How to recognize and recover from everyday sociopaths - narcissists

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NIMH v DSM-5: Mental health professionals continue to disagree

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The bigwigs of mental health research have slammed the bigwigs of psychiatry, which will probably mean more confusion for the rest of us. In 10 days, on May 27, 2013, the American Psychiatric Association's new Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental  Disorders 5th Edition, or DSM-5, will be published. This is the massive reference book that psychiatrists and therapists use in order to diagnose mental illness. But a few weeks ago, the head of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), which is the world's largest funding agency for research into mental health, trashed the DSM-5. More precisely, Thomas R. Insel, M.D., director of NIMH, said the government agency would no longer fund …

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Confessions of a Sociopath – a book I don’t want to buy or read

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Today a new book went on sale called, Confessions of a Sociopath: A life spent hiding in plain sight. The author is a woman writing under the pseudonym of M.E. Thomas. Although she doesn't want people to know her real name gee, I wonder why? Thomas claims that she is a successful lawyer and a Mormon Sunday school teacher. Oh, and she enjoys ruining people's lives. Thomas runs a website written by sociopaths, for sociopaths. I don't want to mention the name of it, because I don't want to give it any publicity. (If you really want to know, send me an email.) On this website, people who say they are sociopaths swap stories about how they get over on the rest of us stupid sheep who are burdened …

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To escape domestic violence, American mother sought asylum in the Netherlands

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An extraordinary documentary by Garland Waller, called No Way Out But One, told the story of Holly Collins, an American woman who fled the United States due to domestic violence and sought asylum in the Netherlands. The video above is a shortened version  13 minutes. The full film was screened at the Battered Mothers Custody Conference which took place last weekend in Washington, D.C. Holly and her two oldest children were beaten by Collins' ex-husband. A court in Minnesota acknowledged that they were abused. But the judge said that Holly Collins was crazy because of the abuse and the children were safer with their father. Holly was granted only supervised visitation. The children were afr …

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Heartbreak and heroism in dealing with child abuse

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Damon Moelter made the above video back in 2010, when he was 13. Last Friday, at age 16, Damon stood at the lectern and stated that he escaped abuse not because he was protected by the family court system, nor because he beat the system. He escaped because he found a way around it. How? Two weeks ago, Damon got married. Once he was married, he was emancipated, and his father could no longer demand custody. As I listened to this young man speak at the Battered Mothers Custody Conference, which took place last Friday and Saturday at the George Washington University Law School in Washington, D.C., I was on the verge of tears as were the 100 or so women (and a few men) in the audience. …

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Researcher explains genetic root of psychopathy

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Dr. Essi Viding of the University College of London explains her research into children who show callous and unemotional traits characteristics that have been linked to psychopathy in adults. A predisposition to develop these traits, she says, is highly heritable.   …

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Military’s massive problem with sexual assault

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A new report released by the Pentagon estimates that as many as 26,000 military members may have been sexually assaulted last year. But only 3,374 assaults were reported in 2012, because the service members do not have confidence in military justice. Sex assaults growing epidemic in military, on SFChronicle.com. In the meantime, Lt. Col. Jeff Krusinski, 41, the Air Force official in charge of its sexual-assault prevention program, was arrested for groping. Air Force's sex-abuse prevention honcho charged with sexual battery, on NBCNews.com.   …

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LETTER TO LOVEFRAUD: My ex-wife, the sociopath (Part 4)

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Editor's note: The following story was sent to Lovefraud by a man whom we'll call "Anthony." He believes his ex-wife is a sociopath. This is part 4 of 4. The story refers to spiritual concepts. Please read Lovefraud's statement on Spiritual Recovery. Read: Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 Trying to make sense of the insanity: How could someone behave this way? At this point I was totally bewildered and completely devastated. Nothing at all made sense to me. I remembered all of the strange events that happened throughout our “relationship,” and I knew that they all tied together somehow, but even the events themselves were so bizarre, that my mind just could not make sense of them. I knew that she was …

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Recovery – parallel courses for moving forward

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What sociopaths do to us is unfair, coercive, exploitative and evil. In a just world, they would be held accountable. They would be forced to return what they took from us, and compensate us for the pain and suffering they have caused. They might even be prosecuted and imprisoned. But we do not live in a just world. We live in a world that is oblivious to the human predators among us. We live in a world where clueless people believe a convincing liar; the best performer wins and courts have neither the time nor the inclination to sort out the truth from the lies. For all of us who have been targeted, this adds insult to injury. We've been abused and exploited. We are damaged. Then because …

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Brain structure and violence

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On Tuesday Dr. Adrian Raine, a professor of criminology, psychiatry and psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, is coming out with a new book called The Anatomy of Violence: The biological roots of crime. Dr. Raine wrote an article in Saturday's Wall Street Journal about neurocriminology—using neuroscience to understand and prevent crime. The article highlights some of the latest research on the relationships between certain brain structures, psychopathy and criminal behavior. The Criminal Mind—Advances in genetics and neuroscience are revolutionizing our understanding of violent behavior as well as ideas about how to prevent and punish crime, on WSJ.com. …

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