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?

I’m sorry where did I say I was doing this? I’ve been very careful to give as few details as possible here so forgive me if the ones I have don’t provide all the necessary information to pacify the bleeding hearts club (or morality vampires as I see you all as). Please don’t reply to this response as you’re boring

If it annoys you when someone disagrees with you then maybe an internet forum is not for you.

I would expect a professional working with a child who is on a trajectory to becoming a psychopath to have hope as to how he might improve instead of a comment about how you know how to get the better of him.

Children with conduct disorder can and are able to be rehabilitated. Especially at only 11.

As a high school teacher- I remember one who literally tortured animals for fun.
I dread to think what he’s up to now.

Come and work in our YOI , you may change your opinion

That’s factually correct though? Under 18 it’s conduct disorder.

And have you seen this distressed child and reported his distress to SW? Or have you decided it’s his fault?

Oh so thick and psycho are words you use to describe both children and adults?

Well, she did say she had psychopathic traits herself, right?

Most psychopaths aren't diagnosed because they are good at making sure people don't know. As demonstrated on this thread, the psychology and psychiatric professions use all sorts of rationale and clever semantics to not label people and basically try and understand (I'm avoiding saying excuse) behaviour which in any none professional setting is evil behaviour, including behaviour of children. In the real world we identify children who we feel are beyond just children who are out of control due to chaotic and abusive upbringings and are in reality an inherent risk to us and our environment because they lack empathy and manipulate situations beyond what others are capable of.
Animals they kill, other children they torture, adults they manipulate and abuse, random strangers, women, girls who are at risk of their deviant behaviour don't care if their central cortex isn't developed enough to fit a variable and inconsistent academic criteria set by whoever sets it to be labelled as something. They are dangerous to us and our family and when we come across them as children we know they are.

It's not "writing off" to say a child is evil . Just a fact . They remain exactly the same when they grow up. Some humans just simply are bad people and no amount of understanding or help will ever change that

Two examples of people who had ‘normal’ backgrounds and were the black sheep of their family wrt psychopathy are Beverley Allitt and Joanna Dennehy. So maybe they were ‘born evil’.

i have listened to podcasts where criminal psychologists say that factitious disorder as it’s now called is a symptom of female psychopathy.

As demonstrated!

But psychopaths arent necessarily, or even usually, evil.

Every single child is born innocent.Every one. Imo.

But by their very nature they can only be decent if they are good homes. A decent home is one where the child is cared for and their needs are met. Otherwise the adjective 'decent' couldn't be used!

We can describe homes in lots of ways - unsafe for example. A safe home is a safe home. The kids are not at risk in a safe home. The fact it is safe means kids are not at risk.

Decent is a word that means appropriate - if abuse is within the home then it cannot be decent! The another adjective would be used.

A safe home is safe. An unsafe home is unsafe. A caring home is a home where adults care a lot for their kids.

So a decent home doesn't have abuse in it or it cannot be described as decent! ha ha!

Not sure you know what the word decent means! Or you are thinking of maybe something else.

Abuse doesn't happen in all decent homes....yes ALL of them. If abuse is present the home is no longer decent. Duh!

So your home was not decent then.

A decent home is decent. If it appears to be loving but abuse is present then it cannot be decent.

No idea why middle class is anything to do with decent or not? A working class home can be decent. A middle class home can be decent. An upper class home can be decent.

Decent homes is nothing to do with lots of money. It is about care, meeting needs, providing a safe, caring, loving home. Which might be a 1 bed apartment. If that kid's needs are met, the parents love them and care for them and do not abuse them even if they do not make much money - that is a decent home.

Are you ok? You have no idea what goes on behind closed doors. None of us do. This is what we have this debate. For me, it’s nurture. And the people saying that children are born evil because they had a “lovely” home are to blame for people thinking children are “evil” when they are just traumatised. Shallow people. You should be ashamed of yourself. though your use of “ha ha” says it all really.

But if something is going on behind closed doors then it cannot be a decent home.

A decent home is not one where things like that go on behind closed doors. Not sure if you call a home a safe home when there is abuse going on but I do not.
If something is going on behind closed doors then that word cannot be used to describe the home.

Really simple. A home is big if it is big. A home is safe if it is safe. A home is dangerous if it is dangerous. A home is decent if it is decent.

Why should I be ashamed of myself for saying a home where a child is safe and cared for is decent and a home where abuse is evident is not decent? Care to explain why you think a home with abuse is a decent home? I cannot fathom why you think kids being abused in their home makes the home decent? You should be ashamed of yourself for saying a decent home is one where kids are abused....as if you said that!

Also....
Abused kids do not live in a decent home though and most abused kids do not go on to abuse others in adulthood. Most who go on to abuse in adulthood are NOT abused. Data shows that.

I think what you mean by decent is looks nice or is in a nice area....if so then absolutely you are misunderstanding my post as I have never mentioned the 'look' of a home but the behaviour of those within.

Maybe you think 'decent' means detached or picket fence maybe....I see decent as meaning safe, caring and meets the children's needs. You are maybe looking at the outside of the home whereas I am looking at it being a decent home based on what the kids experience.

A decent home is one where kids are looked after and NOT abused. Despite you saying a decent home can still be decent if a kid is abused in it....it never can be.

It certainly shouldn’t be about money. But I can’t help thinking that more questions might have been asked if we were a working class family. When my DSis and I asked questions as adults, it turned out that quite a few people had their suspicions. But no one said anything, which my DM has found very difficult.

And no one was surprised to hear the truth about our F, despite the fact that he’d seemingly been a pilar of the community.

I was talking about appearances, hence me using the phrase ‘seemed to be’.

I have met someone who I believe could have turned into one (if she already wasn’t one). She was three/four years old and I had been volunteered to drive her back and forth to the same preschool my son was at. I just remember feeling she was devious but not knowing why.

I ended up only driving her for a week because she made me extremely anxious again not knowing why. I didn’t want her to be around my son any more than necessary. The mother kept asking why I changed my mind but I got the feeling this wasn’t an isolated case. You cannot believe the relief I felt when that week was over!

Absolutely working class families are subjected to more scrutiny than middle or upper class families. That is classism that exists. Just as it does on this page with ppl mentioning ACEs which is a classist model.

I was not on about appearance. I was on about what is or isn't due to the behaviour inside.

I absolutely loved that BBC Horizon documentary featuring the scientist James Fallon. I'm sure it was in that documentary that he discovers he is actually a psychopath. It was fascinating seeing the nurture versus nature aspect of psychopathy play out and how the balance between genetics and environment plays a part in the choices people make and the paths they go down.

I’ve decided the fault lies with his drug dealer father and grandmother.

I think it is both.