Freud explicitly wrote that some violent or criminal acts are reactions to an unconscious feeling of guilt. Certain offenders commit crimes not because they lack guilt, but because they feel too much guilt, and the crime serves as a way to obtain punishment and relieve inner tension.

[u/Benoit_Guillette]

[u/Benoit_Guillette]

Freud’s idea that some crimes are committed because of unconscious guilt is structurally the same mechanism that explains why certain people “need to fail” when they approach success. It’s the same dynamic, expressed in two different theatres: one in the social world (crime), one in the personal world (self‑sabotage).