Danger Will Robinson! Danger!
Did you know that, according to US law, to be diagnosed as a psychopath, one has to actually commit a related crime and then be tested? Not to say that the psychopathy doesn’t exist until then. There is the DSM test that shows the CU traits clearly. I just found it interesting that the recognition exists in a legal fashion.
Also, did you know about the scientist who developed this test? He was a professor at the time. He studied incarcerated prisoners that were deemed psychopaths and at the same time, studied a control group during these tests. At the time, he had trouble acquiring people to be part of the control group. He asked his fellow staff members, co-professors, and his students to participate in this study. He even participated as one of the control group participants. Later on during the research and data gathering from all the results between the inmates and the control group participants. He found one test result in the control group that identified as a psychopath. He was so excited that he actually found a functioning psychopathy subject outside of the prison system, that he wanted to track them down and study the individual further.
The big surprise in this whole endeavor is that, the scientist/professor heading the research, was the test subject in the control group that tested positive for psychopathy. It was a huge shock to him. He had no idea or clue. He lived a normal life and had a normal family. The study progressed and the family were interviewed. They pointed out a couple oddities about the husband/father. But ultimately never believed they were/are in any danger. Things like, he didn’t smile much. And, he could be a little cold, socially. The scientist even admitted later on in an interview that he didn’t think anything of it at the time. But when he and his wife had invited people over for diner. He always thought for brief moments during these parties, ‘Who are these people?’, ‘why are they in my house, eating my food?’.
You see for psychopathy, one has to understand “the spectrum” of the diagnosis. What it actually means and what other factors exist in the psychological makeup of the individual. Their history, their social growth, their experiences with trauma, stress, and peace. This condition is a conduct disorder. Basically having the traits of a lack of guilt and remorse, lack of concern about one’s performance on important activities, callous lack of empathy, and a general lack of emotional expression. These alone don’t make a person dangerous. Which is a common misconception in the mainstream media. One factor that does possibly make the individual dangerous, is the compounding trait of narcissism. There are two sides to this trait. Grandiosity-Exhibitionism (GM) and the other being Vulnerability-Sensitivity (VS). GM is pretty much a superiority complex over everybody. Thinking one self to be better in every way, no matter what. VM is the opposite. Thinking one’s self as lessor and needing constant confirmation from others that they are more. GM doesn’t necessarily give into any violent outcomes since the viewpoint of being better than everyone else, doesn’t react to any kind of insult or social threat. Since the individual is convinced they are better in every way, they don’t need to prove it. VM however is the dangerous side of this kind of narcissism. They constantly are compelled to prove they are not lesser than everyone else. When coupled with psychopathy, you can get an individual that is capable of violently lashing out in unsuspected ways when their need for that confirmation of a ‘better self’ is not met. Mainly because any form of empathic morality that would normally prevent a person from acting out in a berserker fashion, would not exist for the individual in question. It is both fascinating and at the same time, a bit terrifying.
Back when humans were tribal in a ‘hunter gatherer’ existence. Having a psychopath as a member of the tribe was actually an asset. To have a protector of the tribe that felt no remorse in doing violent things that protected the tribe from being wiped out by other tribes. But today? Not an asset. Our species has evolved beyond this necessity. And the existence of this sort of condition is very hard to track. Mainly because we don’t live in close knit tribes anymore. It is easy to get lost in the billions of individual people on this planet. As opposed to hundreds of small tight groups. Individuals have access to great amounts of knowledge in modern times. Easily capable of disappearing under the watch of a digital environment…
… am I trying to freak myself out? I think need to write more light hearted happy posts. This feed is getting dark. Sorry reader. I’ll endeavor to be more cheery.
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Hey, here’s Buddy Christ.
This statue always brings a giggle to my feels.
