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> I'm not comfortable in general about the idea of labeling people based on their neurological makeup, unless one is in a therapeutic/psychiatric setting. The

> I'm not comfortable in general about the idea of labeling people based on their neurological makeup, unless one is in a therapeutic/psychiatric setting. The setting you're in has no bearing on whether people actually differ greatly based on their neurological makeup, though, so I don't see how that matters. We're not on the same page here, but that's to be expected, even if you're actually not a psychopath yourself. But what the world really needs to know is that because the difference between humans and psychopaths is so counter-intuitively vast, even seemingly small things are strong signs that someone is a psychopath. For example, if someone keeps talking over you, he's probably a psychopath. Because he has no respect for you as a human being, he'll just casually interrupt you whenever he feels like saying something. An actual human being wouldn't do that, because he naturally respects you as another human being.

fsloth 11y ago
Psychopathy is a medical definition in a psychiatric handbook with specific clinical guidelines for diagnosis (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychopathy https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychopathy). You can't tell that someone is a psychopath without having actual psychiatric credentials and actually performing diagnostics on the patient. "For example, if someone keeps talking over you, he's probably a psychopath." I'm pretty sure that it does not suffice as evidence. You're focusing on the wrong thing - on the specific action and not on the feeling it generates. A non professional individual seldom has enough experience on personality disorders to tell what exactly is wrong. This means collecting anecdotal evidence has little value unless one knows the subject really intimately. But one can trust ones feelings. The key to identifying difficult people is first realizing that the interactions with the person leave you mostly feeling worse. Not in a single interaction, mind you, but over time. That is probably a good time to read a "how to deal with difficult people" guidebook and assess ones situation. The diagnostics part should be left to professionals.
- HiYaBarbie 11y ago
  > The key to identifying difficult people is first realizing that the interactions with the person leave you mostly feeling worse. But you're not a psychiatric professional so how could you possibly identify "difficult people" like that? :p Even if it happens over and over again with some specific individual, you're still not in a position to conclude anything based on that, because you lack psychiatric credentials!

fsloth 11y ago

Psychopathy is a medical definition in a psychiatric handbook with specific clinical guidelines for diagnosis (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychopathy https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychopathy). You can't tell that someone is a psychopath without having actual psychiatric credentials and actually performing diagnostics on the patient. "For example, if someone keeps talking over you, he's probably a psychopath." I'm pretty sure that it does not suffice as evidence. You're focusing on the wrong thing - on the specific action and not on the feeling it generates. A non professional individual seldom has enough experience on personality disorders to tell what exactly is wrong. This means collecting anecdotal evidence has little value unless one knows the subject really intimately. But one can trust ones feelings. The key to identifying difficult people is first realizing that the interactions with the person leave you mostly feeling worse. Not in a single interaction, mind you, but over time. That is probably a good time to read a "how to deal with difficult people" guidebook and assess ones situation. The diagnostics part should be left to professionals.

HiYaBarbie 11y ago
> The key to identifying difficult people is first realizing that the interactions with the person leave you mostly feeling worse. But you're not a psychiatric professional so how could you possibly identify "difficult people" like that? :p Even if it happens over and over again with some specific individual, you're still not in a position to conclude anything based on that, because you lack psychiatric credentials!