What is psychopathy?
Psychopathy is considered an extreme form of dissocial personality disorder. However, the distinction is not clearly defined scientifically. There are many overlaps between the two disorders. Both psychopaths and people with dissocial personality disorder exhibit dissocial behavior. However, experts believe that psychopaths are more emotionally impaired. For example, they use unrestrained aggression to exert control over other people and achieve their goals.
Psychopathy and criminality
People with psychopathy are often indistinguishable from other people in everyday life. However, they can become very dangerous to society as they lack the ability to empathize with other people. They have no feelings of guilt when they behave antisocially or against the law. The rate of psychopaths in prisons is very high. People with psychopathy are potentially the most dangerous offenders. Due to their lack of empathy, some of them are capable of extremely cruel acts of violence. However, not every psychopathic person becomes a criminal. And conversely, of course, not every criminal is psychopathic. In Western societies, psychopathology occurs in around 1.5 to 3.7 percent of the population.
Psychopaths are very manipulative when dealing with other people. They know how to use their charm. They often mislead their fellow human beings and even professionals by feigning feelings of guilt or empathy. This is because they know exactly what reactions are considered socially appropriate. However, psychopaths do not have a conscience that plagues them when they act immorally. Their lack of emotions gives them the advantage of being able to think through their actions very rationally. People with psychopathy quickly reach high professional positions thanks to this ability. Fear or doubt are alien to them. They pursue their interests regardless of losses or the effects on other people.
Psychopathy: symptoms
The symptoms of psychopathy are very similar to those of dissocial personality disorder. In order to better differentiate psychopathy, the Canadian criminal psychologist Robert Hare has developed a test for recognizing psychopaths: the Psychopathy Checklist (PCL-R) It contains the following 20 criteria:
- tricky, articulate deceiver with superficial charm
- considerably exaggerated self-esteem
- need for stimulation (hunger for experience), constant feeling of boredom
- pathological lying
- fraudulent-manipulative behavior
- Lack of remorse or sense of guilt
- superficial feelings
- parasitic lifestyle: they live at the expense of others
- insufficient behavioral control
- Frequently changing sexual contacts
- early behavioral problems
- Lack of realistic, long-term goals
- impulsiveness
- irresponsibility
- Lack of willingness/ability to take responsibility for their own actions
- Many short-term marital (similar) relationships
- Juvenile delinquency
- Failure to comply with directions and conditions / revocation of probation
- Commit various crimes and offenses in different ways
The therapist or psychiatrist rates each characteristic with 0 or 1 and, according to the total sum, determines whether psychopathy is present and how pronounced it is.
Psychopathy: Treatment
People with psychopathy are often good at hiding their illness. They can mislead the therapist by feigning empathy. Psychopaths often have a strong inner drive to exercise violence and power. This desire cannot be extinguished in therapy. However, some psychopaths learn to control this drive better in therapy.
Psychopathy and partnership
In a relationship, psychopaths initially seem too good to be true. They are charismatic, give gifts and are often very sexually active. They lure their partner into a marriage as quickly as possible. As soon as the partner gets involved, the relationship often changes radically. The psychopath no longer cares about their partner and some become aggressive and violent. People who are in a relationship with a psychopath should definitely seek professional support. People with psychopathy know how to manipulate those around them and often leave behind a lot of pain and suffering. The first painful but important realization is that people with psychopathy do not change their behavior.
