Psychopath’s Heaven – a poem

Power.
Power.
Power.
How I crave after it. How I desire it. How I lust for it.
Power over what?
Power over something.
Power over anything.
Power over EVERYTHING.
The power over life and death, to be able too look into the eyes of a man, look into them. And take life from them. To see it leave their eyes. The light in their eyes, I want the power to turn their eyes dark.
I want to be invincible. To stare at death in the face, and laugh.
I want to be immortal. To live for eons on end, never aging, never weakening. Only gaining power
The power of destruction. To destroy entire cities with a thought. To hold countries ransom to my whims.
Pure power.
No responsibility.
Absolute. Power

© Wajahat Mahmood, 2015. See the original post here.

Mythbusting psychopathy (part the second)

Here we are again, back to kick more stupid myths into the long grass where they belong.

What myths or misconceptions about things would you like to bust, if only people would listen?

 

MYTH: Psychopaths have no emotions.

This is one myth psychopaths themselves (and narcissists) love to propagate to enhance their mystique, but it’s bullshit. Everyone has emotions. The only living people with no emotions are comatose or else so severely brain-damaged they can only live with the help of a life-support machine. Even dementia patients with little or no sense of self, a completely blank memory and utter dependency on caregivers show signs of emotion when properly stimulated.

Psychopathic emotions are selfish and inward-looking. In my experience, these emotions are often fleeting and can change rapidly. Some emotions are very blunted and don’t really cause much of a change in mood, while others can be so strong they temporarily obsess or enthral the psychopath. It can also be the case that the physical signs of an emotion are there (e.g. sweaty palms, quick heart rate, out of breath) but the psychopath feels calm in themselves, in their mind.

 

MYTH: Psychopaths are crazy, or ‘psychotic’

Psychopathy and psychosis are two different things. Just because a word looks similar, doesn’t mean they refer to the same thing. Psychotic people are people who have lost their grip on reality; they may hear voices, hallucinate or show magical thinking. They are very much not in control of their behaviour and generally need close medical attention for their own and others’ safety. Many otherwise healthy people suffer from psychotic episodes throughout their lives, and often recover with time or medication. Schizophrenia is an example of a psychotic disorder.

Psychopaths are fully aware of their surroundings, their behaviour and the consequences of that behaviour. Psychopaths do not have a conscience, and are not unwell in the normal sense of the word, nor will they ‘recover’ with time or medical help. As a personality disorder with roots in an individual’s genetic makeup, this is who they are for life. Both psychopaths and psychotic people can be dangerous and violent, but many are not.

“I’m not strange, weird, off, nor crazy, my reality is just different from yours.” – the Cheshire Cat

There is absolutely no reason I can see why a psychopath couldn’t develop a psychotic disorder separate to and unaffected by their psychopathy. This is called co-morbidity. In fact anyone can reach sub-clinical psychosis simply by staying awake for abnormally long periods of time (symptoms start kicking in beyond the 36 hour mark). I’ve tried it once or twice; it’s an interesting experience, though not an especially pleasant one. I heard shouting voices in my head and felt off balance when I tried to walk. Overall, my memory of the experience is fuzzy. Yay, temporary brain damage!

Oh, while we’re on this subject, unlike what certain pop psychology crackpots would have you believe, “psychopathology” is not the study of psychopaths, nor is it anything whatsoever to do with psychopaths. Psychopathology is the psychiatric version of pathology, therefore it is the study of all mental illnesses and psychological disorders / abnormalities. I repeat, similar-looking words don’t always have the same meaning!

 

MYTH: My psychopathic ex planned to ensnare, manipulate and abuse me from the start of our relationship

Psychopaths enter relationships in a very positive frame of mind; they often love everything about the other person and are so obsessed they want to learn every tiny little detail about them, know their entire history and the full spectrum of their emotions and thoughts. In extreme cases, the psychopath may have a painful urge to possess or climb inside their new partner. They try to please the other person by mirroring them closely and being the ideal mate for them.

After a period of time, this effort is exhausting and the other person starts to lose their appeal. Most psychopaths’ relationships stall at this point as the other person ceases to have any interest. It’s all just the same old person, same old stuff. Boredom sets in, and the psychopath either moves on without a backward glance (I prefer this), or else takes their anger and frustration out on the other person.

I have no citation for this and am just recounting from experience; you’ll just have to take my word for it (or not). If anyone can find actual research done in this field that contradicts me and not just pull up Lovefraud or similar bilge, that would be very welcome.

 

MYTH: Psychopaths are in all the positions of power and are the puppet masters behind an international conspiracy to bring about a new world order.

While there are undoubtedly psychopaths in high places, including bankers, businesspeople and world leaders, the idea of them all working together behind the scenes for not just years, but decades, is frankly absurd.

Listen, I don’t have any evidence to back this up, but psychopaths are not nearly co-operative enough for this to work. We don’t tend to get on well with each other, and are not known for our willingness to work in teams. Every single one of the conspirators would want the top job in the Illuminati and would be working to eliminate the competition, i.e. each other. The bloody thing would not get off the ground.

And of course, when you realise this is the exact same idea as the Evil Zionist conspiracy theory, the exact same poisonous garbage just with the word “Jew” switched for “psychopath”, you know what kind of beast you’re dealing with.

 

MYTH: Psychopaths are lizard men in skinsuits

No, just no. You are welcome to verify that by getting hold of your nearest psychopath and opening him up to check all his lungs and bones and whatever else you humans have inside you are in the right place. You might need the help of a surgeon, except she’ll probably be a psychopath too and will naturally be in league with one of her kind, so you see the flaw in the plan? But seriously, demonising people (even psychopaths) is, apart from being rather insulting, a lazy way out of trying to understand why others are different. Speaking of demonisation…

 

MYTH: Psychopaths are demons from hell

Hell is a fairy tale designed to scare the gullible into obeying the clergy – who as you’ll remember are all psychopaths of course. The idea of demons may well originate from uneducated mediaeval people’s encounters with illnesses they couldn’t explain, such as epilepsy and schizophrenia. In fact, enough ignorants are still unconvinced about this that there is a whole department of the Royal College of Surgeons dedicated to correcting idiotic superstitions among certain communities.

Despite the hysterical imaginations of cretins who swear they’ve seen a satanic glint in the eyes of their psychopath, I assure you I am not a demon, I am a liz-… human like you (I’m assuming here. If there are any non-humans reading this, I’d love to hear from you.)

Talk to me. Read part 1 here.

Mythbusting psychopathy (part 1)

There are far too many common myths about psychopaths out there that I am sick of reading about. Here is a list of the most irritating, along with a hearty dose of reality. Note the links, which are my citations.

Which one surprises you the most? Let me know in the comments. 

 

MYTH: Psychopaths don’t know they’re psychopaths.

Oh really? While some psychopaths (particularly very young or uneducated ones) may not know the specific term “psychopath”, or that it applies to them, all psychopaths of at least young adulthood are fully cognisant of their difference from others. What’s more, in this age of near-universal internet access, I’d be very surprised to come across an adult psychopath without some understanding of their psychopathy, though I expect back in the pre-web days many lived their whole lives without ever finding out why they were different. Most couldn’t be happier to be what they are; that is to say, most are fucking arrogant pricks.

 

MYTH: Psychopaths are ‘worse’ than sociopaths; psychopaths are born, sociopaths are made; psychopaths and sociopaths are different things.

Actually, neither psychopath nor sociopath are medical terms. The official term covering both in the latest versions of the Diagnostic Statistical Manual (DSM – 5) and the International Classification of Diseases (ICD – 10) is antisocial personality disorder (ASPD).

The terms “psychopath” and “sociopath” have been used for the various theoretical explanations for the condition, with specialists using “psychopath” preferring a biological or neurological explanation (e.g. a psychopathic gene, brain damage) and researchers using “sociopath” more interested in social causes (e.g. childhood abuse, poor parenting). Modern consensus among psychologists and neuroscientists points toward a combination of the two, and most researchers in the field prefer the use of “psychopath” over the now rather dated and pop-sciencey “sociopath”. Osteopaths and homeopaths are something else entirely…

Yes, Bob Hare’s famous PCL-R Checklist is a slightly different beast, but since it is only administered to dickheads locked up in prison, I would argue it focuses too strongly on criminality (and how an individual should be treated by the justice system) for it to be considered a legitimate diagnosis. I will concede that Hare himself does not like psychopathy being lumped in with ASPD. However, the British National Health Service and the American MedlinePlus medical encyclopedia both consider psychopathy to be a severe form of ASPD. Wait, this is stupid.

So in actual fact, it seems nobody can agree on what, if anything, is the difference between these three terms: psychopathy, sociopathy and ASPD. Abandon hope and run to the hills.

 

MYTH: Psychopaths have no empathy.

Psychopaths have little or no warm empathy; that is to say they do not typically share the emotions of others or care about how other people feel. They are unsympathetic and lacking in compassion toward others. Psychopaths are quite capable of cold empathy, however; that is to say understanding how other people think and feel. They deliberately mimic facial expressions and behaviour that they see in others. Autistic people (in the broadest sense of what is a very broad spectrum) are kind of the opposite of this: they care about others’ feelings and share emotions, but are usually very bad at working out what other people are thinking or reading facial expressions.

Recent research has also suggested psychopaths are capable of warm empathy when they actively try to empathise with other people, and that they can activate it like a switch when asked to do so.

 

MYTH: All evil in the world is psychopaths’ fault.

This barely warrants an answer. Every human being is capable of evil, but non-psychopaths mostly use their morality, their political ideals or shudder their religion as justification for their wrongdoing. The infamous Milgram experiments on obedience demonstrated that average Joe is more than happy to electrocute someone to death when told to do so by an authority figure.

Yes, psychopaths do bad things if they feel like it. I’d say that’s a hell of a lot more honest than, for instance those who claim to believe in equality but still want a strong border to keep out the people with dark skin, or those oh-so-pious liberal saints who ignore Hobo Bill every day to get their morning Starbucks, or the followers of the Religion of Peace™ who blow themselves to kingdom come for a sniff of virgin. Ask most psychopaths, they will say the same. We are sick of taking the blame for everything, and laugh at the hypocrisy of those who assign said blame.

 

MYTH: Psychopaths actively wish harm on others. They hate everyone else. 

You’re thinking of sadists and misanthropes. There is certainly a lot of overlap between sadism and psychopathy, but the true psychopathic attitude toward others is indifference. Everything I do is to benefit me; you do not come into the equation. If in the process of taking care of number 1, I make you laugh, cry, smile or squeal, well that was just incidental. You’re welcome / sorry / I don’t care.

 

 

MYTH: Psychopaths are all active criminals or behind bars.

It is true that as much as 25% of the American prison population may be psychopathic, and that some of the worst serial killers and mass murderers in history were psychopaths. What’s more, probably every psychopath out there has committed a crime at one point or other in their life (who hasn’t?) and clever ones are likely to get away with them for longer. Taking my whole life into account, I am guilty of physical assault, fraud, theft and petty vandalism (oh and probably “psychological abuse”, which my country in its infinite wisdom has recently made a crime. Talk about discriminating against my lifestyle!) These are not regular occurrences in my life though, and I am not known to the police.

It is simply not the case that every psychopath is a hardened career criminal. Many, indeed probably most, psychopaths have never killed or seriously hurt another person. These ‘socialised’ psychopaths live normal lives, going to work, walking the dog, paying taxes, washing up, beating up prostitutes in back alleys… Psychopaths are found in all walks of life, more often than not with good, stable jobs and at a high or upwardly-mobile point on the social hierarchy. Which means that yes, some are drug lords, mafia bosses and terrorist leaders. But most are… well, see below.

 

MYTH: Psychopaths are a horrible scourge and a drain on our society.

Just look at the list of the top 10 jobs with the most psychopaths:

1. Corporate executive
2. Lawyer
3. Broadcast media
4. Salesperson
5. Surgeon
6. Print or web journalist
7. Police officer
8. Member of the clergy
9. Chef
10. Civil servant

So your society would likely collapse without psychopaths running your shit for you.

 

MYTH: Psychopaths are more intelligent than non-psychopaths

Psychopathy does not affect intelligence. There are some psychopathic geniuses, and many who are borderline retarded. Most lie somewhere in between, just like the general population. I would describe myself as well above average intelligence, but not (yet!) at the level of a genius. Bearing in mind my own “inflated self-worth” and “arrogance”, you may wish to adjust that estimate slightly lower.

Keep your eyes peeled for part 2 next week. Stay in touch.