Stack, 53, apparently set fire to his house before he flew a small plane into an Austin office building housing Internal Revenue Service employees. He is presumed to have died in the crash.
Courtesy of Pam Parker / AP
Joseph A. Stack, here in an undated photo, apparently left behind a manifesto that rails against the government, especially the IRS.
"A narcissist hates losing and then facing reality, so Joe vented his anger via a letter before killing himself," said criminal investigative psychologist Maurice Godwin, who has not treated Stack.
The letter that Godwin refers to is a 3,205-word essay that Stack is believed to have posted online before the crash. In it, the author detailed his anger at the U.S. government and expressed his disdain for the IRS and what he described as the "monsters" of organized religion.
"There isn't enough therapy in the world that can fix what is really broken," the manifesto said.
The author also described problems in his life -- a failed business, divorce and the loss of his retirement savings.
"To survive, I was forced to cannibalize my savings and retirement, the last of which was a small IRA. This came in a year with mammoth expenses and not a single dollar of income. I filed no return that year thinking that because I didn't have any income there was no need," he wrote.
"The sleazy government decided that they disagreed. But they didn't notify me in time for me to launch a legal objection so when I attempted to get a protest filed with the court I was told I was no longer entitled to due process because the time to file ran out. Bend over for another $10,000 helping of justice."
According to Godwin, these comments are strong indicators of a "pathological narcissist."
"Narcissists hold others responsible for everything that goes wrong in their lives," Godwin said. "While the word may be overly used, this type of 'blame others' mentality is a sign of pathological narcissism."
Godwin describes narcissists as "self-loathing individuals" who see themselves as "so great and smart" that they are unable to accept any responsibility for the negative fallout in their lives.
"It has to be someone else's fault, 'the world' or our 'government,' " Godwin said. "This was no doubt Joe Stack's personality. Joe Stack had no idea how he got into bad situations throughout his life, whether it was personally or financially. If you believe you're godlike, you must be perfect, right? Why should Joe Stack have changed his behavior for anyone else?"
Godwin believes that until today, Stack closely guarded his true feelings from everyone around him.
"Joe kept a secret deep inside. Besides blaming others, he was desperate that no one find out who the real Joe Stack was inside his tough outer shell," Godwin said, adding, "That outer shell broke today. He has no one to face anymore."
