Psychopath what makes

Did you find what you were looking for? What were you looking for? Leave your email if it's ok to contact you optional. What Causes Psychopathy. This information should not be used to diagnose or treat. It is not meant to take the place of consultation with a healthcare professional. If you have concerns, you should contact your healthcare provider for a screening.

Research indicates that psychopathy results from a complex combination of genetic and environmental non-genetic factors. Increased risk is not the same as a cause: It is important to keep in mind that increased risk is not the same as a cause. Similarly, many children exposed to a particular environmental risk factor for psychopathy will not develop the disorder. Genetic Risk Factors. Most psychological outcomes are caused by the combined effects of many hundreds or thousands of genes.

The combined effects of many genes account for about half of the variation in psychopathic traits. This means that some children are born at higher risk for developing psychopathy. Is psychopathy something people are born with?

Grandiose sense of self-worth — Psychopaths have an inflated view of themselves. They see themselves as important and entitled.

Manipulative — Psychopaths are really good at getting other people to do what they want. They may forget about something that hurts someone, or they may insist that others are overreacting when their feelings are hurt. In fact, they often rationalize their behavior and blame other people.

They may appear cold and unemotional much of the time. But when it serves them well, they might exhibit a dramatic display of feelings.

These are usually short-lived and quite shallow. For example, they may show anger if they can intimidate someone, or they might show sadness to manipulate someone. Lack of empathy — Psychopaths struggle to understand how someone else might feel afraid, sad, or anxious.

Then, they take advantage of the kindness of others by depending on them financially. They use people to get whatever they can with no regard for how a person may feel.

Poor behavioral controls — Psychopaths struggle to follow rules, laws, and policies much of the time. They may engage in unprotected sex with strangers. Or they may use sex as a way to get what they want. Sex is never an emotional or loving act for them. Early behavioral problems — Most psychopaths exhibit behavioral problems at an early age.

They may cheat, skip school, vandalize property, abuse substances, or become violent. But quite often, they have little idea about how to make these things happen. Impulsivity — Psychopaths respond to things according to the way they feel. Instead, they want immediate gratification. So they may quit a job, end a relationship, move to a new city, or buy a new car on a whim.

They may shrug off child support payments, get deeply in debt, or forget about obligations and commitments. They frequently play the role of the victim and enjoy sharing stories about how others have taken advantage of them. Many marital relationships — Psychopaths may get married because it serves them well. But their behavior often leads to frequent divorces as their partners eventually see them in a more accurate light.

Criminal versatility — Psychopaths tend to view rules as suggestions—and they usually view laws as restrictions that hold them back. Their criminal behaviors are often quite varied. Driving infractions, financial violations, and acts of violence are just a few examples of the array of crimes one might commit. Of course, not all of them get incarcerated. Or they may find ways to excuse their behavior.

Early research on psychopathy suggested the disorder often stemmed from issues related to the parent-child attachment. For example, a psychopath might work for a corporation making money for shareholders.

Their ability to bend the rules and trick people for profit are signs of psychopathy. He also pointed out that people commit murders for all kinds of reasons, including crimes filled with emotion like passion or jealousy.

A psychopath however, wouldn't get overly emotional about his or her crimes. Robert Hare - otherwise known as the Hare Psychopathy Checklist, the diagnostic tool most commonly used to determine psychopathy - only a very few items would suggest the person may be violent. Most of the terms suggest malevolence and include behaviors such as promiscuity, pathological lying, failure to accept responsibility for one's actions and a grandiose sense of one's self-worth.

It's not a mental illness. It's what's been called a moral discrepancy. That's just the way things are. If they don't commit crimes, they'll most likely be lousy husbands and terrible husbands and philanderers, but that's just life. Long-term psychotherapy at least 5 years seems effective in some categories of psychopaths, in so far as psychopathic personality traits may diminish.

Psychotherapy alone may be insufficient to improve symptoms. There have been no controlled studies of psychopharmacotherapy for other core features of psychopathy. Cortical underarousal and low autonomic activity-reactivity can be substantially reduced with the help of adaptive neurofeedback techniques. Norman was raised by his aunt; his parents were divorced and neither was capable of or interested in caring for him. As a child and adolescent, he had numerous encounters with law enforcement for joyriding, theft, burglary, fraud, and assault and battery.

He was sent to reform school twice. His only close friend was another violent criminal; he had many short-term relationships with girlfriends. At 29, he killed two strangers in a bar who had insulted him and was sentenced to forensic psychiatric treatment. Norman showed little improvement over the course of 7 years of behavioral psychotherapy and became less and less motivated. The staff of the forensic psychiatric hospital considered him untreatable and intended to stop all treatment attempts.

Treatment with D,L-fenfluramine, a serotonin-releasing drug, was started. Fenfluramine was voluntarily withdrawn from the US market in Acute challenge doses 0. Neurofeedback was started after 2 months and continued for 15 months. His EEG pattern gradually normalized, and his capacity for concentration and attention increased.

Norman continued to receive D,L-fenfluramine and psychotherapy for 2 years, at which point he was discharged from forensic treatment. He voluntarily continued psychotherapy for an additional 3 years and, in the 4 years since his release, has not reoffended. It is extremely important to recognize hidden suffering, loneliness, and lack of self-esteem as risk factors for violent, criminal behavior in psychopaths.

Studying the statements of violent criminal psychopaths sheds light on their striking and specific vulnerability and emotional pain. More experimental psychopharmacotherapy, neurofeedback, and combined psychotherapy research is needed to prevent and treat psychopathic behavior. The current picture of the psychopath is incomplete because emotional suffering and loneliness are ignored. When these aspects are considered, our conception of the psychopath goes beyond the heartless and becomes more human.

Note to readers- This article was originally published in Psychiatric Times and posted on PsychiatricTimes. Ever since, it has remained one of the best-read articles.

We re-publish it here with updates from Dr Martens. Dr Martens is Chair of the W.