Personality Disorder

Psychopath

Definition:
A person with an antisocial personality disorder, manifested in aggressive, perverted, criminal, or amoral behavior without empathy or remorse;A person afflicted with a personality disorder characterized by a tendency to commit antisocial and sometimes violent acts and a failure to feel guilt for such acts;An individual with a mental disorder in which they manifest amoral and antisocial behavior, lack of ability to love or establish meaningful personal relationships, extreme egocentricity, failure to learn from experience, etc.

Symptoms:

1.Glib and superficial;Psychopaths tend to talk a lot. They know how to read people and can be funny and entertaining and they are often boasting, telling stories about how good they are. The stories may be unconvincing but they somehow manage to present themselves as likeable and charming. For some people, however, the psychopath is too smooth, or is simply playing a role.The psychopath can often talk about any subject as if he were an expert, often even using the jargon. Some of them do it so well, and with such confidence, that they can even fool psychologists, experts in this field, who know they're talking to a psychopath!And at the same time, some of the serial killers talk about their crimes in gory detail with almost no emotion. People who experience this find it very unnerving.

2.It's all about Me;Psychopaths tend to have enormous egos, an incredible sense of entitlement and an overinflated sense of their own self-worth and importance. They are arrogant and cocky, they have an opinion on everything and they are always right. They have incredible confidence but often without the competence. They typically have lots of grandiose plans for the future. "I want the world to be the way I want it to be" said one psychopath.In their role as guru or maestro, they often claim to have magic powers, or to be able to do things that other people cannot. This enhances their prestige among their followers. And if anyone questions them about why they're not using their gift right now, they always have a good story to excuse themselves.

3.Absence of guilt and remorse;One of the most stunning characteristics of a psychopath is the total lack of guilt or remorse that they experience, regardless of the effect of their actions on others. From serial killers to cult leaders to corporate psychopaths to the child psychopath, they all typically have a justification for the decisions they have made and for what they have done.Interviews with psychopaths reveal that for them, people are simply objects, things to be used. Even family members have the same value as other things they own, such as a mobile phone or a coat.And use people they do. They will take their money, their possessions, their time, their expertise, their efforts, their bodies, and their souls. (People who have been duped by psychopaths for religious reasons have said that it's like being raped spiritually.) And all this without the slightest care in the world for the victims.The absence of remorse is evidenced by the fact that many psychopaths, even after being caught and punished for some crime, continue to do the same thing.When caught out, psychopaths will often deny or minimize the effect of their actions on others. In fact, they typically make out that they are the victim! And they can play the victim role very well. For them it's simply another one of the masks that they present to the world.

4.Lack of empathy;Another one of the important characteristics of a psychopath is the inability to understand what other people are feeling or experiencing. They don't know what it's like to be in somebody else's shoes.What they do is to learn about emotions. They learn from other people what emotions feel like, what they experience, and what is expected in certain situations. Therefore they can appear to be very caring and loving. But it's all a charade, a show, playacting, in order to manipulate the emotions of others.Being incapable of empathy means they are incapable of love. The emotional world of a psychopath is indeed shallow and dark. This can be difficult to understand when dealing with a sociopath.

5.Deceit and manipulation;"I lie like I breathe, one as much as the other" explained one psychopath. But even when they are caught out in a lie, they simply carry on. Remember, no guilt or remorse! They simply change the story to try and fit in with the lie.Sometimes they lie so much that it's difficult to know if they know themselves that they're lying. The answer is usually yes, and typically they are proud of the fact that they are good liars. That big ego again! And it is one of the extraordinary characteristics of a psychopath that they are totally unfazed by being cut out in a lie.Why do they lie? To manipulate and control others. They are all the time trying to dominate and control. They believe that the world is full of predators and prey. And they are definitely predators. Other people are weak, stupid and deserve to be taken advantage of. In fact, the psychopath is doing them a favor, teaching them lessons.
When you consider the characteristics of a psychopath we've looked at so far, it's no wonder that they swindle, cheat, con and defraud others. They play by different rules than normal people, rules that normal people are totally unaware of.Normally people do not consider that others willfully do evil and harm because they have no conscience. They are simply unaware of how psychopaths work. This puts them at a tremendous disadvantage when in a relationship with a sociopath and it's worth learning how to recognize the signs of a psychopath.

6.Shallow emotions;Psychopaths are unable to describe the intricacies of different emotions because they don't experience them. They may mistake sexual arousal for love, or anger for irritability.One thing that is common is that many of them say they can make themselves angry. They say they can turn it on and off. But they don't know how fear feels. They can certainly notice the signs of fear in other people but they are unable to describe any bodily sensations.For many people fear is a motivator in that they may do things or not do things because of fear of the consequences. Not so in psychopaths, because they don't experience the unpleasant sensations of fear. This obviously has far reaching effects on the decisions they make. They do, however, know how to manipulate others through fear.

7.Impulsive;The decision making process of psychopaths is not complicated. They do things because they feel like it. They want satisfaction and gratification and they want it now. By the age of two we are learning to delay gratification. Psychopaths seem to never learn this. They don't seem to spend a lot of time thinking about consequences, and we've already seen that they don't consider others in their decisions, apart from how best to manipulate them!They often have big plans for the future, but rarely carry them out. For those who do 'stick at things' it's often a spouse or partner of some sort that takes responsibility for this aspect of their lives.

8.Explosive temper;Psychopath may 'lose it' at the slightest provocation. They can react badly to what they perceive as an insult or a threat. Other people may perceive it as something minor, but if they perceive it as important, they can explode. The explosion may even involve severe physical violence.However, this one of the psychopath symptoms is typically short lived. And then the psychopath carries on as if nothing had happened. They will also typically maintain that they have control over their temper and what they did was a natural response to other people's provocation. (It's never their fault!

9.Need for speed;Psychopaths seek excitement. They don't like to be bored. Sometimes they will break the law just for the excitement of it.A question that is often asked is whether psychopaths know they are doing wrong or not. The answer is yes they do. For this reason, at least in the US, they are legally responsible for their actions. They are not considered mad or to have a mental illness.
Their victims, especially those who have been subject to mind control, have difficulty accepting at the start that somebody would do them such harm. It's safe to assume that psychopaths know exactly what they are doing when they are breaking the law, manipulating others or otherwise causing harm. They just don't care!When a psychopath realizes he can no longer manipulate the people around him he may get bored and disappear and go elsewhere looking for fresh 'prey'.

10.No responsibility whatsoever;One of the typical psychopath symptoms is the complete lack of responsibility in all areas of their life. Anything a psychopath says needs to be taken with a pinch of salt. Do not expect them to honor their commitments. No matter how much they promise, they never seem to feel in the least bit obliged.They cannot be depended on to do the job. Their children may be poorly cared for. They may borrow money and never feel the need to have to pay it back. Even court orders mean nothing to the psychopaths.And any problems or difficulties they have? They always manage to blame it on other people, bad luck, unfortunate circumstances or the fact that they are victims of 'the system'. It's never their fault or their responsibility. They are the victims.

11.Childhood history;Included in the psychopath symptoms is a history of antisocial behavior as children. Everything from lying, stealing, fire setting, truancy, bullying, drug abuse and early sexual encounters. Many children, of course, are involved in such things but when it's a psychopath it tends to be much more severe.Cruelty to animals and to siblings is particularly worrying.When the media report on some serious crime, and the neighbors talk about the criminal being such a nice, quiet person they typically don't know about the childhood history, plus the criminal has usually done a good job of manipulating their impressions of him!

12.The child becomes an adult
When the self-serving child who has the preceding symptoms of psychopath becomes an adult he or she will continue with their antisocial behavior. Any obvious illegal activities will be noticed and may be punished.However, lots of activities which are unethical or amoral or 'on the edge of the law' are much more difficult to pin down. Questionable business practices, being unfaithful in relationships, child abuse, emotional abuse of family and coworkers, sexual abuse of clients and students, all of these things can be difficult to verify.This one of the psychopath symptoms suggests that the psychopath is playing by his own rules. He makes the rules up as he goes along. He changes them when it suits him. The people around him are playing by different rules and don't know the first thing about his rules. And he who makes the rules, wins.