Linda Hartoonian Almas

By:  Linda Hartoonian Almas, M.S. Ed This past month, I have had the honor of speaking about domestic violence at a training day for law enforcement administrative professionals, as well as at a continuing education program for a local judicial circuit.  Both were wonderful days, spent with many amazing men and women in the areas of law enforcement, advocacy, and  mental health, as well as those in the spiritual community. My main goal was to raise awareness.  I could speak all day on the topic of domestic violence and its relation to personality disorders and still only scratch the surface of what I have to share.  With time constraints in place, I chose to  highlight some of the press …

Spreading the word on domestic violence and personality disordersRead More

By:  Linda Hartoonian Almas, M.S. Ed There may be a correlation between psychopathy and malingering.  Some studies support that increased PCL-R (psychopathy checklist) scores correspond with an increased potential for malingering, while others are less conclusive.  Regardless, if psychopathic individuals, or those with such features, seek to gain or avoid something through manipulations, they are good at bringing their intentions to fruition. What is malingering? Malingering is defined as intentionally making up or exaggerating medical or mental symptoms in an attempt to avoid one or a variety of responsibilities.  It is an intentional misrepresentation of facts in an effort to app …

Malingering and psychopathy: a likely connectionRead More

By Linda Hartoonian Almas, M.S. Ed To psychopaths, life is often like a series of stage plays.  They are like the play actors and they tend to keep themselves very busy, working in a variety of different productions.  When they exhaust the audience pool in one venue, they move to the next.  It is important to note that they may work many productions at the same time, as well. Unlike other actors, psychopaths do not worry about being type-cast.  They may play evil villains on one stage and sweet, loving, misunderstood victims on the next.  However, we must realize that they are just acting. In the theatres of life, psychopaths may showcase a variety of personas. What is a pers …

When all the world’s a stage: personas and psychopathyRead More

By Linda Hartoonian Almas, M.S. Ed We may not be wearing socks on our heads and our shirts may not be on backwards, but when psychopaths project their traits and behaviors on to us, things may seem as strange as if we were. Unfortunately, at first, what they are doing to us is far from obvious. We have no idea that they are taking their own shortcomings and reprehensible traits and behaviors and trying to make us believe that they are ours. Who would do that? Since the thought seems incredibly ridiculous to us and is the last thing we would consider doing, the possibility usually fails to cross our minds. As a result, we are almost always confused and defensive until we come to …

It’s opposite day: When psychopaths projectRead More

By:  Linda Hartoonian Almas, M.S. Ed When dealing with psychopaths, or individuals with psychopathic features, nothing is as it seems to the naked eye.  When in relationships with psychopathic individuals, the non-psychopaths bear the brunt of great responsibility, both real and perceived. After all, the "normals" really are left carrying the loads and picking up the pieces when the psychopaths are tired of playing the games that they initiated.  However, the blame or burden they attempt to place on us, while accepting none for themselves, is not legitimate and we should not internalize it. Our actions and behaviors have little or nothing to do with the outcomes of their choices, even if t …

Psychopaths and the rules: to comply or not to comply, how do they decide?Read More