Psychopath

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I've just learnt apparently one per cent of the population is a psychopath.
But generally not in the film way (e.g American Psycho) but in an actual mental health way (e.g high impulsivity/low boredom threshold/egocentric/superficially charming/liars).
There's the Hare Checklist which I've got really into.
But what it boils down is that they don't seem to feel emotions.
I can't comprehend this - I get angry and sad and anxious and all the emotions - and am fascinated. One per seems huge.
Does anyone think they know a psychopath? Genuinely? This isn't an AIBU BTW. I'm honestly just really interested.

if they're afraid of nothing and don't feel empathy then how do you stop them doing what they want?

You can't stop them. You have to disappear and become invisible to them.

IIRC there are structural differences in certain areas.

And you can think of fear as two distinct things:

1. Something which stops us doing the scary thing in the first place
2. Something that is an emotion we experience while the scary thing happens

Psychopaths lack the first, which seems to make them seek out and/or not avoid scary things. And possibly enjoy the second. So they would jump over the wall into the Rottweiler's area because they aren't risk averse AND feel less fear while in the situation.

Of course none of these traits are sufficient to diagnose. Many other people lack types of empathy (ASD, sociopathy) or aren't risk averse (ADHD) and so on.

As my old psychology lecturer used to say, "we're trying to explain the complexities of the human brain with only the human brain. It's like trying to fix a hammer with a hammer".

I think for some they might not be afraid of the consequences but still know that they don't want that consequence, which is why not every psychopath will kill a person who angers them but it's not because they're afraid of being caught, and it's not due to a moral compass, it's simply because they don't want to be inconvenienced.

Yes but none of the the traits like charming, manipulation etc! Highly intelligent, very realistic, completely emotionless but very generous!

I saw the documentary with that neuro scientist and it was fascinating.

What was his relationship like with his parents? He sounds incredibly scary.

I score highly on the Hare checklist (except the ones referring to crimes). I've also had threads on here in the past about my lack of empathy.

The best way I can describe it is akin to masking. I know what is sad or happy and I perform sympathy/empathy. And I want to be accepted as genuine for that, and for people to think I'm good or to like me, but I can't actually imagine what something feels like.

I also struggle a lot with not feeling guilt/remorse when I've done something that hurts someone, because it doesn't feel real to me especially if I don't know them. But I don't set out to hurt people (like an abuser would), its more that I don't think about it. There's lots of things that might hurt someone which I wouldn't do as I know it's bad, but if the pain wouldn't be seen by me then I probably would.

I know my friend group doesn't catch yawns and they're definitely not psychopaths.

I score 25 on Hare and drink black coffee 😆

@Haretest
Thank you for sharing that.

Yes, I am sure my ex is a psychopath. Very scary. I saw the “mask” drop a few times. I can totally believe that one percent of the population is like this unfortunately.

I've known two people who I think were on the spectrum of sociopathology.

One was a bastard, certainly a liar and abuser, including of animals.

The other I was quite fond of and would consider a friend. I don't think he'd have used the terms psychopath or sociopath for himself, but he was aware that he was different than other people and his emotional responses were very muted. He did have a definite moral code, but he arrived at things from a very different perspective than most, and occasionally would have what seemed to me a very out there idea on something Sometimes something most would consider problematic which he thought was fine, but also occasionally something most people thought was ok, he was unexpectedly (at least to me) against.

A lot of his morality or approach to personal relationships was built around loyalty and a certain kind of reciprocity, though there were a limited number of people, like his kids, who he had real affection for, and I don't think he ever contradicted his mother. He was rather delinquent in his youth, but I knew him when he was older and he's come to what seemed a somewhat pragmatic conclusion that society was better when people generally followed the rules.

I watched a program on Paris Bennett on netflix it is scary to think a true psychopath could be a family or friend. This boy looked so normal in videos smiling and acting like any other child. He murdered his 4 year old sister after tricking the babysitter to leave early.

My DM taught a child who murdered his baby brother by suffocating him with a pillow. He said he found the baby crying annoying.

He was six years old. DM said that he was a ‘cold’ child with few friends, but not intellectually backwards or physically disadvantaged. I don’t know what happened to him. It was more than fifty years ago.

That is shocking the case of Mary Bell always interested me she murdered two little boys. She would go to the families houses in the weeks afterwards watching there pain. I havent a clue how she was caught she was only 10 at the time. It is terrifying to think she is somewhere with a name change and actually had a child herself.

Psychopaths do have emotions, but they tend to experience emotions in a different way to others and not always at the time you’d expect, and feel some emotions more strongly than others. Also psychopathy is a spectrum so it will be more severe in some than others.

I am definitely not a psychopath (I lack the recklessness and the confidence and I do have a sense of right and wrong) but I can be very emotionally detached in certain situations.

I have met a person with sociopathy being part of their personality disorder. I found them very unnerving. I feel emotion strongly, I would not choose to be close to someone with those traits again, it feels extremely unnatural to me that a person cannot feel emotion or that they can be entirely lacking in empathy at all.

Oooh very interesting thread! I’ve always thought there are psychopaths who aren’t always murders/commit crimes but ‘have it in them to do so’ and then the ones who do….

got to be careful with this one because some autistic people also dont do this social yawning , because they dont interpret the facial cues
actually alot of autistic traits can be mistaken for ASPDs psychopathy and NPD

its actually a misconception that people who have ASPD are murderers, and its more sociopathic people who would kill someone , no psychopathic people

I've always thought that cases of child on child murder can't always be put down to the transgressor being a psychopath. Small children just don't have the capacity to grasp the magnitude of the consequences of their actions. Killing another small child would be not much different to them than pulling the wings off a fly.

The concerning thing is that I can somewhat understand a six year old smothering their infant brother. I know I am not a psychopath because I have been assessed, and the possibility discounted, however, like @10HailMarys I also tend to be completely emotionally detached, and although I'm perfectly capable of empathy, it's strictly conditional, and I find it impossible to muster any for things I don't consider deserving of it.

I have a much younger sibling that I can recall contemplating throttling on a number of occasions. The only reason I didn't is because I knew I'd likely be caught, and I didn't want to face the consequences. I had absolutely no time for them then, I still do not, and the only feeling they have ever invoked in me is 'irritant'. I can't recall any feeling of concern at my sibling no longer being around, on the contrary, I found that prospect quite attractive and desirable.

I have absolutely no time or empathy for any small children. The only thing I feel when I hear a baby crying is complete revulsion, and an urge to move as far away from them as I can, as quickly as I can. I have no urge to harm children, but I simultaneously have no urge to placate or soothe them either.

I do not feel this way with adults, in fact, I tend to be overly empathetic and care a bit too much. The emotional detachment helps me in my job, but I also think a total inability to empathise would make it impossible for me to do my job. I've never had any complaints about how I interact with people, nor have I ever had someone say they did not wish to work with me again even though it's made abundantly clear to them that is an option if they aren't comfortable with me. On the contrary, I am constantly given positive feedback, and management returns glowing reports.

Perhaps that's all just smoke and mirrors, but I don't think so. I'm just a bit perturbed as to why I can only feel empathy for adults and not children, but maybe that comes back to having a poor relationship with my own siblings, and only ever resenting them. I have no idea.

@truthhurts23 sociopathy is ASPD, it’s on the same spectrum as psychopathy. They’re the same disorder.

I'm not sure it's right to say psychopaths don't feel emotions. I think they do, but not from the same triggers. I think the defining trait though is they believe their needs trump other people's. I'm generally quite selfish in an antisocial kind of a way and l tend not to 'feel guilty' for doing my own thing even though I know it upsets people. For example I wouldn't invite a relative round because 'they're on their own' at Xmas....but I want to be on my own and its my Xmas too. My needs outweigh theirs. I do however think I'm fair and if it was me that didn't want to spend Xmas alone, l wouldnt expect an invite.
I don't think psychopaths are fair. Their behaviour differs from say a 'bog standard' PD in that they chose to behave that way. They can modify their behaviour but the don't want to.
I've never met a psychopath....well lm sure I have, but no intimate dealings. I bet many are just seen as successful driven men and whilst things are going to plan they probably seem very nice. Would we actually know?

Mary Bell was unwanted and neglected. Her extended family offered to care for her but her mother refused to allow that, despite not wanting to care for her properly herself. She claims to have been prostituted by her mother (who Bell says was a domatrix prostitute) to men who used her in sadistic sexual acts. If that is true then it would explain the obsession with throttling, and the idea that it was an exciting or fun thing to do.

She was never going to grow up into a happy healthy person.

And bear in mind, this happened to her in the years before she turn 10 and committed the murders that she has never, since her original trial, denied or excused.