# Psychopaths



## Bardo (Dec 4, 2012)

This Charming Psychopath | Psychology Today

They are everywhere. The claims for numbers of psychopaths in the general population range from 1-4%, getting higher the more you look at professions that hold power and influence. 
Even at the lowest estimates, this means that psychopaths are all around, shopping with us in supermarkets and sitting next to us on the train.

A family I know has had unborn children die as the result of a psychopath fathers actions, he blames their deaths on the mother.
Their 2nd successful birth happened recently, he hasn't held the child and was away with another woman the day he was born. 
I have quite a lot of experience with psychopaths myself.

The list of incidents that can attributed to a single psychopath over their lifetime becomes long enough to test the limits of reasonable belief, in my opinion the damage this group of people as a whole does to society must be equal to, or more than, the entirety of the actions of the other 94-99%.


Do you have any experience with a psychopath? Are you aware of them in general, familiar with the behavior that makes someone a psychopath? What do you think of the linked article?


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## Cheesecoffee (Mar 22, 2012)

I have never met a psychopath before... atleast i think so  (*scary music playing*)

But i do have encountered a sociopath. Trouble is that i was friends with him for years so we had pretty much the same mutual friends which came to bite me in the ass later on. I'm glad that period of my life is over though.


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## Bardo (Dec 4, 2012)

"in spite of more than a century of clinical study and decades of research, the mystery of the psychopath still remains....But compared with other major clinical disorders, little research has been devoted to psychopathy, even though it is responsible for more social distress and disruption than all other psychiatric disorders combined."

Quote from the article.


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## Cosmicsense (Dec 7, 2011)

Psychology is all screwed up in regards to the psychopath. Every decade or so the books are rewritten. How convenient for the power elite...

There's a difference between psychopath and sociopath. Psychopaths are less than 1%. The remaining are sociopaths. We don't even call them either anymore, its now under the umbrella label of ASPD. Ridiculous.

You can get a label of sociopath or ASPD these days merely for going against the political grain. Psychology really is more of a pseudoscience and political tool of the ruling class than anything else. 

Let me put it this way. If the society you live under is detrimental to the species as a whole, and you're aware of this, how can a decent man go with this flow? Then he may get get codified by the estate and become ostracized. Go figure.


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## rockthered101 (Jan 3, 2011)

Psychopaths are very rare. They SHOULD NOT BE confused with Sociopaths. They are two different things. 
A Psychopath is born, a Sociopath is made/created through their environment (most of the time). 
Me? I don't think so. I have known an extreme narcissist, who could possible be a sociopath. 
The only other sociopath I have come to love is Dexter


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## SkyRunner (Jun 30, 2012)

I'm aware there are psychopaths and sociopaths around. It doesn't bother me. My head is pretty fucked up itself so who am I to judge? I don't think psychopaths and sociopaths are freaks, dangers to society, mentally ill, or any other bullshit like that. They are people who think and function differently than many of us. They don't always have the feelings as strong as most feel and much of the time they are focused on their own needs. I see nothing wrong with this.

Most of these people are healthy, productive members of society. Many rich and powerful people turn out to be sociopaths or psychopaths since they have the abilities to rise to high positions of power. Some are just normal people, others are criminals, but that goes for all groups of people. A depressed, emotional person can snap and go kill people as well.

Anyways, this is nothing new to the world and no cause for alarm. They are just regular people like you and me when it comes down to it. Being a sociopath or psychopath can be good or bad, it all depends on the individual. What we need is more understanding about this and acceptance so if a psychopath or a sociopath ever feels they need help, they can receive it without being treated like a criminal or mentally insane.


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## hela (Feb 12, 2012)

The author of that article so desperately wishes he could auto-play the Hannibal theme in the background when people click "read."

Why do you think the person you describe in your OP is a psychopath and not an asshole? What's the differentiator for you?


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## Dark Romantic (Dec 27, 2011)

The interesting thing about psychopaths, should you ever meet one, is their sheer single mindedness in working on someone. In the beginning, they spend quite a bit of time profiling you and trying to present an image that they think will gain your trust and confidence. No matter what, they will turn the conversation into being about you, your tastes, interests, activities, thoughts, feelings, etc., but will GREATLY resist giving you the same before they've had a chance to understand you and tailor their responses to what they think will produce the desired effect. This profiling ranges from trying to get certain types of information about you (while being extremely resistant to disclosing similar information about themselves, due to the fact that they wish to avoid being profiled themselves), to making assumptive statements about you to provoke a response either confirming or denying their guess (if they're doing this a lot, it's a sign that they don't know enough about you and are fishing for a direction to go in), to mapping your expressions to specific mental states and emotions (this might get combined with assumptive statements, ie: "You're giving me that look because you're interested in what I'm saying"). If they can tell you're resisting them, they start to become frustrated and ramp up their efforts to get in your head.

They also possess incongruent emotions; that is, they pretend to have certain emotional states, but don't react in ways which are congruent with those states, or display any related emotions if pressed. They're unflappable in a very unnatural way; no matter what angle you come from, you can't knock them off balance and cause them to drop the act out of surprise or fear, nor can they be manipulated as easily as non psychopaths (heightened paranoia, not the same thing as fear) without immediate control of their circumstances (they're controllable with a large enough power differential; this is why, for example, the majority avoid run ins with the law, since the government possesses the power to make life difficult for them). This is because they can't feel fear or guilt; you can't make certain areas sensitive for them to touch, nor can you intimidate them in a way that would cause them to do what you want, at least, not without enough of a power differential. Also, they don't react emotionally, unless doing so allows them to gain control of the situation (that is, their reactions are always manipulative, not genuine); they focus entirely on getting what they want out of you with no emotions devoted to anything else.

The pathological lying is an interesting one; you won't be able to tell that they're bullshitting you by any body language cues, but by noticing gaping inconsistencies in the things they say as their understanding of you evolves and they tailor their image to work on you. Your first instinct may be to call them on it; this, however, is useless and often counterproductive, since they can't feel fear or guilt, and so, will be unfazed by you catching them in a lie, simply making something else up to fill in the gap, and continuing on with an awareness that you're more aware of what they're up to. The best thing to do in that case is to simply take note of these inconsistencies as they pop up, but reveal nothing. Also, they will almost certainly try to manipulate you, and they start by generalizing based on broad patterns they've picked up from interacting with you, then using more and more information that they gather against you as the interaction goes on. They also tend to make vague claims and insinuations (tailored to your personal tastes, of course) that suggest they are someone you would want to seek out; they don't tend to make specific claims about themselves unless they're trying to manipulate or charm you. This is because insinuations and hints often cause people to fill in the blanks with their own thoughts, which have a much more powerful effect than words stated by someone else.


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## Dark Romantic (Dec 27, 2011)

A few more points about their general psychology:

1. They possess extreme short term thinking. I don't think this is due to a lack of intelligence on their part, but because they don't possess the ability to have an emotional attachment beyond a drive for physical gratification. This is partly why I find the idea of the corporate psychopath to be so absurd; they can certainly flourish in a corporate environment for a limited time, but unless a person's future at the company depended entirely on their ability to lie and manipulate (in which case, the business is likely to fail rather quickly), they can't sustain the necessary desire to continue working for a far off goal without reaping a tangible, sustained reward in the present. Also, it's why psychopathic manipulators have a different pattern from non psychopaths, with different goals in mind. Non psychopaths typically manipulate people for a specific purpose; as part of a general long term trategy to achieve an end goal, for reasons around emotional validation, or to achieve something tangible in the short term (food, money, sex, drugs). Psychopaths, on the other hand, do it primarily as a method of parasitic resource extraction; they choose victims and drain them of all their resources over a period of time. There are non psychopaths who display parasitic patterns and beavior; the difference is, though, they typically combine it with one of the other reasons above, and do not base their lives on moving from victim to victim. Non psychopaths manipulate with an endgame in mind, and typically cease manipulating once the goal has been achieved. Psychopaths manipulate as part of a parasitic lifestyle where they drain specific victims of their resources, with no real endgame in sight; so long as they can continue to extract gratification from someone, they will continue.

- The only reliable way of getting rid of one, short of killing or gaining power over them, is to give them nothing. Conversation is reinforcing; the longer you stay there, the more they learn, the more buttons they can push, and the more they can learn how to manipulate you. Don't give them small concessions to make them go away; all that will do is show them that whatever they were doing worked, and only encourage them. It's basic conditioning; if they keep pressing the lever, but no food is coming out, they will eventually decide it isn't worth the trouble and stop pressing.


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## Solitude315 (Feb 28, 2012)

> *Most *of these people are *healthy*, productive members of society._ Many rich and powerful people turn out_ to be sociopaths or psychopaths since they have the abilities to rise to high positions of power. Some are just normal people, others are criminals, but that goes for all groups of people. A depressed, emotional person can snap and go kill people as well.


Do you have *any* proof for *any* of these claims? The burden of proof lies on the one making the claims.


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## LostFavor (Aug 18, 2011)

SkyRunner said:


> I'm aware there are psychopaths and sociopaths around. It doesn't bother me. My head is pretty fucked up itself so who am I to judge? I don't think psychopaths and sociopaths are freaks, dangers to society, mentally ill, or any other bullshit like that. They are people who think and function differently than many of us. They don't always have the feelings as strong as most feel and much of the time they are focused on their own needs. I see nothing wrong with this.
> 
> Most of these people are healthy, productive members of society. Many rich and powerful people turn out to be sociopaths or psychopaths since they have the abilities to rise to high positions of power. Some are just normal people, others are criminals, but that goes for all groups of people. A depressed, emotional person can snap and go kill people as well.
> 
> Anyways, this is nothing new to the world and no cause for alarm. They are just regular people like you and me when it comes down to it. Being a sociopath or psychopath can be good or bad, it all depends on the individual. What we need is more understanding about this and acceptance so if a psychopath or a sociopath ever feels they need help, they can receive it without being treated like a criminal or mentally insane.


Kind of hard to accept people who simultaneously can't feel empathy and want power.


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## Tetsonot (Nov 22, 2012)

SkyRunner said:


> Anyways, this is nothing new to the world and no cause for alarm. They are just regular people like you and me when it comes down to it. Being a sociopath or psychopath can be good or bad, it all depends on the individual. What we need is more understanding about this and acceptance so if a psychopath or a sociopath ever feels they need help, they can receive it without being treated like a criminal or mentally insane.


Well, first, they're hardly "regular people." There is actually something abnormal within their brains which is what makes them what they are. Second, they don't ever feel like they need help.


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## devoid (Jan 3, 2011)

WARNING: Triggers/not for the faint of heart

My ex boyfriend was repeatedly molested and raped by his father, and beaten half to death numerous times as a child. He became active on 4chan probably around the age of 12, and developed a fixation with some very unhealthy topics. When I met him he seemed like a pretty typical depressed 16 year old, and I could not possibly have suspected any of this until much later. We met online and had a distance relationship for six months before we met. He seemed odd... very reclusive, very uncomfortable around people, etc. but did not have particularly low self esteem or low confidence. He was intellectually brilliant, genius IQ and fairly good at most things math and science related. While we were at a distance he was very needy and selfish, but I was in a very depressed and weakened state and I stuck with him because he gave me attention.

Fast forward another year, his mother offers to let me move in with them and I'm sharing a room with him. He told me all sorts of things about himself while we were online, how he was a very tidy person who liked good food and was very giving, etc. Basically, he told me everything I wanted to hear. As soon as I got there I realized that he was the opposite of all of these things and had been lying about every aspect of his life since we met. I felt like I didn't know him at all, and he made no attempt to know me, just used me for whatever he wanted at the time. He was extremely manipulative, and took advantage of my low self esteem to make me feel guilty or wrong about everything. I would do something nice for him, and he would say that I did it this way to intentionally upset him, that I was trying to start a fight, and somehow twist everything I did to be me hurting him. If I wanted sex he would say that I'm pressuring him, and then he would wait until I was upset, tired or not at all in the mood and say that I had been leading him on and couldn't just mess with him like that. He made me feel like I was never good enough and I was just this evil, hurtful person inherently, and I constantly had to make it up by doing favors for him.

But humiliation wasn't really enough. He decided he had to break me. He took all of my insecurities from my past, every traumatic experience I'd had, and used them as a basis for his humiliating and horrifying sexual acts. He had me paralyzed with fear and simultaneously 100% dependent on him for support. It wasn't until I left (because I thought I was a BAD INFLUENCE ON HIM) that I realized exactly what he had been doing to me. It is difficult even for me to believe that people like that exist.


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## SkyRunner (Jun 30, 2012)

Tetsonot said:


> Well, first, they're hardly "regular people." There is actually something abnormal within their brains which is what makes them what they are. Second, they don't ever feel like they need help.


Thanks for giving me your opinion. That's a very good point. Regular people was a poor choice of words on my part. But many people have disorders and therefore something abnormal with their brains. Psychopaths and sociopaths are not vastly different then. 
Do you think if sociopaths and psychopaths were more accepted and more was commonly known about them, would they seek help?


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## SkyRunner (Jun 30, 2012)

LostFavor said:


> Kind of hard to accept people who simultaneously can't feel empathy and want power.




I accept them since they are part of our society and I don't believe most of them physically harm people. As long as they don't harm people physically, I do not have much of a problem with them. Emotionally harming others is not a good thing, but it just seems it's a natural part of life. And I think a lot of them do act as good business people and can offer qualities many do not possess. 

But I did not think how difficult accepting them would be considering those factors. I see why it could be hard to accept them considering they do not have as much consideration for the well being of others. Still, I think if they are more understood, it will be much easier for people to deal with them and since they do contribute to society some, I have no problems with them.


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## Tetsonot (Nov 22, 2012)

SkyRunner said:


> Thanks for giving me your opinion. That's a very good point. Regular people was a poor choice of words on my part. But many people have disorders and therefore something abnormal with their brains. Psychopaths and sociopaths are not vastly different then.
> Do you think if sociopaths and psychopaths were more accepted and more was commonly known about them, would they seek help?


No, because they don't want help. They don't think there is anything wrong with them, which is why it's very hard to come up with accurate statistics. Even those who are forced into evaluation by whatever circumstances have no problem talking their way out of it. It's not hard for them to present themselves as a normal person, after all, it's how they live their daily lives. They just don't seek out help because they don't think there's any reason to. This is why almost all research is conducted on psychopathic criminals. The functioning psychopaths blend into society and aren't easily found to conduct research.
And there's certainly a large difference between more common disorders and psychopathy. Depression or anxiety can be cured or medicated. Psychopathy has no cure. They are not low on a certain neurotransmitter, a problem easily fixed with a prescription. A psychopath has a portion of the brain that is not functional, and it never will be. Professionals have tried various therapies for years, but to no avail, because you can't "reteach" a psychopath to be normal and they're notorious for appearing like they've "seen the light", just to get off.

Edit:
What about the ones who don't contribute to society yet aren't criminals? The ones who live a parasitic lifestyle, switching "hosts" as they use them up? Do you have a problem with these individuals?


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## SkyRunner (Jun 30, 2012)

Tetsonot said:


> No, because they don't want help. They don't think there is anything wrong with them, which is why it's very hard to come up with accurate statistics. Even those who are forced into evaluation by whatever circumstances have no problem talking their way out of it. It's not hard for them to present themselves as a normal person, after all, it's how they live their daily lives. They just don't seek out help because they don't think there's any reason to. This is why almost all research is conducted on psychopathic criminals. The functioning psychopaths blend into society and aren't easily found to conduct research.
> And there's certainly a large difference between more common disorders and psychopathy. Depression or anxiety can be cured or medicated. Psychopathy has no cure. They are not low on a certain neurotransmitter, a problem easily fixed with a prescription. A psychopath has a portion of the brain that is not functional, and it never will be. Professionals have tried various therapies for years, but to no avail, because you can't "reteach" a psychopath to be normal and they're notorious for appearing like they've "seen the light", just to get off.


Your answer was very detailed and helped correct a lot of misconceptions I had. Thanks for clearing this up for me.


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## L (Aug 12, 2011)

Bardo said:


> Do you have any experience with a psychopath? Are you aware of them in general, familiar with the behavior that makes someone a psychopath? What do you think of the linked article?


I have my suspicions about a person from my old high school being a sociopath, doubtful psychopath though but still possible. I can't be for sure if he was a sociopath or not, but, like I said, I have my suspicions. 

What's more, I think I may have met one today actually. Something inside my gut just twisted as soon as I met him and as I watched him, his actions and mannerisms were almost a perfect match to that person from high school.

I'll never get close enough to either of them to be sure though, I trust my gut interpretations of things too much to not trust it. Call it misguided or whatever, but, one thing I learned as a child was to trust my instincts and trust my instincts I do.


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## Bardo (Dec 4, 2012)

hela said:


> The author of that article so desperately wishes he could auto-play the Hannibal theme in the background when people click "read."
> 
> Why do you think the person you describe in your OP is a psychopath and not an asshole? What's the differentiator for you?



This guy lives with his GF in her parents house, her parents pay for everything. He openly said that he only wanted a second child to get more benefits, he doesn't want a job and spends the benefit money on computer games for himself or whatever he wants to do. Her parents buy all the baby food, clothes, toys etc. He hasn't held his second child, shows no interest in his kids that he lives with whatsoever.

He sleeps around constantly, he forced his GF to have sex when she didn't want to which he also did during pregnancy and gave her infections while pregnant because of all the stuff he picks up from people. Something to do with all that ended up with them miscarrying children. He makes out that was all her fault.

Hes hit her while pregnant, hit her parents, been arrested for attacking police, he manipulates constantly, lies constantly...she 'loves him' and he uses her to keep himself in his parasitic position.

As well as this sort of dramatic psychopathic behavior he shows other quirks that are indicative of a psychopath.

He buys a pad of paper every few days, doodles on a handful of pages then buys a new one. The use of three pages means it's no good anymore. 

He buys expensive name brand underwear and clothes for himself. He doesn't have anywhere to go, anyone to impress specifically, but he still feels the need for an image. He doesn't buy food for his kids, have a job, pay rent, do anything, but he maintains fashion.
Psychopaths will let their lives and everyone elses around them fall apart while saying things like "I need to update my wardrobe" or "We need to redecorate" when their is absolutely no need for it, when there are bills up to the eyeballs and other obligations.
They have odd connections to material things, they impulsively buy and throw away, wasting the time and money it took to obtain something in the first place.
Psychopaths can be seen wearing crisp suits in the facility of their imprisonment/treatment. Nowhere to go, no one to impress.

They have no genuine interests or character and all interaction with them is performance and evaluation. They click about like wind up toys.


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## scarlett.page (Nov 14, 2011)

Yeah, this article wasn't entirely inaccurate but not the best source on the subject. All I can say is if you meet a sociopath or psychopath, get them out of your life immediately. My father is a psychopath, and I do think it was genetic although he had some trauma in his early childhood. I think a lot of that may have been due to _his _psychopathic father however. My father was a belligerent kid who did horrible things like purposely set his backyard on fire and break my uncle's jaw by slamming his face on a concrete curb. Beginning in their teenage years, he destroyed my mother's life and sense of self worth, making her completely dependent on him through a series of multiple events; getting her pregnant while they were still in high school, being incredibly supportive of it yet refusing to help her learn to drive and finish high school for example. I grew up watching him hit her, chase her, throw things at her, and scream horrible profanities at her every single day. He was incredibly cruel in his dealings with her, eventually divorcing her because I don't think it was as much fun to keep beating on someone who in many ways, wasn't a person anymore. But he manipulated my brother and I to live with him half the time after the divorce, and he was extremely emotionally and verbally abusive to my brother and I. There are so many more details but needless to say I left his house the day I turned 18 and have not looked back since.


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## Doll (Sep 6, 2012)

SkyRunner said:


> I accept them since they are part of our society and I don't believe most of them physically harm people. As long as they don't harm people physically, I do not have much of a problem with them. Emotionally harming others is not a good thing, but it just seems it's a natural part of life. And I think a lot of them do act as good business people and can offer qualities many do not possess.


I think that you're seriously opening up a can of worms by claiming not to have an issue with psychopaths/sociopaths unless they "physically harm people" - you're counting out other ways in which a psychopath/sociopath can (and often does) incite destruction in one way or another, sometimes to the detriment of MANY others. For example, it's often sociopaths that are behind Ponzi schemes (or other dubious business practices) that can con people out of thousands and thousands of dollars. This isn't physical harm, but it can cause just as much grief. Are you okay with that? Empathy is integral in our society - "accepting" their lack of empathy can be dangerous to others.

There is no good quality a psychopath or sociopath possesses that a person who ISN'T one can't offer. I've seen just as intelligent (if not more) businesspeople, doctors, psychiatrists, ect., who have given far more to society. Romanticizing a psychopath or a sociopath is only going to lead you down a bad path.


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## FairiesDoExist (Dec 16, 2012)

I know my aunt's a sociopath but I've never really had to deal with her personally. She lives in my grandmother's house (my Grandma stays at her boyfriend's house since my aunt pretty much took control over it) with her 7-year-old son, or my cousin. I haven't seen my aunt or her kid for nearly 3 years, nor have I been over my Grandma's. She's not allowed over here because she's done some pretty terrible stuff and my Dad would probably become enraged upon seeing her.She doesn't allow my cousin to come with my Grandmother when she comes here out of spite probably. She verbally, emotionally, mentally and physically abuses my Grandmother (she has hit her before, Joe my Grandma's boyfriend said she had bruises all over her arms once) and manipulated her into her control. She takes care of her son but probably only to the physical needs. She also uses him to control my Grandmother and will probably use him as a tool later in life. She's also an alcoholic and the last time she stayed over our house for Easter she downed 22 beers in two days without seemingly being drunk. Probably does other stuff too. One time she got into a fight with my Grandmother while drunk and almost took my cousin to drive off somewhere but my Grandmother didn't let her take him because she was drunk and she crashed into a pole. She once shoved my Great-Grandmother before she died (she was probably in her late 80's when this happened). My Grandmother has come out of her house crying before according to Joe because she was so afraid. Also there was an incident that involved the police with her recently but we don't have any details apart from that.


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## Nerian (Jan 12, 2013)

I imagine my father was probably one or something similar.


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## Stopwatch (Dec 22, 2012)

Just one question to those saying about knowing psychopaths or sociopaths. How sure are you of this? Has it been properly diagnosed in these cases or is there a possibility there's something else about them (e.g. narcissism or plain selfishness)?

My opinion on psychopaths and sociopaths isn't fully formed yet, but from what I know so far I'd say most people do probably know some of them, but don't realise because they blend in. While the 1-4% is just an estimate if it's anywhere near close this should be true. If they make up this amount of society I think that trying to isolate them from everyone else would just be detrimental especially as most of them *do* blend in and act like normal people. It may be more probable that they cause emotional damage than everyone else, but that's like saying it's more probable for, say... men to commit crimes than women (I think this is true, if it's not just reverse it all :x). Should all men be 'taken out of society'? (Ignore the entire reproducing thing for now ) No. There are a number of factors behind why this happens so people should attempt to account for them as best they can. I guess that's the sort of approach I'd prefer. Obviously, if psychopathy is how you're born the best you can do for them is to monitor them every so often and perhaps try to get them to tone down certain manipulative traits (key word: try). For sociopaths if it's learned behaviour you can probably do a lot more. Not exactly certain on the specifics though. Raising awareness and reducing misconceptions about psychopaths/sociopaths would help people identify them better and learn how to deal with them without having to resort to outright avoiding them. Though, most of this applies to those who 'act out' as such. Like I've said, the majority of them do blend in and I don't see how those who blend in are counted as a 'problem'.
Personally, I'd find it interesting for a psychopath or sociopath to say what their own opinion is on it all, but I kinda doubt that's going to happen :x
(And just to repeat, these are just my first thoughts on it all. I've not really looked into psychopathy and sociopathy in detail before so I may be missing key information)


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## Deus Absconditus (Feb 27, 2011)

Stopwatch said:


> Just one question to those saying about knowing psychopaths or sociopaths. How sure are you of this? Has it been properly diagnosed in these cases or is there a possibility there's something else about them (e.g. narcissism or plain selfishness)?
> 
> My opinion on psychopaths and sociopaths isn't fully formed yet, but from what I know so far I'd say most people do probably know some of them, but don't realise because they blend in. While the 1-4% is just an estimate if it's anywhere near close this should be true. If they make up this amount of society I think that trying to isolate them from everyone else would just be detrimental especially as most of them *do* blend in and act like normal people. It may be more probable that they cause emotional damage than everyone else, but that's like saying it's more probable for, say... men to commit crimes than women (I think this is true, if it's not just reverse it all :x). Should all men be 'taken out of society'? (Ignore the entire reproducing thing for now ) No. There are a number of factors behind why this happens so people should attempt to account for them as best they can. I guess that's the sort of approach I'd prefer. Obviously, if psychopathy is how you're born the best you can do for them is to monitor them every so often and perhaps try to get them to tone down certain manipulative traits (key word: try). For sociopaths if it's learned behaviour you can probably do a lot more. Not exactly certain on the specifics though. Raising awareness and reducing misconceptions about psychopaths/sociopaths would help people identify them better and learn how to deal with them without having to resort to outright avoiding them. Though, most of this applies to those who 'act out' as such. Like I've said, the majority of them do blend in and I don't see how those who blend in are counted as a 'problem'.
> Personally, I'd find it interesting for a psychopath or sociopath to say what their own opinion is on it all, but I kinda doubt that's going to happen :x
> (And just to repeat, these are just my first thoughts on it all. I've not really looked into psychopathy and sociopathy in detail before so I may be missing key information)


All I can say is fear is the repeated number one killer of humanity. It stops progression, and causes more problems than fixes them. Those that say "all" psychopaths (by definition/criteria) are a threat and should be disposed of are using fear to justify their views on killing or segregating what may be innocent human beings. It's actually hypocritical to want to to get rid of a group of people who for the most part won't directly cause harm to others just because some people fear the potential threat, now whose really the bad guy (didnt hitler justify killing the Jews with the same approach?).


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## L (Aug 12, 2011)

Shadow Logic said:


> All I can say is fear is the repeated number one killer of humanity. It stops progression, and causes more problems then fixes them. Those that say "all" psychopaths (by definition/criteria) are a threat and should be disposed of are using fear to justify their views on killing or segregating what may be innocent human beings. It's actually hypocritical to want to to get rid of a group of people who for the most part won't directly cause harm to others just because some people fear the potential threat, now whose really the bad guy (didnt hitler justify killing the Jews with the same approach?).


But don't psychopaths and sociopaths actively hurt people? Perhaps not physically, but emotionally/mentally/every other way?


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## Deus Absconditus (Feb 27, 2011)

L said:


> But don't psychopaths and sociopaths actively hurt people? Perhaps not physically, but emotionally/mentally/every other way?


Sociopaths possibly, since they're created by their environment they have more of a tendency to hurt others because they were hurt, but they can be "fixed". Psychopaths on the other hand are born, they are the product of nature as we all are. They don't deliberately go out of their way to hurt others, but others may get hurt in the process of them getting a job done. Sadly, in business this is a great attribute to have, we as a whole need people to make the decisions that most of us can't make because if our morals, guidelines, or feelings. We humans are a system, and psychopaths are part of the system, to fear them is harmful to our species as a whole (the way I see it). I see why people fear them but humans being in general are cruel species even the nicest.

That question about the train going to hit china or your family depending on what button you choose is a good example. Many people choose their families because of their emotions, but they don't understand or care about the fact that if they kill all of china, you're going to do so much harm to the world through our resources, the stock markets. Which will cause more pain throughout the world. People are scared of psychopaths, the same people who would rather a whole nation die than their family who accounts for .00001 of the whole population. We all have the potential to cause harm to others as has been documented throughout history over and over again. 

The way I see it, psychopaths have their strengths, instead of demonizing them, we need to use their strengths and the strengths of all of us to create an efficient system. Killing off a group of people out of fear of a potential threat is no better and possibly worse than what most psychopaths would ever do. Btw sorry for my writing, I'm sick and writing this quickly.


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## L (Aug 12, 2011)

Shadow Logic said:


> Sociopaths possibly, since they're created by their environment they have more of a tendency to hurt others because they were hurt, but they can be "fixed". Psychopaths on the other hand are born, they are the product of nature as we all are. They don't deliberately go out of their way to hurt others, but others may get hurt in the process of them getting a job done. Sadly, in business this is a great attribute to have, we as a whole need people to make the decisions that most of us can't make because if our morals, guidelines, or feelings. We humans are a system, and psychopaths are part of the system, to fear them is harmful to our species as a whole (the way I see it). I see why people fear them but humans being in general are cruel species even the nicest.
> 
> That question about the train going to hit china or your family depending on what button you choose is a good example. Many people choose their families because of their emotions, but they don't understand or care about the fact that if they kill all of china, you're going to do so much harm to the world through our resources, the stock markets. Which will cause more pain throughout the world. People are scared of psychopaths, the same people who would rather a whole nation die than their family who accounts for .00001 of the whole population. We all have the potential to cause harm to others as has been documented throughout history over and over again.
> 
> The way I see it, psychopaths have their strengths, instead of demonizing them, we need to use their strengths and the strengths of all of us to create an efficient system. Killing off a group of people out of fear of a potential threat is no better and possibly worse than what most psychopaths would ever do. Btw sorry for my writing, I'm sick and writing this quickly.


You make some good points, but, don't psychopaths do the same thing as sociopaths do in the form of basically just draining someone of all emotional energy? I've always thought of both of them as being completely parasitic in relationships.

I haven't done a whole lot of research into them, but, don't both psychopaths and sociopaths suffer from narcissism?


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## RaidenPrime (Aug 4, 2012)

Shadow Logic said:


> Sociopaths possibly, since they're created by their environment they have more of a tendency to hurt others because they were hurt, but they can be "fixed". Psychopaths on the other hand are born, they are the product of nature as we all are. They don't deliberately go out of their way to hurt others, but others may get hurt in the process of them getting a job done. Sadly, in business this is a great attribute to have, we as a whole need people to make the decisions that most of us can't make because if our morals, guidelines, or feelings. We humans are a system, and psychopaths are part of the system, to fear them is harmful to our species as a whole (the way I see it). I see why people fear them but humans being in general are cruel species even the nicest.
> 
> That question about the train going to hit china or your family depending on what button you choose is a good example. Many people choose their families because of their emotions, but they don't understand or care about the fact that if they kill all of china, you're going to do so much harm to the world through our resources, the stock markets. Which will cause more pain throughout the world. People are scared of psychopaths, the same people who would rather a whole nation die than their family who accounts for .00001 of the whole population. We all have the potential to cause harm to others as has been documented throughout history over and over again.
> 
> The way I see it, psychopaths have their strengths, instead of demonizing them, we need to use their strengths and the strengths of all of us to create an efficient system. Killing off a group of people out of fear of a potential threat is no better and possibly worse than what most psychopaths would ever do. Btw sorry for my writing, I'm sick and writing this quickly.



Yeah, I mean, take someone with manic depression. Identify the personality disorder/mental illness and find ways the person can happily live their life, possibly using the disorder in a positive way - find what they are good at, and try to get them to work with whatever talent it is they may have. Manic depressive people could possibly cause harm to others and not understand. As can the psychopath. 

Anyone with personality disorders can cause problems with other people.


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## Deus Absconditus (Feb 27, 2011)

L said:


> You make some good points, but, don't psychopaths do the same thing as sociopaths do in the form of basically just draining someone of all emotional energy? I've always thought of both of them as being completely parasitic in relationships.
> 
> I haven't done a whole lot of research into them, but, don't both psychopaths and sociopaths suffer from narcissism?


The emotional energy draining aspect I think is the result of not many people being able to handle being in the company of these sort if individuals. They account for 1-4% of the population, so we have 96-99% of the population lacking the necessary skills to deal with such individuals. Majority of these individuals will get drained by the psychopath because they're incompatible in so many ways it becomes emotionally draining. Look at it like this, lets say there is a person who is so emotionally driven and they get into contact with a psychopath who lacks empathy. It's natural for the emotionally driven person to pour their emotions out, the problem is they won't be receiving any emotions back like they expect. This will naturally drain them especially the more they try. Depending on how unhealthy the psychopath is, they can make it worse by making the emotionally driven person think that their problems are because of them. The thing is any unhealthy person, psychopath or not can cause damage. Another thing is if the psychopaths are emotionally draining people, then these people have the free will (depending on how healthy the psychopath is) to leave. We don't need to be buddy buddy with psychopaths if we don't want to, it's not necessary. If you feel you know a psychopath/sociopath and you decide to stay in their lives then anything that happens after that was the result of your decision.

Yea both are narcissist, so are many other people. ENTPs naturally come off as narcissistic, are ENTPs bad people? No they're not for the most part. Narcissism is a great quality to have in leadership (business preferably) roles, which is where non harmful psychopaths usually end up. Narcissism has its place to, we may not all like it but it works. The problem is so many people wishes everyone was just like them, so instead of just accepting others for our differences, they rather demonize those they don't agree with. This is a problem and will continue to be a problem. We are all different, some may be so different it makes others feel uncomfortable, but if they are not directly hurting others then they're not a problem. The ones who cause harm deserve to be punished, but innocent people with or without the potential to hurt others deserve to live in peace as the rest of us innocent people do.


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## reas (Jan 7, 2013)

I'm a graduate student in psychology and psychopathy is one of my areas of particular interest, so I know a bit about it. Everyone in this conversation has met a psychopath, though obviously some of us don't realize it. The estimates I've seen of their prevalence in the general population range from 1 to 4 percent. I was personally victimized by a psychopath in my youth (hence my lifelong interest in the condition, no doubt.)

Read Hare. He's the foremost expert on the condition and developer of the Psychopathy Checklist, the instrument most commonly used to assess psychopathy. 

Which is not in the DSM, by the way. Antisocial Personality Disorder comes close, but a person can have APD and not be a psychopath. The core feature of psychopathy seems to be the total absence of conscience. Some people with APD, and many criminals, are capable of empathy. Psychopaths aren't.

There's good evidence now that psychopaths' brains are structurally different from others' and that psychopathy is at least somewhat heritable. 

Many psychopaths probably meet criteria for Narcissistic PD, but the two constructs are distinct. The narcissist lacks empathy, but does crave human connection and suffers when her narcissism precludes it. The psychopath does not have an emotional need for human connection. She seeks connection with others only when it serves to achieve other ends.

Sorry if I'm pedantic. It's a personal flaw.


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## L (Aug 12, 2011)

Shadow Logic said:


> The emotional energy draining aspect I think is the result of not many people being able to handle being in the company of these sort if individuals. They account for 1-4% of the population, so we have 96-99% of the population lacking the necessary skills to deal with such individuals. Majority of these individuals will get drained by the psychopath because they're incompatible in so many ways it becomes emotionally draining. Look at it like this, lets say there is a person who is so emotionally driven and they get into contact with a psychopath who lacks empathy. It's natural for the emotionally driven person to pour their emotions out, the problem is they won't be receiving any emotions back like they expect. This will naturally drain them especially the more they try. Depending on how unhealthy the psychopath is, they can make it worse by making the emotionally driven person think that their problems are because of them. The thing is any unhealthy person, psychopath or not can cause damage. Another thing is if the psychopaths are emotionally draining people, then these people have the free will (depending on how healthy the psychopath is) to leave. We don't need to be buddy buddy with psychopaths if we don't want to, it's not necessary. If you feel you know a psychopath/sociopath and you decide to stay in their lives then anything that happens after that was the result of your decision.
> 
> Yea both are narcissist, so are many other people. ENTPs naturally come off as narcissistic, are ENTPs bad people? No they're not for the most part. Narcissism is a great quality to have in leadership (business preferably) roles, which is where non harmful psychopaths usually end up. Narcissism has its place to, we may not all like it but it works. The problem is so many people wishes everyone was just like them, so instead of just accepting others for our differences, they rather demonize those they don't agree with. This is a problem and will continue to be a problem. We are all different, some may be so different it makes others feel uncomfortable, but if they are not directly hurting others then they're not a problem. The ones who cause harm deserve to be punished, but innocent people with or without the potential to hurt others deserve to live in peace as the rest of us innocent people do.


Yea, but, don't these types of people generally seek out people who are already a little unstable and make matters worse? In short, don't they seek out victims?


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## Deus Absconditus (Feb 27, 2011)

L said:


> Yea, but, don't these types of people generally seek out people who are already a little unstable and make matters worse? In short, don't they seek out victims?


Sociopaths do indeed but psychopaths depending on how healthy they are will or will not. In business it's natural to prey on the weak because its all about profit not morality, so in that setting yes they do seek out victims. In their personal life it depends on how healthy they are, the very unhealthy do prey on the weak, the healthy psychopaths don't deliberately. Moreso, I don't necessarily think they seek out victims, but it's the victims that are naturally attracted to them. People like to play the blame game and this stereotype could be a result of such. Have you read about the women who are attracted to controlling men, or dangerous men (bad boys)? The saying "And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you" by Nietzsche applies greatly to this situation. You play with fire, expect to get burned if you're not careful, don't blame the fire for your pain. Regarding sociopaths, they can be "fixed", and psychopaths need to be accepted, need to directed by their surroundings to be as healthy as possible to avoid the pain that an unhealthy psychopath could cause. That applies to any one, we all need certain settings so we can grow to be as mentally healthy as possible within our own limits. The fact that most psychopaths don't deliberately harm is proof enough that they can live within society and also be a benefit to the system as a whole.


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## Dark Romantic (Dec 27, 2011)

reas said:


> I'm a graduate student in psychology and psychopathy is one of my areas of particular interest, so I know a bit about it. Everyone in this conversation has met a psychopath, though obviously some of us don't realize it. The estimates I've seen of their prevalence in the general population range from 1 to 4 percent. I was personally victimized by a psychopath in my youth (hence my lifelong interest in the condition, no doubt.)
> 
> Read Hare. He's the foremost expert on the condition and developer of the Psychopathy Checklist, the instrument most commonly used to assess psychopathy.
> 
> ...


I like to think of psychopaths as being anti-narcissists. The main feature of narcissism is an overvaluation of a false self, while psychopaths essentially have no sense of self, given the fact that they see "self" as a collection of impulses to be gratified, not rooted in anything more, and their masks as simply tools to gratify said impulses, rather than ends in themselves. Narcissists are rigidly attached to their idealized self image, and their abuses have to do with continuing to uphold the illusion, psychopaths have no attachment to a particular self image, and are willing to adopt any mask to get what they want. Narcissists want to stand out and be worshipped; psychopaths want to blend in and go unnoticed.


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## Dark NiTe (Mar 5, 2012)

I don't know of any psychopaths I've encountered. But I have ran into a few sociopaths. Society would be better off if they all disappeared off the face of the earth. From what I've seen they do gravitate toward any position of authority over others, because it not only makes them safe, but in our authoritarian society it makes them able to have their way with people. They target those who have the strongest virtues and values, and systematically try to destroy them until there is only a shell of a person left...just like them. When they understand that isn't going to work, they try to eliminate you by any means necessary, and then move on to the next target. They are generally the most covetous and hateful people around, yet because of their nature they typically don't express this overtly, instead they have more manipulative and insidious approaches to those they perceive to have unfair advantages. I had one that tried to start a fight between me and a much more physically imposing guy, twice (two different guys). The second guy was a Marine from the Gulf War, and he lied to him one day and told him I went to the boss and tattled on him in order to "fuck him out of his hours." This was plausible because I've always been anti-war, though I normally show respect to veterans, especially VFWs; I blame the government and MIC, not the soldiers. This resulted in him yelling at me until his face was beat red, and the socio just sat there and watched it, not taking a single step toward defusing the conflict at all. Then the next day the sociopath told me about when they went out drinking one night and he started talking about all the atrocities he committed and witnessed (which I don't believe he did, but it was part of his plan) and how he felt very strongly about people disrespecting vets because they couldn't fathom what he'd been through. So since his plan didn't work, his backup plan was to infuriate me by implying he deliberately orchestrated it. As far as I know, his only motive was knowing I would eventually figure out what he is. That's exactly how they operate. They don't have a care in the world if one person knows who they are, because they know that their excellent facade would prevent them from being exposed to everyone. 

One thing they cannot stand, is when others are in love. They would like nothing more than to sabotage it at all costs, not in impulsive ways that normal people with simple jealousy problems will do, and then feel guilty about, they naturally get to know everything about all of their possible targets so that they can manipulate them so smoothly they will appear to be their best friend and ally...until they take what they came for. So basically they want to take from others what they are not capable of having themselves.


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## FlaviaGemina (May 3, 2012)

Shadow Logic said:


> Sociopaths possibly, since they're created by their environment they have more of a tendency to hurt others because they were hurt, but they can be "fixed". Psychopaths on the other hand are born, they are the product of nature as we all are. They don't deliberately go out of their way to hurt others, but others may get hurt in the process of them getting a job done. *Sadly, in business this is a great attribute to have, we as a whole need people to make the decisions that most of us can't make because if our morals, guidelines, or feelings*. We humans are a system, and psychopaths are part of the system, to fear them is harmful to our species as a whole (the way I see it). I see why people fear them but humans being in general are cruel species even the nicest.


Wouldn't that seem to prove that the whole world of business is morally wrong? (I take it you would agree to this, because you said "Sadly"). So if the business world is wrong and psychopaths fit in well in this world, how does this make psychopaths good?


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## Deus Absconditus (Feb 27, 2011)

FlaviaGemina said:


> Wouldn't that seem to prove that the whole world of business is morally wrong? (I take it you would agree to this, because you said "Sadly"). So if the business world is wrong and psychopaths fit in well in this world, how does this make psychopaths good?


I understand why you would think that, but I have to say you took it wrongly. It's my fault for not going in depth with why I used the word "sadly". I chose to use that word to appeal to the masses. You see, to the majority, the perfect world is a world where we can get along, care for each other, do what would be considered "good" to each other and everything will work out. To the majority, it's a sad world in the world of business because it conflicts with people's morals. So I chose to use "sadly" to relate to the masses.

Now talking about my personal opinions I must say I don't believe in morals. To touch on it more in depth, I know people have morals and that they do exist, but I do not see morals as existential truth. I see morals as a guideline that people make to know what makes them comfortable. Morals is extremely subjective, but that doesn't mean they don't exist, they just differ per individual greatly. Morals is great for a persons individual world but it does not make a difference in the big scheme of things. The universe has always and will always be a chaotic system and earth is a battleground believe it or not. It's a dog eat dog world, that's the reality and has been the reality since forever as history tells us. I don't believe in good or evil, I believe in efficiency. Thats why we have necessary evils, or greater goods because on the surface people have no clue beyond their subjective interpretation of life that they try to pass on as truth that the world is a cruel place. So is business morally wrong? Yes indeed it is to many but nevertheless business has a place in this system for the greater good. Could we create a much more efficient economics system which causes balance to the world? Yes but chances are even if we did people on the surface will still get hurt because they're in the way of progress. It's a sad reality to most but I'm big on survival of the fittest, until proven otherwise it is a natural law of life. 

Psychopaths are neither good nor bad, they could possibly cause harm or they may not just like everybody else. They rise to the top naturally because its their natural setting to make decisions that the majority of the people can't make because of their morals. There are those who do horrendous acts but that's not the majority of psychopaths. The majority do make decisions that fall in the morally grey zone to get things done and that goes into the survival of the fittest concept. Basically if the majority of people were given a choice to kill 500,000,000 people including their family to save the rest of the world, they couldn't do it, but the psychopath has the ability to do it. This is not a bad thing, it's a good thing, we need them to make decisions that others can't make. Like I said earlier, the criminals deserve to get punished as others who do the same crime but the innocent psychopaths do not deserve to demonized because people fear them.


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## SeekingObjectivity (Dec 31, 2012)

Yes, unfortunately I have met plenty of people that would probably qualify as a psychopath. Academia, science, and medicine are stacked to the brim with them at the top of the food chain. It really sucks. They blow up lives, truly they do. They will take advantage of the people are vulnerable, exploit the foolish or the naive. Basically, imo, psychopaths thrive anywhere subjectivity plays a significant role in the evaluation process. They also thrive anywhere where the system is designed to leave the ethics up to the individual and relies on whistle blowers to weed out the bad guys.

edit: I'm actually reading an interesting book that was recommended by a friend that deals exclusively with a world and afterlife run by psychopaths. So I think if we look at what happened with wall street, how banks are dealing with foreclosure, some of our political parties that shall remain nameless, the shootings... I don't think it's so strange that people are starting to talk about, write about, and worry about psychopaths. They're a real problem, and probably one of the biggest threats to our way of life.


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## SeekingObjectivity (Dec 31, 2012)

reas said:


> I'm a graduate student in psychology and psychopathy is one of my areas of particular interest, so I know a bit about it. Everyone in this conversation has met a psychopath, though obviously some of us don't realize it. The estimates I've seen of their prevalence in the general population range from 1 to 4 percent. I was personally victimized by a psychopath in my youth (hence my lifelong interest in the condition, no doubt.)
> 
> Read Hare. He's the foremost expert on the condition and developer of the Psychopathy Checklist, the instrument most commonly used to assess psychopathy.
> 
> ...


Yes, the MRI studies of psychopath's brains are pretty creepy. It's like hanging out with an alligator or something. They are basically predators. I can't post a link yet because of my post count, but if you go to Google and search for MRI or fMRI of the psychopath's brain you'll find all kinds of links to articles and images describing the differences.


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## reas (Jan 7, 2013)

Dark Romantic said:


> I like to think of psychopaths as being anti-narcissists. The main feature of narcissism is an overvaluation of a false self, while psychopaths essentially have no sense of self, given the fact that they see "self" as a collection of impulses to be gratified, not rooted in anything more, and their masks as simply tools to gratify said impulses, rather than ends in themselves. Narcissists are rigidly attached to their idealized self image, and their abuses have to do with continuing to uphold the illusion, psychopaths have no attachment to a particular self image, and are willing to adopt any mask to get what they want. Narcissists want to stand out and be worshipped; psychopaths want to blend in and go unnoticed.


The contradiction between psychopaths' seeming arrogance & egotism and their actual lack of what we'd think of as a sense of self is so interesting. They really aren't attached to any particular self-image, beyond a general sense of their own superiority, are they? They really seem like animals to me in this way - completely self-serving without any self-consciousness. 

I don't think psychopaths are capable of being embarrassed. Haven't read anything about this; it's just my anecdotal observation. I think this is part of what can make them so charming. The childlike lack of self-consciousness.

As a child myself, trapped in a situation with a psychopath who was abusing me, I naturally attempted to exercise some control in the situation with various actions aimed at the abuser's pride, or compassion, or need for connection, or other human feelings I imagined he had. It was incredibly spooky how nothing worked. At that time I did not understand how someone could seem driven by lust and rage while also seeming to be completely emotionless, like a robot .


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## Bardo (Dec 4, 2012)

Watch Key Phone said:


> What are you suggesting? Some kind of eugenics?


Well it is already a practice, at least in the U.K, that someone who is mentally ill enough to be a danger to themselves or others is to be removed from society and treated.

Psychopaths, who fit such a description and deserve such treatment more than any other category, are not part of this scenario due to the difficulty in making a full medically sound labeling of them as such.

With brain imaging technology become more widespread and advanced and psychopathy becoming a more common talking point in the media and general population, it is only a matter of time before these threads converge and the psychopath problem is dealt with, the status of psychopath will require removal from society as per usual for dangerous mentally ill people. There are clear differences in a psychopaths brain when compared to a real person and their nervous system also somehow works differently on an involuntary level, there will be ways of identifying them.

It is already the opinion of some health professionals that a upon discovering that someone is a psychopath they should never be released, regardless of whatever crime caused them to be imprisoned. There just isn't a system in place for properly identifying them even though they are 1% of the total population and *~40%* of the prison population.

Our prisons are already half way to being psychopath warehouses, we need to make specific places for them. There must be a distinction between them and actual people, if this happens prison efforts can be geared towards education and treatment of drug addiction with eventual rehabilitation when it comes to offenders, ideas that are a fantasy when applied to a criminal population so littered with psychopaths. Other than psychopaths large contributors to the criminal population are the uneducated and the drug addicted, people who have slipped through the regular routes of life for whatever reason. They can be helped in relatively simple ways, psychopaths can't.


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## DiamondDays (Sep 4, 2012)

Bardo said:


> Do you have any experience with a psychopath? Are you aware of them in general, familiar with the behavior that makes someone a psychopath? What do you think of the linked article?


I think i worked with a psychopath once. He was very charming and actually quite capable and good at his job. But he was also a criminal, a violent man, a serial cheater, beat his step-son, got arrested and convicted for the first case of aggravated crimes against nature ( or whatever you'd translate brott mot miljöbalken with ) in the nation, hung out with really seedy people etc. Thing is he was really "nice" and got along with people fairly well, it's just... his eyes were empty. It was like when you looked him in the eyes, nothingness looked back. He was a truly creepy guy. I am absolutely convinced that he would be capable of murder. My father, who was this guys friend and boss for a long time agrees. I mean, i actually liked and still kind of like this guy, even though i know he's a bad bad man. He's just so friendly and funny and capable. But just... utterly cold and ruthless.

Yeah, if this guy was a bit smarter and from a upper middle class family instead of dirt poor working class i'm sure he'd be a big boss somewhere stealing millions. As it is now he's managed to build several fortunes and loose them. Did i mention he's been convicted of several accounts of fraud, battery and even aggravated smuggling?! 

Psychopaths are fucking scary.


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## quixoticcrush (Mar 15, 2013)

Number Six said:


> Children don't even develop a conscience until they are around 7 or 8. I tortured animals when I was a kid, and it was never out of malice. I just didn't know better. Jumping to conclusions is dangerous.
> 
> I know a guy who threw his cat out of a third story window just to make his friends laugh. By your reasoning, he is a also a 'psychopath' - what you don't know is that he permanently compromised his dopamine and serotonin receptors through chronic drug abuse, and is a pathological narcissist who needs fuel from people around him or his psyche collapses and he regresses to total self destruction.


Harming or killing defenseless animals just for shits and giggles in psychopathic, I'm sorry if you disagree. No conscious or empathy or regard for life, those are psychopathic behaviors. And my niece who is 33 now still enjoys harming animals for fun. She choked her own dog until if vomited so you can't tell me that is normal behavior.


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## Number Six (Mar 4, 2013)

quixoticcrush said:


> Harming or killing defenseless animals just for shits and giggles in psychopathic, I'm sorry if you disagree. No conscious or empathy or regard for life, those are psychopathic behaviors. And my niece who is 33 now still enjoys harming animals for fun. She choked her own dog until if vomited so you can't tell me that is normal behavior.


No, it's certainly not healthy behavior. It is sadistic and stupid, but people are sadistic and stupid. Sadism at a young age tends to grow, so it's strange that she's still gratified by animals twenty odd years later. She sounds mentally retarded, no offence intended. My friend is also, but his was self induced - my point was his psychosis exists because of a refusal to live without chemical and sexual gratification, not because of an inherent personality disorder. 

Like you rightly pointed out, all children exhibit psychopathic behavior to some degree, whether it be hurting other living things or lying or stealing. It takes several years for a child to come to terms with right and wrong when the world is so new and shiny, and some are ignored during those vital years. It doesn't mean children are inherently evil, it means they are morally naive/colorblind, and some never see the world in true color.


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