The Problem of Psychopathy

A life-long criminal sexually assaults and kills nearly 100 women over 35 years. In jail, he proudly draws portraits of his victims from memory.

The creator of a Ponzi scheme bilks thousands of investors out of billions of dollars, devastating many lives.

A married shoe salesman and officer in the Jaycees performs at children’s hospitals as “Pogo the Clown.” He also drugs, assaults, and kills 33 young men, interring many in the crawl space of his home.

A common response to such crimes is disbelief. A common explanation is, “Those people are crazy.” Some may substitute “crazy” for psychopaths.

But what is psychopathy?

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed.) lists seven traits, at least three of which must be present for a diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder (ASPD). Not everyone with ASPD, though, is a psychopath. The Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL—R) rates examinees on twenty traits to reach a diagnosis.

Defined behaviorally, psychopathy is marked by irresponsibility, impulsivity, deceitfulness, a need for stimulation, a general disregard for law and the rights of others, and an absence of remorse. Neurologically, there is evidence that the psychopathic brain lacks the ability to empathize, and perhaps also to fear punishment and learn from it.

Not all psychopaths are, legally speaking, criminals. And there are degrees of the disorder. Many successful people have psychopathic traits or tendencies. Some psychopaths find ways to fit in and even contribute to society.

My professor in abnormal psychology quipped, “Our jails are full of low-functioning psychopaths. Congress is full of high-functioning ones.”

Not all crimes are committed by psychopaths.

People who feel abused by their government sometimes feel justified in flouting its laws.

Some people think they are too intelligent to be bound by laws designed for average intellects. Raskolnikov, in Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment, sees himself that way.

Some “professional criminals” see themselves as soldiers and/or businessmen and may feel empathy for family and friends. The Godfather and The Sopranos portray certain members of the mafia that way.

Horrific acts have been committed in the service of ideologies. Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, Spanish Inquisitors, and the 9/11 terrorists may have been psychopaths, hyper-zealous ideologues, or both. Ditto for Vladimir Putin. Yet among perpetrators of heinous acts, psychopaths continue to inspire the most public interest and fear. The cost of psychopathy in money, suffering, and anxiety has been enormous throughout history.

The Athenian ruler Draco, along with many tribal societies, seem to have recognized the intractability of “the criminal mind” and punished most offenses with death. More lenient societies used banishment, which might be tantamount to death, and in any case, rid society of the miscreant. Later civilizations used imprisonment to punish wrongdoers and remove them from circulation. More humanistic societies attempt rehabilitation along with imprisonment and/or parole.

The track record of rehabilitating psychopaths, though, has been discouraging. True psychopaths don’t, by society’s standards, “get better.” They don’t believe that they need “fixing,” especially if they profit from their psychopathy. Psychotherapy with psychopaths is generally done under duress, and is notoriously ineffective.

No one, however well-meaning, can pump empathy into a brain that, for whatever reason, is unreceptive to it. Psychopaths can, moreover, be masters at reading people, and will say what those who control their fate want to hear. Mental health professionals, who tend to be kind-hearted and not devious, can be conned. I speak from experience.

Psychopathy Essential Reads

Psychology’s Latest Thinking on Psychopathy

Revising My Ideas About a Kid Who Killed

Non-psychopaths may find it hard to believe that psychopaths are the way they are. Viewing them as nice people gone astray makes it hard to create effective strategies to cope with them. Western society tends to romanticize them. They make great characters in fiction, guaranteeing tension and high stakes. In addition, readers may, consciously or not, envy psychopaths’ ability to disregard rules, dominate, impose their will, and win.

To make psychopathic acts more understandable, authors often make the perpetrators psychotic, like novelist Thomas Harris’s Hannibal “The Cannibal” Lecter, a brilliant psychiatrist who also eats people’s faces.

Most psychopaths are not psychotic. Psychopathy does, however, overlap with other personality disorders. Narcissistic psychopaths and paranoid ones are especially dangerous.

How do non-psychopaths best deal with psychopaths? The short answer is, learn the signs of the disorder, then steer clear. But this is not always possible. Several violent future-psychopaths went to junior high with me before they dropped out. One started fires and tortured animals. Another was a skilled and habitual shoplifter. Another joined the army and sent home a box of ears. I’ll never forget the fear these boys’ bullying inspired in the rest of us, and how they enjoyed inspiring it.

My years as a professional musician also brought me into contact with psychopaths: hustlers, pushers, pimps, street thugs, grifters, members of organized crime. I saw them in action and learned first-hand that they would not reciprocate friendliness, kindness, and honesty, though they sometimes pretended to.

Ask yourself what you might do if you had little fear of law, no code of ethics, no concern for others, no empathy, and your only aim was to get goodies for yourself. Being a psychopath is like running a foot-race in which most of your competitors carry hundred-pound backpacks. The wonder is not that some psychopaths get ahead in life, but that they frequently don’t—that their genes don’t win the evolutionary battle decisively, and turn all humans into psychopaths.

When dealing with psychopaths, remind yourself that they couldn’t care less if they cause you pain and may relish it. They will deal with you in any way that they believe benefits them.

Just as it’s hard to accept that a disease is incurable, it’s hard to accept that psychopathy may be the same. No compassionate person wants to write anyone off as hopeless. I hope fervently that effective treatment(s) will be found. Until then, the rest of us are well-advised to be on guard.