Psychopaths; Not All Are Serial Killers
The Facts
Not all psychopaths are serial killers. Most have never performed a physically violent act.
Most psychopaths get pleasure by demeaning and hurting other people, whether emotionally, mentally, economically.
Seeming to fit perfectly into society, many appear to be successful. This is because they are not hobbled by emotions.
They have no sense of right or wrong. They do not suffer any of the restrictions others are bound by. They will do anything without remorse because they are incapable of feeling remorse.
That is the hallmark of a psychopath.
The Guy sitting Next To You
Unlike a wacko like Charles Manson, who is a perfect example of a psychopath, most are never diagnosed.
Most Psychopaths never see the inside of a mental institution, never go for therapy or are considered, by the wider public, as having any mental problems. This is because Psychopaths seem to fit in so well.
Robert Hare, considered the expert in psychopathy, created this twenty point check list to determine a psychopath.
Check List
Item 1 Glibness/superficial charm
Item 2 Grandiose sense of self-worth
Item 3 Need for stimulation/proneness to boredom
Item 4 Pathological lying
Item 5 Cunning/manipulative
Item 6 Lack of remorse or guilt
Item 7 Shallow affect
Item 8 Callous/lack of empathy
Item 9 Parasitic lifestyle
Item 10 Poor behavioural controls
Item 11 Promiscuous sexual behaviour
Item 12 Early behaviour problems
Item 13 Lack of realistic long-term goals
Item 14 Impulsivity
Item 15 Irresponsibility
Item 16 Failure to accept responsibility for own actions
Item 17 Many short-term marital relationships
Item 18 Juvenile delinquency
Item 19 Revocation of conditional release
Item 20 Criminal versatility
Consider the Points
These twenty points can apply to many people. Probably you've thought of a number who have these traits. Probably you recognise them in yourself.
You may say, well, I'm impulsive, or sometimes I'm irresponsible.
The mere fact you can do that means you are not a psychopath. This is because psychopaths never analyses past behaviour, never consider any action performed questionable. Never recognises his faults.
Many are successful business men.
Pleasure from your pain
J.D. is a psychopath. He has never killed anyone; physically but has left a lifetime of destruction behind him.
From ruining his siblings relationship with their parents, to interfering in the love affairs of his so-called friends, J.D.'s life had been 'dedicated' to hurting others. Destroying relationships.
He has gotten people to lose their jobs, lose their homes, and sits back as if watching a pleasant pasture.
He can not feel. He does not use 'feel' words unless one prompts him or he is alerted that they are expected.
With a deep contempt for people, he relishes how easy they are to manipulate.
How so few people have ever questioned the lies he has told.
With pride he describes how he destroyed a 'friends' marriage by a few veiled remarks suggesting she was unfaithful.
He boasts about "turning my idiot sister against our mother so that I became the only one who cared about her, so she left me the bulk of her property".
He is proud of these things.
Slave Master
M.L. is a professional who runs his own business. His employees rarely stay three years. That is because he does not differentiate between an employee and a slave.
He treats people who work for him as prisoners subject to hard labour.
The office is full of awards he received, qualifications he achieved, as if it is a shrine to his greatness. He behaves as if he was a Caliph, Despite being married he will have sex with anyone who is willing.
Every mistake is blamed on someone else. Every success he grabs the credit. He is dishonest and tries to slide out of the noose, thinking that he has some right to steal or abuse.
Business Leader or Psychopath?
Reading over the check list one is struct by the fact that the bulk of the traits can be found among some of the most successful people in society.
This terrifying fact has not been lost on the psychiatric community which warns that there are far more psychopaths than we have come to assume.
As portrayed in J.D. the behaviour is not unusual. Many of us can point to the evil lie that was told to us, the lie upon which we or others acted. Many of us have been tricked by those we trusted. Those who show no remorse.
Think of those business owners who can close down a factory, and disappear, or who have never paid us for work done, or tricked us out of our savings.
Many of these people are psychopaths and just because they didn't kill ten people or cannibalize their roommate does not mean they are not.
