How to recognize and recover from everyday sociopaths - narcissists

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(Given what you’ve learned the hard way) what’s your attitude like?

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It could be argued that the sociopath is cynical: contemptuous; mocking; concerned only with his own interests and typically disregarding accepted or appropriate standards in order to achieve them - the opposite of idealistic. And there is a danger that one who has learned the hard way about sociopaths becomes jaded: dulled, blunted, deadened, inured; tired, weary, wearied; unmoved, blasé, apathetic - the opposite of fresh. The online version of the Guardian newspaper runs a series in which readers provide their responses to 'Ethical conundrums'. Given the nature of our interests on this blog, this one caught my eye: Is it worse to be cynical or jaded? …

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A female serial killer

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The Deccan Herald newspaper in Bangalore, India reports on the arrest of a female serial killer, 43 year old Mallika. The story can be read here and here. Serial killers are actually very rare creatures, and the female of the species is truly unusual. Perhaps that is good reason not to make a big deal about something so rare. One thing, though, caught my eye and made me think lovefraud readers may be interested too. I'll summarise the story and you tell me what you think. Here's what raised my eyebrow She allegedly committed all the murders single-handedly and for gain. She is no psychopath, the commissioner said. …

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What does the psychopath ‘do’ with this diagnosis?

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LoveFraud reader buzzibee raises some important issues in a recent comment. How does a tested and proven psychopath usually respond to being told “You have a mental disorder. You are characteristically a psychopath”? Are [they] so arrogant to dispute a medical diagnosis that they have a mental disorder? Do they display any desire to learn more about the disorder and at any point admit to it? In order to be diagnosed as a psychopath, a person needs a score of 30 out of a possible 40 on the Psychotherapy Checklist-Revised test (PCL-R). This is a very time-consuming test which only trained personnel can administer, so by and large only prisoners and research subjects are likely to have it. …

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Brain researcher puts his finger on the nature of psychopathy

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The journal Nature has an article on neurological research being done in the Netherlands on psychopaths' empathy or lack thereof. The researcher, Christian Keysers, is primarily interested in the neurology of empathy and so wants to compare regular folks with two groups characterised by problems with empathy: autistics and psychopaths. Do psychopaths cut off the emotional component of empathy when mirroring the other person's emotions begins, or fail to mirror the emotions of others completely? When identifying with the victim or the perpetrator, which areas of the brain are activated in those who are normally vs abnormally empathic? The article can be downloaded here. What interests me …

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A common verbal ploy of the psychopath

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This is my first post on the LoveFraud blog. It's a great pleasure to be part of this most worthwhile effort to teach people to recognise and avoid sociopaths. (Or psychopaths, as I prefer.) Over at my blog - the top two inches - I have been thinking and writing about something that psychopaths invariably do to deflect things away from themselves and onto others. Perhaps you've encountered it: the psychopath does something wrong, but the moment attention is drawn to this he (usually it's he) magically causes you to feel bad. Here are a few examples: 1. The wifebeater says: "Why are you making me do this!?" Consequently she may think: "It's true, I shouldn't do X [usually something …

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