Have you ever met a child psychopath?

[TheJuryIsOut]

There's some debate about whether psychopaths are born like that or made as a consequence of their environment/upbringing. If they are born that way (which I believe they are) have you ever met one? What were the signs?

I say this because there is a child in my wider family who I think may be a psychopath, there has been signs from when he was very very young and as he moves through his teenage years things have only got worse. I can't get on board with it being an environment thing as no one else in the family behaves the way he does, it's quite terrifying to think that no matter what you do your child could still go on to do horrific things and not feel a jot of guilt.

What do you think? Are they born or made?

When my DSs were small, I had a friend who had a son who was a little older than mine and whose behaviour was increasingly disturbing. For example, he pushed my DS, aged 5, down a steep flight of stairs onto a tiled floor. While I ran to my DS to see if he was injured, she ran to her DS to comfort him and tell him everything was OK and he'd done nothing wrong. Since my other DS had witnessed what happened I knew this was untrue. Later this boy buried kittens up to their necks and bashed in their heads with a spade.Thankfully, my DSs had told me they wanted nothing to do with him long ago. As a teenager, he was diagnosed with a severe personality disorder, I don't know if this means he is a psychopath but I do know his mother was still making excuses for him.8

No, you make choices in life but I think children lack education/ life experience aybe it's a lack of education on the consequence.

It happens with adults too though.. just like people who make choices to eat loads of food, and become overweight. You know what the consequences are however! Labels like psychopathy and ADHD are just an excuse on my opinion for young people and don't help.

We aren't very self aware as individuals though sometimes due to lack of education / life experience and children especially so.

I believe the odd ones are born that way,but the majority is their upbringing,the way they are treated whether their parents let them do what they want,I believe upbringing is a massive thing in it

Also having bad thoughts is normal. It's how you act upon it.. no one can read your mind anyway!

There is no parallel between psychopathy and ADHD! Psychopathy is an out of date diagnosis and personality disorders are complex and controversial but definitely exist.

Come and spend a full day in a special needs setting and shadow a child or young adult with the most extreme classic hyperactivity presentation combined with learning disabilities and tell me afterwards that ADHD doesn't exist.

That's intrusive thoughts (not everyone has them but they are common and not on their own necessarily a symptom of anything). It's not a the same thing as a personality disorder. You are conflating completely different things.

You should read The Psychopath Test by Jon Robson. Not all Psychopaths are bad, they walk amongst us and can be very successful in their chosen careers . It’s a fascinating read and does in fact seem to think that they are born, how their childhood unfolds can be a huge determining factor on how the psychopathy presents itself.

Hurting others or doing terrible things with no empathy or emotion is a huge red flag-but it doesn’t necessarily mean they are a psychopath .

Agree with this....

I was writing in relation to someone who put up a very honest account earlier on in the thread of not feeling empathy and being a psychopath (think they said they wanted to hurt their optometrist when they were told they couldn't wear glasses or something). I guess that would make her a psychopath but I feel a real psychopath is someone who would have acted on that thought. I have dealt with intrusive thoughts myself, as long as you don't hurt me or make me feel physically unsafe (like actually attacking someone). Then that's a line crossed and is now an act. Not a thought!

There was a boy in my son’s class and I think he had psychopathic tendencies. He was a bully and showed no remorse. He was emotionless, shallow and callous. And did not come from a troubled background. The behaviour was evident at about age 7 so yes I think children can show traits.

I was going to say this. Exactly the kind of intrusive thoughts OCD causes. I hope she got some proper help.

I’ve worked with a couple of children who I would say will at some point be diagnosed as sociopaths. The most recent being an 11 year old who has this way of poking around in your head. I won’t make eye contact with him for this reason (although I do actually like him in a lot of ways). He has met his match with me though as I’m pretty sure I tick a lot of the criteria for psychopathy - if you understand the scale as skewed towards the prison population (which I’ve never been part of!) and therefore a diagnosis rarely given to non criminals.

I honestly think psychopaths are born but certain conditions create certain behaviour patterns

I have met weird kids who have said they want to be an assassin when they are older.

They also watch way too much tv, and the parents let them play 18+ video games.

I think it's more environmental, but it also doesn't help that they aren't smart cookies

Not a psychopath but my DD was awfully bullied by a child in her class. The teacher, who is a close friend, told me much later (DD & the child had left the school and my friend had retired) that in her forty plus years of teaching she had never encountered a child that she would have considered a narcissist until that particular one …

Similar to the poster upthread, I am also adopted, and have had a happy and privileged upbringing. I am impulsive (I have learned to control this), almost entirely lacking in empathy (although you’d never guess) and feel very little remorse. I see morality as a useful code of conduct to live by which keeps my life calm and orderly; you would never guess what I’m like if you met me. With a different background, I could see my personality being problematic.

Children under 18 who are exhibiting signs are sent for evaluation for Youth Psychopathic Traits Inventory.

A child cannot be labeled a "psychopath," under 18 so identifying the above markers early, is vital for intervention.

Early, intensive behavioral therapies and structured parenting programs have been shown to drastically improve outcomes for children exhibiting these severe traits

Seriously? Anyone who knows anything about psychology will know what she means here.

This thread is fascinating.
Do you mind me asking what kind of emotions you feel, do you care about your family and friends ,generally what does it feel like being you ?
Do you think it's advantageous lacking empathy , i can see that for some people it may get you further in jobs and careers and other aspects in life .

Psychopaths have physiological brain difference that's based in biology and genetics.
The DCM5 excludes children because the brain differences are still developing; however, there can be markers and more so as a child moves into adolescence/early adulthood.

Psychopaths are cold, meticulous and have no true emotional connection to others or their surroundings. They do not have the ability to feel remorse or empathy. However they become very adept at mimicking emotions to avoid suspicion and to blend in.

Im currently studying psychology I find it a very interesting subject.

Also to add on sociopaths are made. Generally down to trauma, abuse and/or unstable upbringing. The main difference is sociopaths struggle to hide what they are and can have emotional outbursts that go 0-100. They understand right from wrong but just do not care, andcan be self centred and manipulative. They don't have or struggle to form attachments. They are less controlled and more volatile and reckless than psychopaths.
Unlike psychopaths they have normal brain physiology.

@khaykerTheodore Roosevelt was most certainly not a psychopath 🙄

I have a husband who I love dearly, although he is very affectionate and I have to reciprocate because I don’t want him to feel unloved. He is my best friend and understands me completely. My children are my favourite people ever and are very loved, cuddled and brought up with strong morality.

I’m very happy pretty much all the time - as in my mood is always good; I rarely feel down and I think I’m fucking excellent which contributes to my almost-always good mood. It’s difficult to describe really because I sort of feel like I don’t care about people at all, yet I’m a complete extrovert and feel energised around others, despite having absolutely no empathy for them. I have a few close friends who I love dearly.

I can be very underhand although I hold myself to high standards and I will fuck you over to get what I want, but you’ll never ever know. Ultimately though, I like order and I’m a perfectionist, so being seen as a good person is important to me: I think I’m better than pretty much most other people so I hold myself to very high account. If I have no respect for you, you’re finished, but you won’t see it coming. I’m not sure if that makes sense to anyone else!!

I once worked for, and knew well personally, a person who is a repeat large scale fraudster. He doesn't view other people as anything other than stupid potential suppliers of cash. He had an advantageous background. Amongst my children's acquaintances was a girl who did have a fractured background but who was also entirely cold. She attempted to persuade my Ds to take his own life. When rhat failed (just) she came after me. We consulted a lawyer to discover her family was 'known'. She was 16 at that point. She will continue to cause damage I have no doubt.

Sorry but he was certainly on the higher functioning end if not the clunical spectrum of psychopathy. Here you go
https://www.forbes.com/sites/gautammukunda/2024/09/26/the-psychopaths-who-lead-us/

As I said we need psychopaths in society.

Yes, I met a child who would go on to be given a new diagnosis (instead of the relatively innocuous Conduct Disorder) on her 18th birthday.

One of the aspects of her treatment was facilitating immediate long term contraception as soon as she indicated that she would consent - thus taking out hormonal fluctuations from affecting her mood, saving a future infant from being taken into care at birth (and placed for adoption as soon as possible) - and reducing potential risk to medical staff.

She usually came across as a bit vague and confused, but if she thought nobody was watching, her face changed instantly and if there was an opportunity and a way to cause damage, injury or harm to anything vulnerable at that point, she would do it, make a rapid exit and then resume the vague and confused demeanour the moment anybody caught up with her.

I think that if she ever has a child that isn't removed at the moment of birth, there will be a distressing news story shortly afterwards.