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Yet another article with misleading information about “psychopathy” (“sociopathy”, “antisocial personality disorder”, etc). The fundamental pattern these terms

Yet another article with misleading information about “psychopathy” (“sociopathy”, “antisocial personality disorder”, etc). The fundamental pattern these terms are all trying to address is the same: antisocial behavior, or a consistent pattern of behavior that harms others. Do we all have it in us to act selfishly sometimes? Yes. Just like we all have it in us to act altruistically. Psychopathy is a spectrum with Mother Theresa on one end and Hitler on the other. (I realize Mother Theresa may not have actually been all that saintly in real life, but bear with me for the sake of argument.) The major flaw in the article is how it focuses on someone who was eventually diagnosed as a psychopath after seeking treatment. The issue here is that the people who are actually dangerous, i.e. very high on the Hare psychopathy checklist, i.e. true psychopaths, are never going to voluntarily be diagnosed. Real psychopaths don’t seek treatment to change their behavior. If they get caught, they try to destroy whoever exposed them, and if that doesn’t work, they move on to new targets and start over. My point is that we need a consistent way to refer to people who are dangerous social predators. It doesn’t matter what the term is, sociopath, psychopath, ASPD, whatever. What matters is that the term doesn’t get watered down or confused with other so-called personality disorders which don’t share this aspect of harm to others. For example, aspergers/autism has absolutely nothing to do with psychopathy. If the term “psychopath” becomes meaningless, then it becomes harder to talk about and expose the real predators in our midst. In other words, the psychopaths win.

dnomad 8y ago
You may actually be confusing and conflating several different "disorders." Certainly it's not clear that psychopaths, sociopaths and ASPD are all just "dangerous social predators." Some would consider psychopaths and sociopaths to be polar opposites. This comment lays it out pretty well [1]. > 1. Psychopaths do not have a conscience (e.g., they do not feel guilt) and do not bond or love like most people. Sociopaths do have a conscience, albeit a weak one, so they are able to feel some degree of guilt in certain situations. However, they usually quickly deflect that guilt and place blame on others for causing to do whatever they feel guilty about. Sociopaths are capable of love but it is usually a very dysfunctional form of love/bonding. > 2. Psychopaths tend to not take a lot things personally. They don't care if you don't like them. They are usually egotistical, though, so if you attack them personally, they will feel anger but not other forms of emotional hurt/wounding. Sociopaths will feel both and tend to take everything very personally, even stuff that isn't meant to be. > 3. High-functioning psychopaths tend to think things through and plan their actions/steps in a logical manner without emotions coming into play. Their thinking is very organized and it is about reaching whatever goal they have. If they hurt you in the process, well, that is because you were most likely an obstacle and you got run over for being in the way, but not because it was personal. Psychopaths typically inflict pain because it's a means to an end, not because they enjoy it. > 4. Sociopaths are basically the opposite: they tend to be very disorganized in their thinking and planning because they are much more subject to certain emotions such as vanity/narcissism, anger and jealously. If you get in their way, they will inflict pain to eliminate you, but will also likely enjoy it. Sociopaths will often seek to inflict pain because they enjoy inflicting it (psychopaths don't get that kind of rush) but will often feel mixed with their anger or violence a tinge of guilt, which their narcissism will require them to deflect as being caused by others (think of the killer who does something to their victims to show regret or respect, such as posing them in a certain manner. It doesn't mean they regret their actions, only that they regret that they were forced by someone or society to kill). > 5. Most sociopaths end up in jail and have lower than average IQs. Most high functioning psychopaths don't and end up in jobs that require turning down one's emotional reactions, such as a trauma surgeon, butcher or CEO. [1] https://www.thecut.com/_pages/cjkmuv88b00500xy6u0morj7n@published.html?commentId=5f3287c1-dbb9-4d23-9436-7a2db3dcd0f7#comments https://www.thecut.com/_pages/cjkmuv88b00500xy6u0morj7n@publ...

dnomad 8y ago

You may actually be confusing and conflating several different "disorders." Certainly it's not clear that psychopaths, sociopaths and ASPD are all just "dangerous social predators." Some would consider psychopaths and sociopaths to be polar opposites. This comment lays it out pretty well [1]. > 1. Psychopaths do not have a conscience (e.g., they do not feel guilt) and do not bond or love like most people. Sociopaths do have a conscience, albeit a weak one, so they are able to feel some degree of guilt in certain situations. However, they usually quickly deflect that guilt and place blame on others for causing to do whatever they feel guilty about. Sociopaths are capable of love but it is usually a very dysfunctional form of love/bonding. > 2. Psychopaths tend to not take a lot things personally. They don't care if you don't like them. They are usually egotistical, though, so if you attack them personally, they will feel anger but not other forms of emotional hurt/wounding. Sociopaths will feel both and tend to take everything very personally, even stuff that isn't meant to be. > 3. High-functioning psychopaths tend to think things through and plan their actions/steps in a logical manner without emotions coming into play. Their thinking is very organized and it is about reaching whatever goal they have. If they hurt you in the process, well, that is because you were most likely an obstacle and you got run over for being in the way, but not because it was personal. Psychopaths typically inflict pain because it's a means to an end, not because they enjoy it. > 4. Sociopaths are basically the opposite: they tend to be very disorganized in their thinking and planning because they are much more subject to certain emotions such as vanity/narcissism, anger and jealously. If you get in their way, they will inflict pain to eliminate you, but will also likely enjoy it. Sociopaths will often seek to inflict pain because they enjoy inflicting it (psychopaths don't get that kind of rush) but will often feel mixed with their anger or violence a tinge of guilt, which their narcissism will require them to deflect as being caused by others (think of the killer who does something to their victims to show regret or respect, such as posing them in a certain manner. It doesn't mean they regret their actions, only that they regret that they were forced by someone or society to kill). > 5. Most sociopaths end up in jail and have lower than average IQs. Most high functioning psychopaths don't and end up in jobs that require turning down one's emotional reactions, such as a trauma surgeon, butcher or CEO. [1] https://www.thecut.com/_pages/cjkmuv88b00500xy6u0morj7n@published.html?commentId=5f3287c1-dbb9-4d23-9436-7a2db3dcd0f7#comments https://www.thecut.com/_pages/cjkmuv88b00500xy6u0morj7n@publ...