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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

*psycho, obviously

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.

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.

Boooorrriiinng!

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/

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

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.

My DSis thinks my ExH was one. He certainly was vile.

Thank you @whumpthereitis you've put it better into words than i managed above. This is exactly me - I understand empathy but don't feel it. Doesn't make me evil!

I definitely feel emotions when they are big, but not day to day. Someone up thread said they see themselves as more robust and I think that's right. Not because I've done more to be robust but because I just don't get distracted on a day to day by feelings.

The main emotions I feel are frustration, despair and joy. Never annoyance or sadness or happiness - always the extremes.

I looked after someone for some time, who I can imagine being diagnosed a psychopath. Initially I just thought they were a bit set in their ways, misogynistic and very much self centred, until the day I saw the way they treated one of their adult Daughters.
The level of rage and vitriol he directed at her when she was unable to complete some small task for him was astounding.

I scored 23 🙈 To be fair, I suspect I have a lot of sociopathic traits so no huge surprise...

It seems i'm moderately psychopathic!
(Hare test)

I feel an 'AMA thread' is in order 😂

OH, come and sit with me @Medusaismyhero and we can pretend to care how each of us feels 😉

Please don't think I'm being rude, but those avoiding high... how? Do you feel different? As I did with my friends and we were all v low.

Autocorrect fail*

According high!

I am just so interested.

SCORING HIGH!

Sounds wonderful! There should be an evil laugh emoji for situations like this

I didn’t reference anything as “fact”. Just described how the yawning trope has been used on a particular show.

Omg!

Loving this!