Psychopath

Having grown up with a diagnosed psychopath I look out for the following always:

Lack of basic empathy
Someone that laughs hard if someone is hurt or derives pleasure from it
A total loss of temper and slips back on the mask very easily
A feeling you are not cared about, performance and practiced emoting that if you scratch and question slightly can easily be exposed. ‘What upset you the most when I broke my leg and the ambulance didn’t arrive’ etc

I will not have these people in my life. I thank the genuine posts on here for shining a light, but I was irreparably damaged from my parent.

Id say a faire wig them are on this thread:

Keeps walking ahead & leaving me behind http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/amiibeingunreasonable/4866348-keeps-walking-ahead-leaving-me-behind

Interesting article on the topic of pro social versus antisocial psychopaths, and the nature versus nurture question:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/the-neuroscientist-who-discovered-he-was-a-psychopath-180947814/

Boooorrriiinng!

Psychopaths do feel emotion, it’s just those emotions are believed to be comparatively shallow for the most part.

Psychopaths are also capable of empathy, but on a cognitive level as opposed to an emotional one.

As a condition psychopathy is still poorly defined and poorly understood tbh. One big issue with the Hare checklist is that it was developed from observing the behaviours of imprisoned psychopaths. While psychopaths are over-represented in the prison population, the majority of psychopaths aren’t in fact criminals, and their behaviours and experiences won’t necessarily be the same as those that are.

Also, while they can overlap, there’s a distinct difference between psychopathy and sadistic personality disorder, although the two are often conflated. Put simply, a psychopath may inflict suffering but they don’t enjoy it (they don’t feel bad about it either) and it’s done as a means to an end, whereas for a sadist inflicting suffering is the end, and they intensely enjoy it.

As others have said, it’s that rather unpopular word, a spectrum. People are much, much more complex than a simple score sheet can reveal.

I think that many of us have the potential for psychopathy, but our life events and our characters effect how far we manifest it. It is fascinating to have heard how some posters recognise some of the traits in themselves, but have learnt to control them so that they do not negatively impact other people or animals. Although this sort of self control may be ‘easier’ to learn and operate in beneficial life circumstances , that’s not the whole story. Many people brought up in poverty and subjected to abuse are kind and selfless. In previous ages we would have said they ‘rose above it’. So ‘character ‘ must play a role.

Perhaps thé concept of free will, of good and evil is not entirely irrelevant.

*psycho, obviously

That sounds like a child suffering from ACE's.

Christ, imagine thinking one of your pupils was a psychopath.

Id be more concerned with his home life.

You have to wonder if the inventor of the mini sub that recently imploded (if that's the correct terminology) was a sub .... He just kept on ignoring safety concerns and taking risks - for himself and others - and even spoke cavalierly about risk. There was such arrogance and lack of fear and lack of risk aversion there.

A counsellor has no more qualification to diagnose your ex husband as a psychopath than you or I.

I always thought that psychopaths are capable of feeling lots of emotions.They understand emotions and are adept at using them to their advantage through manipulation. What they lack is the empathy to put themselves in someone else's shoes and care enough to adapt their behaviour accordingly. They are analytical, transactional self-servers first and foremost.

I taught a child a long time ago who definitely displayed traits of being a psychopath. They had absolutely no empathy towards other children, would hurt them then laugh about it, fly into a rage over very small things. He was scary even then. He is in prison now.

The problem is... sometimes people who have been deeply traumatised can detach so expertly in order to cope, that they recount it as though it happened to someone else and they just watched it on last night's news.

Doesn't mean they're a psychopaths.

Both my sister and sister in law fit the psychopath bill.

Please don’t abuse the condition of a psychopath with thousands of people that simply hold different views to you. It’s this kind of politicising that helps no one.

Yes I do, my father, diagnosed.

Other people’s pain can be their entertainment, they have no capacity whatsoever for empathy or compassion. Everything is a cold calculation that serves solely their needs. They have huge problems with controlling anger. In my experience they don’t ‘feel’ love, other people are there to complete or serve a function of some kind. They control rather than feel love for others. Iron fist kind of stuff.

They are chilling people to live with, I felt an almost constant sense of danger as a child, and later an adult.

Pretty much all of the Conservative party are psychopaths aren't they? Probably plenty in other parties too. They certainly present as that. Self absorbed, no empathy, only decide on a policy if they themselves benefit from it. Most of them smirk when being challenged like they are enjoying being cruel and the others get angry. The finest examples are in government.

One of the best examples on TV was this woman on a programme called 24 hours in police custody who was imprisoned for plotting the murder of her ex. It was riveting viewing. She had a bit of a munchaussens vibe about her too and was very dramatic.

@montecarlo7 the second one on my list, the woman... when she was briefly married she told me that she was disgusted by her husband when he was ill.

I am the same. I have almost no empathy for most people. I mask a lot in that I know the ‘normal’ response for things but in truth, I don’t feel it much. My husband is very similar and we both score pretty highly. The only points that show we are not psychopaths are that we are motivated by consequences, neither of us have a history of crime / delinquency and we don’t take unnecessary risks, although I’ve taught myself this last one as I definitely have a ‘fuck it’ attitude which is not helpful in life.

What I will say though is I do feel empathy for people I care about (as does he) - just not everyone. My husband does very well in his job and his ‘cold’ outlook has certainly been a big factor in this. I only realised we weren’t entirely usual when we discussed the scale with others and most people score very low. I mainly just see myself as more robust than most people - and less caught up in the superfluity of general emotion.

Me too! He immediately sprung to mind on reading the descriptors.

I think they are plentiful in the upper echelons of business. They grow in nurturing families but rampage around businesses rather than killing people

You've described my exH.

I have a sibling diagnosed with ASPD, he's not my favourite person tbh and try to have as little contact as possible
I also looked after a young offender ( very violent crimes and now serving a long prison sentence) who was diagnosed too. In four years he never put a foot wrong in my home and always appeared lovely and respectful towards me. The psychiatrist commented on the relationship and explained I was meeting his needs and was extremely useful......scary stuff

I was told by a therapist that my mother was a sociopath. She was a registered nurse and she told her now husband that if he ever had a heart attack she would pretend she didn't notice and walk in the other direction, leaving him to die. She didn't want the bother of living with someone whose health might be impacted negatively by having had a heart attack. He was very hurt by this and they used to argue about it.

Yes, I believe a former landlady of mine was a sociopath.

She would lie constantly, showed up for inspections with no notice, feeling the law didn't apply to her and would fly off the handle in an attempt to manipulate and intimidate whenever I asked her to do maintenance (such as repairing or replacing faulty appliances that were in the rental when I moved in). She was abusive and exploitative.

I was also assaulted by a FWB and looking back I believe he was a sociopath, too.