Journal of Threat Assessment and Management, Vol 12(1), Mar 2025, 45-63; doi:10.1037/tam0000217
As one of eight proximal warning behaviors now commonly considered by researchers and threat assessment professionals, last resort is noteworthy both for its deep grounding in psychology as well as its correlation with the potential imminence of violent action. Yet it has not, to date, been explored to the degree worthy of its suggestive validity. The authors review the clinical and forensic research on last resort warning behavior, focusing on its history, definition, phenomenology, case examples, frequency across numerous targeted attack samples, comparative and postdictive studies, and its relationship to apocalypticism, mental disorders—in particular depression—, and precipitant or triggering events. The authors conclude that last resort proximal warning behavior is a correlate of targeted attacks, whether primarily fueled by personal grievance, ideology, or a mishmash of motivations inexplicable to the rational mind. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)