've been reborn (dreams of falling from the sky, one where I died and 'crawled out of death') and before learning of the person I had vivid nightmares which the content seems to line up with their victims P.O.V. near/around the time of their death (a sort of punishment for me?)

I believed I was a serial killer in my past life due to my specific personality issues, violent impulses, and paraphilic fantasies. In my mind, I thought my soul had inherited those things from another life - I didn't and don't understand some things still.

Now I think I might know the specifics because Jeffrey Dahmer and I share many of the same personality traits and issues, from the specific diagnosable things, to our mannerisms and the impression we tend make on people. I don't know if I've just been obsessing over it, but I feel like I was him. Unfortunately, this idea won't leave me alone and I feel compelled to seek some sort of opinion on it. I'm obviously affected by magical thinking and a weak identity - as Dahmer had too, so I know my opinion could be affected by that.

I feel like the meaning of this life might be having to face the same issues, a challenge to do better because maybe I wasn't supposed to come back in the first place. Or maybe this is just my last chance because I keep screwing up.

A note - reading the book by his father feels to me like reading about me from my mother's point of view. It's a little unsettling and depressing to see your patterns of behaviour reflected so similarly, especially through the lens of the parent you liked (who loves more an image of you.)

I'd be grateful for any thoughts on this as I feel I can't confide explicitly to people who know me. I'm currently in therapy for the similar issues, so I don't need to be told to get help, just curious about this side of things. Thanks for taking your time to read this.

I find that a lot of people will identify with a famous or well-known person based on what they like/don’t like, coincidences, and oftentimes, books about the famous person will be just surface information that a large chunk of ppl can relate to. Once, to illustrate how this thinking can convince/confuse a person trying to find their true past identity, I wrote up a rather convincing list on how I was the reincarnation of F. Scott Fitzgerald. (I’m not, btw. It was just an exercise.)
Without memories, I’d be extremely cautious. Quite a few people have come here thinking they’re him. I do know of some reincarnated folks who’ve had violent, unsavory last lives (strong cases, in my opinion), and there hasn’t appeared to be any sort of punishment going on. In the end, they’re left with only themselves and the life they currently have. If reading about Dahmer and his choices can help you put things right in your life right now, then count that as a blessing.

Hi Phantomhyacinth,
Welcome to the forum!

I would suspect that most serial murderers are never caught or well known, but that's just my two cents worth of input. It's scary to realize the number of people that disappear each year here in the US -
I don't know the amount elsewhere.

inhaltslos said:

I find that a lot of people will identify with a famous or well-known person based on what they like/don’t like, coincidences, and oftentimes, books about the famous person will be just surface information that a large chunk of ppl can relate to.

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I agree. In the older days, we had oral traditions with stories that contained archetypes for people to identify themselves with. We still do continue this tradition when we tell fairytales to our children, like little red riding hood and the wolf.
In our modern days, we made new expressions of archetypes in our movies and our cultural pop figures.

phantomhyacinth said:

I'm obviously affected by magical thinking

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That's ok. The only advice I can give to you is: please become conscious of all those processes behind it. In Jungian psychology, it is normal that you first start to identify yourself with archetypes before you'll ever become a mature personality. It's a natural process.

Your fascination for a well known serial killer can be explained within Jungian psychology as well. A serial killer is an archetype for our Shadow.
Our Shadow can be described as our hidden and dark side that we don't want to know.
There are more books and articles written on this subject than that we can swallow in our eagerness to know about it. Give it a try, do your own research. It took me quite some time to really understand this concept (maybe years) because while researching it, the very mechanisms of this Shadow are still active and working inside of us. And I think I won't reach easily the full understanding of this in my life (so still work-in-progress)

The good news is: your interest in Dahmer doesn't automatically mean you were Dahmer yourself, not even close. You're just projecting your own Shadow on his image.
Btw, this Shadow is not identical to voodoo, black magic, killing and so on. Your 'dark' side simply means all the things you don't identify yourself with. (I warned you this is a complex concept)
For example: as soon as you identify yourself with a good and honest person, you create a Shadow side of a dishonest and unreliable person. The more you cut off your Shadow in your consciousness the stronger it will become in your unconscious. This explains why good housefathers suddenly appear to be the monsters that nobody had ever expected them to be.

If you turn it around: when you actively and consciously project your Shadow into the outside world, the less potent it will become. The key word is consciousness. But there is always Shadow left or newly created.

Maybe this is too theoretical for you at this very moment. Just remember that according to Jungian psychology there is nothing wrong with you for simply identifying yourself with an archetype. (All those popular superheroes are archetypes too). It's just one of the steps towards the discovery who you really are as a person and a soul.

Enjoy the ride!

Wasn’t there someone else who claimed to be Jeffery Dahmer not so long back or am I confused here?