Psychopathic or Sociopathic personality disorder is characterized by a complete lack of a conscience and empathy. Another name for it is Anti Social Personality Disorder. Anti Social doesn’t mean you avoid people. It means that your actions go against the laws of society, such as theft murder etc. It’s a particularly interesting disorder because it’s often the cause of most serial killer’s and other types of Murder. At this point there is no cure for it.

History
In 1801 Dr. Philippe Pinel wrote of patients that he described as la folie raisonnante (“insane without delirium”). This was the earliest psychiatric term for what would later be called the psychopath. In 1909 the term sociopath was first used. Before this they were known as “Moral Imbeciles”. The disorder did not make it into the DSM diagnostics manual until 1980 when Robert Hare created the Psychopathy checklist.

Symptoms

• Persistent lying or stealing
• Apparent lack of remorse or empathy for others
• Cruelty to animals
• Poor behavioral controls — expressions of irritability, annoyance, impatience, threats, aggression, and verbal abuse; inadequate control of anger and temper
• A history of childhood conduct disorder
• Recurring difficulties with the law
• Tendency to violate the boundaries and rights of others
• Substance abuse
• Aggressive, often violent behavior; prone to getting involved in fights
• Inability to tolerate boredom
• Disregard for safety

The DSM IV criteria for it is as follows(The DSM Criteria is the major authority used to diagnose mental illness)

1. There is a pervasive pattern of disregard for and violation of the rights of others occurring since the age of 15, as indicated by three (or more) of the following:
   failure to conform to social norms with respect to lawful behaviors as indicated by repeatedly performing acts that are grounds for arrest; deceitfulness, as indicated by repeatedly lying, use of aliases, or conning others for personal profit or pleasure; impulsivity or failure to plan ahead; irritability and aggressiveness, as indicated by repeated physical fights or assaults;reckless disregard for safety of self or others; consistent irresponsibility, as indicated by repeated failure to sustain consistent work behavior or honor financial obligations; lack of remorse, as indicated by being indifferent to or rationalizing having hurt, mistreated, or stolen from another.
2. The individual is at least 18 years of age.
3. There is evidence of Conduct disorder with onset before age 15.
4. The occurrence of antisocial behavior is not exclusively during the course of schizophrenia or a manic episode.

Psychopath’s are not the same thing as psychotic although this is often confused. While psychosis means having no grip on reality the psychopath is normally very in tune with reality they simply lack the part most people have that control’s guilt and empathy and other such traits.

What Causes it
There are many theory’s on what causes it although it’s true cause remains unknown. One prevailing theory is that it’s caused by severe abuse suffered during childhood. In many cases of Murder and Serial murder the killer came from a very unstable and abusive household. However this isn’t always the case for example both Jeffrey Dahmer and Ted Bundy, two of Americas most famous killers came from relatively normal backgrounds. Though there childhood’s weren’t perfect it still wouldn’t explain there future actions.

So if it’s not abuse then what is it? Another prevailing idea is the bad seed theory. This states that some people are simply born evil. One study that lent credit to this theory showed that brain scans of people with this disorder showed very dead level’s in there frontal lobe which control’s emotion and remorse.

How prevalent is it?
Most estimates put the number at around 3% in males and 1% in females. This does not mean that all who have it will go on to kill. Many leaders and businessmen are likely to have this as the lack of feeling helps when getting ahead.

The Mask Of Sanity
The mask of sanity reffers to the fact that most of the time a psychopath is not easily recognized. In fact they often seem very charming and kind but these emotions are not real. The truth doesn’t normally come out until a crime has been committed and often unless the crime is serious enough it still goes unrecognized.Think of the psychopath as a Chameleon they can blend into almost any social group or situation even though none of there emotions are real.

How to Stop it
At this point there is currently nothing that can be don’t about it because they don’t normally willingly seek help and there exists no medication for this. With psychiatry still in it’s infancy there is a lot to still be learned. Hopefully one day as the science becomes more advanced a solution can be found. Until then be careful of that charming guy that wants to hitch a ride.

By DirtySanchez

Discuss this.