Have you ever wondered what goes through the mind of a psychopath, and what some of the symptoms, treatments, and facts about the disease/disorder are? You shall find out in this paper. Psychopathy is a dangerous disorder that an increasing amount of people have, and needs to be taken seriously as it has been responsible for many deaths and negative results throughout its tenure as a mental disease. It can be defined as a mental disorder in which the individual does not know the difference between right and wrong and in some cases they do not care (Hirstein, 2013). There are several symptoms, causes, and treatments for people with this disorder and different ways to approach them. It has also had a large effect on decisions in the court room …show more content…
Examples of these symptoms are hallucinations, delusions, and disordered thoughts. In a particular study on psychopaths there were 21 trial subjects and they were split into 3 different subjects. They were personal data, forms of psychopathic behavior, and characteristics of the psychopath (Cason, 1946, p.1833). A few other symptoms are selfishness, irresponsibility, being uncaring to other’s plight, and shallow emotions. Psychopaths tend to have a weak connection with the emotional state of mind. They don’t realize or care about other people’s feelings and/or their thoughts. Psychopaths do not realize the fear in other people’s faces or minds. Psychopaths tend to blame other people for things that are actually their fault. For example if they have just stole something from someone or just murdered someone (as psychopaths tend to do), they are going to blame someone else for it. Everyone has their own problems with the truth, but psychopaths are far worse with this problem. These types of people do not have good responsibility for much of anything as they forget much of the time what they are responsible for. Persons afflicted with this disease lack ability to cope with others. It affects how they deal with those other people, whether it is at their job or just friends that they may know and see on a regular basis. A lot of psychopaths are undetected or not noticeable. The people that know them best sometimes don’t …show more content…
Most are environmental factors that influence the way that they react to different types of situations. A lot of psychopaths are not inherently that way. Some examples and common ways that people become influenced are traumatization, experiencing negative childhood, being around negative people for extended periods of time. Being traumatized (more likely during childhood) is one of the single most prevalent factors that influence a person’s thinking. Whether they were abused as a child or experienced a whole lot of violence during said childhood also influences a person’s mind. A person can become a psychopath by heredity. They are influenced by someone else, most likely their parents, from a very early age. Another factor that comes into play that can and has caused a person to have this disorder is abuse of drugs and/or alcohol. The influence of drugs and alcohol can very easily escalate the symptoms of a person that already has the mental disorder. A person with alcohol in their system is vulnerable to misconduct and a psychopath is already amoral and cannot think clearly or rationally, so drugs and alcohol just makes things worse (Gorenstein, 1979, p. 207). In several different studies it has been shown that the heredity of personality type disorders has also been affiliated with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD). In the study researchers found that psychopathic traits were more
They’re distinctive traits include living a parasitic lifestyle, lack of responsibility for their actions, glibness, and a lack of realistic long term goals (“Psychopathic”). They do not learn from their experiences and cannot form meaningful relationships. They continuously engage in antisocial behavior, punishment does not have an affect on their behavior, and they are emotionally immature (Hare, Psychopathy 9). They find it hard to control their impulses and commonly hold many short-term relationships, often engaging in promiscuous sexual behavior. (“Psychopathic”). Frequently, they fail to plan ahead, have a low frustration acceptance, and have no problem lying blatantly to someone’s face. Psychopaths don’t feel remorseful if they mistreat or hurt someone, in fact, the person’s safety, as well as their own, is disregarded in order for the psychopath to get what they want (Hare, “Psychopath vs. Antisocial”). An easy way to describe a psychopath is a human who lives a predatory lifestyle (“Psychopathic”).
According to studies led by King’s College researchers, it has been confirmed that “psychopathy is a distinct subgroup of antisocial personality disorder (ASPD)” (Gregory et. al n.p) and similarly to psychopathy, the more severe ASPD behavioral patterns are, the symptoms can be referred to as sociopathic or psychopathic. Furthermore, according to Nigel Blackwood, Ma, MD.MRCPsych, “MRI scans...found that psychopaths had structural brain abnormalities in key areas of their ‘social brains’” (Gregory et. al n.p). The areas of the brain, in which are deficient in psychopaths, are important when comprehending an individual emotions’, intentions, and moral
In fact,because psychopaths are not able to feel empathy involuntarily, they are able to turn the feeling on. It is very common for psychopaths to have “ a false belief in their own superiority, a sense of entitlement and a complete disregard for social norms” (Paula, year). Psychopathy had recently been changed into ‘antisocial personality disorder’ in the updated version of the FBI’s mental health book, DSM-III. It was changed for the reason of the personality not always being reliable, as well as psychopathy symptoms crossing over antisocial personality disorder symptoms. Another reason for the change was because it is believed that focusing on behavior instead of the why helped identify the disorder easier. The new research was highly and widely discussed among many physicians because some felt unsure of the change, but they were also for the change with consideration of the evidence that was found. The usual psychopath is not found to be violent. If they are violent, they are considered more dangerous than others and will most likely reoffend sooner and worse than the first time. Between psychopaths and non psychopaths, psychopaths have a longer criminal history which varies in crimes. Their patterns are unique when compared to a non psychopath, but due to their inability to have emotion, they are able to be more observant on their next chosen
While growing up the words, “ Think before speaking,” were placed in people’s mind. There are few people that don’t consider this and this phrase is meaningless to them. The thoughtless words they speak may sometimes affect the people around them. Being thoughtless makes people be selfish and cruel too because they only care about themselves. They don’t show consideration for the needs of others. Sometimes these particular behaviors can consider a person to be a psychopath or it may not. Psychopathy is described as a personality behavior considered by suffering from antisocial behavior, lack of remorse and empathy, and not being afraid of any risk. To determine if someone is a psychopath there is psychological assessment. For instance, in the book The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson, he informs the readers about a Canadian psychologist called Bob Hare; who designed a psychopath test to diagnose psychopaths (Ronson 59). This checklist test will help me diagnose if my older brother
A psychopath may be unreliable with no sense of responsibility. They have absence of delusions and other signs of irrational thinking. Psychopaths develop pathological egocentricity. They are completely self-centered due to their incapability of real
There are many symptoms of psychopathy but only a few pertain to emotions. Some of the emotional symptoms of psychopathy are traits that include egocentrism, manipulative, and lack of empathy and guilt. Psychopaths are egocentric. In their mind they are the center of the universe and the whole world should revolve around them. Because they are egocentric psychopaths believe they know best and make their own rules to follow. (Hare, 38). Psychopaths have a natural talent to manipulate individuals into doing just about anything. As the leading expert on psychopathy, Dr. Robert Hare states that “Lying, deceiving, and manipulation are natural talents for psychopaths.” (Hare, 46). Therefore, psychopaths use their talents in order to get their way because they are self-centered. It is commonly known that psychopaths lack guilt. This lack of guilt inhibits them from showing
The definition of psychopathy involves deficits in areas of functioning, such as, selective attention, anxiety and fear processing, moral reasoning, and criminal violations of society’s rules (Vien & Beech, 2006). Furthermore, there are a number of personality qualities linked with psychopathy, which include, interpersonal and affective traits such as, lack of empathy, shallow affect, callousness, shallow emotions, grandiosity, superficiality, manipulation, and charisma(De Brito, Viding, Kumari, Blackwood, & Hodgins, 2013; Murrie, Boccaccini, Caperton, & Ruffino, 2012). In addition, other
Introduction The purpose of this study is to compare and contrast the constructs of psychopathy and antisocial personality disorder. The aim is to highlight whether the terms psychopathy and antisocial personality disorder reflect the same construct or whether they differ. Furthermore, recommendations for treatment of criminal behavior will be explored. For the purposes of this evaluation some definitions need to be highlighted: Criminal offence is an act that breaks a law, which relates how to behave in society. The harm caused by the act is seen to be against society as a whole, not just a specific person. Sometimes it refers to the specific law that was broken (Herring, 2009). Crime is the breach of rules or law for which some authority
Of all the psychiatric disorders, none are more chilling to the world then the psychopaths and sociopaths. These two disorders, categorized as antisocial personality disorders, bring about the absolute worse people and killers that the world has ever known. The infamous serial killers, the people who do the unimaginable, were all psychopaths. The ability of these people to do what they do and know that what they are doing is wrong, is perhaps one of the most chilling and shocking characteristic of these people. Psychopaths and sociopaths are very often thought by most to be the same disorder, yet they are different when classified by many psychiatric researchers. The people classified as psychopaths and sociopaths are separated by one main difference, and that is if they were born with a lack of the ability to empathize or if they were affected as children in a traumatic environment. Although both of these horrible disorders derive from a different area, the reality is that they are unpredictable, undetectable and most importantly, they can be very dangerous.
“Psychopathy is a personality disorder characterized by an inability to form human attachment, aggressive narcissism, and antisocial behavior defined by a constellation of affective, interpersonal and behavioral characteristics, most of which society views as pejorative” [1]. Some of these characteristics include irresponsibility, grandiosity, cunning, deceitfulness, selective impulsivity, sexual promiscuity, lack of empathy, etc. People who are psychopathic display not only antisocial behavior but also emotional impairment such as the lack of guilt. They are able to prey on others using their charm, deceit, violence or any other methods that allow them to get what they want. A strong feature of most of the behavior
When you hear the words sociopath or psychopath you usually know right away that the person with that disorder is a killer and needs to be put away in jail. But have you ever wondered where that disorder comes from. Research shows that psychopath tends to be the result of genetics. Studies have shown that a psychopath usually has an underdeveloped brain that is responsible for impulse control and emotions. Sociopathy tends to come from a childhood trauma or some type of physical, emotional abuse, which is why sociopath is more of an environment disorder. When a sociopath commits a murder, it is usually a disorganized event or its rather spontaneous than planned. A sociopath can be really attached to a group or an individual which makes them dangerous because they have no regard for society or its rules. When it comes to the crimes of a psychopath they tend to be planned and they always have a contingency plan in place. Another major difference between a sociopath and a psychopath is that a psychopath is always cool and calm unlike a sociopath. This allows a psychopath to leave few clues when it comes to authorities investigating the crimes. When it comes to society psychopaths are more dangerous than sociopath. The reason for that is that psychopaths have no guilt when it comes to them committing their crimes. When committing a crime, they suffer no emotional repercussions and that allows them to continue with murdering people.
There are two types of mental disorders that most people are familiar with thanks to television shows such as “Criminal Minds”. A show about serial killers, kidnappers and many more, throughout the show they discuss about people doing inhuman crimes. The actors sometimes describe them as sociopaths or psychopaths. There are a couple of differences between these two disorders. The first difference is brain anatomy, genetics and a person’s environment all provides the process of a psychopath and a sociopath. Psychopath is genetics, their brains have underdeveloped components thought to be accountable for emotions regulation and impulse control. Sociopath is environmental, negative household, physical abuse and emotional abuse. “At worst, they are cold, calculating killers” said Aaron Kipnis PhD author of The Midas Complex, another difference is consciousness while sociopath have it relatively weak on the other hand psychopath do not have it.
Psychopathy has long been labeled a personality disorder; a disorder believed to be serious enough of a threat to society to be treated using methods of sedation, incarceration, and climaxing at lobotomization. But could the worry have been that these psychopaths would just become too successful? The following analyzed documents support the hypothesis that psychopathic personality traits lead to
In the early 1800s, doctors who worked with mental patients began to notice that some of their patients who appeared seemingly normal had what they termed a “moral depravity” or “moral insanity,” in that they seemed to possess no sense of ethics or of the rights of other people . The term “psychopath” was first applied to these people around 1900. The term was changed to “sociopath” in the 1930s to indicate the damage they do to society . Currently researchers have returned to using the term “psychopath.” Some of them use that term to refer to a more serious disorder, linked to genetic traits, producing more dangerous individuals, while continuing to use “sociopath” to refer to less dangerous people who are seen more as products of their environment, including their upbringing. Other researchers make a judgement between “primary psychopaths,” who are thought to be genetically caused, and “secondary psychopaths,” seen as more a product of their environments .
We all know the terms sociopath and psychopath. These words are used interchangeably but mean two different things. Sociopaths are driven: they know what they want and will do whatever they have to do to get it. He or she will try to charm a person, they use this as a way to manipulate their targets. These people are con artists. Psychopaths have a hard time functioning in society. We all feel as if we all view the world in the same way. The public assumes we all have the same basic ideas of right and wrong, but psychopaths do not see the world like the rest of us. They feel no remorse and feel very little emotion. Psychopaths are intelligent with high IQ’s and are very patient and willing to wait for what they want, but just like the sociopath they will do whatever to get that. Have you ever stopped to think what causes these people to think and act in criminal behavior? The cause of criminal behavior can be broken down into three