Last week, the Josh Powell story exploded in the media. Powell, of Graham, Washington, was supposed to have a supervised visit with his two young sons. Instead, he slammed the door in the face of the social worker, hacked the boys with a hatchet, and then blew up his house. Powell and the two sons died. I watched three news shows about the tragedy—Dateline on MSNBC, 20/20 on ABC, and Dr. Drew on HLN (Headline News). All of the programs reflected shock, horror and outrage. Dr. Drew Pinsky did actually call Josh Powell a psychopath. But what struck me about the coverage was that this tragedy was almost predictable. All the warning signs were there, if anyone had a complete picture of what w …
A petition to save a child’s life
A few years ago, I met Dr. Ariel King at the Battered Mothers Conference in Albany, New York. Her story is one of the worst involving an at-risk child that I have ever heard. Dr. King's 8-year-0ld daughter, Ariana-Leilani, has an extremely rare and dangerous disease, severe chronic neutropenia. She wants to care for her little girl, but she can't, because Ariana-Leilani is now in the physical custody of her husband. Because Dr. King is American and her daughter and husband are German nationals, the case is stuck in international limbo. The website is www.Ariana-Leilani.org with the petition for Ariana-Leilani. The following articles tell the story: A UH Alumni in the fight for her …
Overcoming the hype to educate people about sociopaths
Lovefraud recently received the following email from a reader whom we'll call “Eleanor.” Thank you for your wonderful site Lovefraud! It has helped me tremendously. I am still with my sociopath husband, but am quietly and surely planning on leaving. We have a few children so it really makes it more complicated. He has now gone up to the next stage in what I've read sociopaths love to do. I'm so thankful that I read about it before he did it and know how to react and what to expect! He's started to call up my family, giving them a sob story about how broken he is and how I won't get any help (we've gone through a few counselors, with no obvious results as they've all been taken in by his a …
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Evidence that negative interactions lead to inflammation
New research documents the link between negative social interactions and the production of proteins that trigger inflammation in the body. Read Social friction tied to inflammation, on ScienceNews.org. Story suggested by a Lovefraud reader. …
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Joe Paterno and ignorance of evil
Joe Paterno, the legendary Penn State football coach, has died. I can't help but wonder if the travesty of the last few months, with his former assistant coach, Jerry Sandusky, being charged with sexually molesting 10 young boys over 15 years, killed him. I'm not an alumna of Penn State. (I am, however, an alumna of Syracuse University, with its own scandal of an assistant basketball coach allegedly molesting boys.) Still, I hate to see the storied career of Joe Paterno forever blackened by the malevolent behavior of one man, if that proves to be the case. Some people argue that Paterno had to know what was going on. They argue that Paterno was so concerned about his legacy, the …
Another documentary to spread the word about psychopaths
Filmmaker Alexander Davidis has directed commercials for international advertising agencies and documentaries about historic race cars. Then he had an experience with a psychopath, and now wants to help tell the world that these predators live among us. Davidis already started by interviewing some of the world's leading researchers on psychopathy. To complete the project, he's listed it on Kickstarter, which is the world's largest funding platform for creative projects. He wants to raise at least $60,000. Kickstarter is interesting. Anyone can be a backer, pledging as little as $1 on a credit card. In order for the money to be collected, the project must reach its entire goal by the …
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Psychopathic mom pressing for more time with the kids
Lovefraud received the following email from a man whom we'll call “Brad.” He has two children with a woman who was diagnosed as a psychopath. Brad is concerned about the kids spending more time with their mother. After the email, I'll make a few comments. But many of you have personal experience attempting to co-parent with personality disordered individuals, so if you have suggestions, please post them. I have custody of my two children. My son is 12, and my daughter is 10. I'm remarried too. I have had custody since 12/2007. The kids are doing great. There grades are A's and B's. We have a happy home. Ok, now the question. She was diagnosed as a psychopath, by a very professional psy …
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Bank intentionally hires psychopaths
Last week Lovefraud published an article about the paper written by a British professor who theorized that the global financial crisis was caused by corporate psychopaths. Here's another article on the same topic with an amazing twist: One British investment banker admits that his company actually hired corporate psychopaths on purpose, because "their characteristics exactly suited them to senior corporate finance roles." I wonder if that bank is still in business. Read Brian Basham: Beware corporate psychopaths they are still occupying positions of power, on Independent.co.uk. …
Food for thought: I am fishead movie
It's an ambitious project—attempting to explain psychopaths in global leadership positions, a possible cause of what looks like psychopathic behavior, and what to do about it all. This is the documentary film, I am <fishead(, produced and directed by Misha Votruba and Vaclav Dejcmar. Here's a clip, featuring Dr. Robert Hare, the guru of psychopathy: [youtube_sc url=http://youtu.be/xiDhVdCjaok rel=0 fs=1 autohide=1 modestbranding=1] Corporate psychopaths Fishead is divided into three parts. Part 1 is about psychopaths, specifically corporate psychopaths, who are blamed for the global financial meltdown that began in 2008. This is probably true, although the only individual n …
Psychopaths and the financial crisis
With their charm and charisma, they take over business organizations. Then they enrich themselves, without regard to who gets hurt in the process. Finally, the organizations crash and burn, and they lie, blame others, and walk away with obscene buy-outs. Does it sound familiar? Read Cohan: Did psychopaths take over Wall Street? on Bloomberg.com. Link supplied by two Lovefraud readers. …