To the Editor:

Re “The Truth About Mass Murderers” (Op-Ed, Aug. 9):

Richard A. Friedman makes an important point. He claims that studies of mass murderers illustrate that they are not necessarily mentally ill but tend to be merely well armed and filled with hate.

Many years ago I read “The Psychology of Dictatorship,” by Gustave Gilbert , who was the American military’s chief psychologist at the trial of the top Nazis after World War II and administered Rorschach tests before the trial. I was certain that those of the most bestial, unrepentant Nazis would reflect depraved fantasies. To my surprise most of the Rorschach responses were bland, repetitive and without sadistic content. What these sadists did every day caused them no great conflicts.

As Dr. Friedman observes: “ The next mass killer is out there — somewhere — watching very carefully what we say and do to one another. And he may be as sane as you or me.”

It seems that you can be the cruelest sadist without being crazy.

Dorit B. Whiteman

Queens Village, Queens

The writer is a clinical psychologist and the author of three books about the Holocaust.