After being physically, mentally, and emotionally abused by sociopathic parents, I often wondered when the trauma would stop. Would it get better as they aged? Or would I be relentlessly tormented until they passed away? The answer: neither. After their passing, their legacy continued to haunt me. My father was the violent, malevolent sociopath. Yet, my mother caused by far more pain. You see, my mother was a master of deceit. If you offended her (or worse, threatened to expose her), she would effortlessly spin webs of lies around you. Incite her anger, and suddenly you are Alice in Wonderland - sucked into her rabbit hole where nothing is at it seems, wondering what just happe …
Sociopaths, Assessments, and Court–What’s the Point?
Last week in Hard to See a Psychopath, I dedicated my post to seeing psychopaths/sociopaths more clearly. I talked about the need for assessments—meaning more training for more clinicians—as a place to start in our quest to "make things better." But what's next? Let's say you're in the family court system. Does an assessment make a difference? Why start there? I thought hard about this all week. Because for the past decade or two, I've lived in a space where I know that my ex is hurting people, but I've been silenced or belittled or ignored in most arenas when I try to talk about it. And I've imagined, many times, that if people just knew the truth, it would make a difference. This wee …
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Why I wrote ‘The Devil’s Opus’
By Margaux Mannion Brown Editor's note: Margaux Mannion Brown is the pen name for a Lovefraud reader. Ideas for The Devil's Opus began to emerge when I became fascinated with sociopathic personalities. This occurred when I discovered that one of my close friends had married one. Everyone liked Joe. He was charming, flattering, and helpful. So helpful, that through his career as an investment broker, he was able to scam hundreds of thousands of dollars out of his clients, friends and family. Most of the money was lost on gambling. The rest of it went on big houses, fancy cars, and expensive vacations he pretended to afford. Things fell apart for Joe when people began to demand their i …
From one university sex scandal to another
In December of 2012, a female Florida State freshman reported that she was sexually assaulted by James Winston, Heisman-Trophy winning quarterback of the Seminoles. Winston was never charged. The police claim it was due to lack of evidence, although a New York Times report says there was plenty, including DNA, witnesses, and a secretly recorded video of a portion of the incident. The incident did not become public until almost a full year later, in November of 2013. Florida State did not say whether administration officials, including President Eric Barron, were aware of the accusations against Winston. Penn State University, which endured the Jerry Sandusky scandal, in which the …
Craigslist: Avoiding Scams and Crooks
In 2013, a Pittsburgh man bilked 194 people out of $53,000 by advertising fake concert tickets on Craigslist. In 2012, a Las Vegas Craigslist seller was nearly robbed of his luxury RV when he was contacted by a buyer wanting to pay in full using Paypal. It sounded good, until she said she was in a hurry and needed the RV ASAP. Luckily the man hesitated, narrowly missing becoming the woman's next victim. In January 2014, a Georgia man sold his Ipad on Craigslist, only to find out the cash he received was counterfeit. During January alone, he became the 3rd victim of Craiglist scams in the city of Augusta. Craigslist, for the most part, is a convenient and inexpensive way to sell goo …
Hard to See a Psychopath
I'll start with one man who has dedicated his life to teaching others how to assess and clearly identify psychopaths. Here's part of the bio from his website. “Robert Hare is Emeritus Professor of Psychology, University of British Columbia, where he has taught and conducted research for more than four decades, and President of Darkstone Research Group Ltd., a forensic research and consulting firm. He has devoted most of his academic career to the investigation of psychopathy, its nature, assessment, and implications for mental health and criminal justice. He is the developer of the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) and a co-author of its derivatives, the Psychopathy Checklist: Screen …
Lovefraud con man William Allen Jordan – AKA Liam Allen – busted by his latest victim in New Jersey
William Allen Jordan is one of the most dangerous psychopaths I've ever come across. I've spoken to at least four of his victims, and he takes mental manipulation and gaslighting to a level far beyond what most garden-variety psychopaths can accomplish. Jordan convinced multiple women in the UK that he was a CIA agent. In fact, he was married to two women simultaneously, and had both of them believing that the other was nothing but an agent working under cover. Mary Turner Thomson wrote a book about her experience called, The Bigamist. Dr. Liane Leedom studied William Jordan for her scientific paper, "Did He Ever Love Me?": A qualitative study of life with a psychopathic husband. Jordan …
Standing with a Sociopath
My sociopathic ex and I meet monthly with a psychologist. The Guardian ad litem for our three children ordered us to do this after my ex filed for full custody of our two boys last year. So we've met with this psychologist maybe 6 times now, and neither of us had ever met him before our first meeting. All he knew about us in advance is that we're a "high conflict" couple, and he decided that the best thing he can do for our family is to help us get along. He's also trying to help us settle on an agreement that doesn't entirely eliminate my parenting time or rights. And I appreciate that. Therapy with a Sociopath What's it like? It's not that bad, really, compared to all the other …
Q & A With Forensic Psychiatrist Dr. Park Dietz
This week I had the privilege of tapping into the vast knowledge of Dr. Park Dietz, one of the world's foremost authorities on criminal behavior. He has consulted and testified for the prosecution in many high-profile criminal cases such as Jeffrey Dahmer, John Hinckley, Jr., the O.J. Simpson civil suit, Andrea Yates, the Unabomber, the Menendez brothers, Jared Lee Loughner, and Susan Smith. Dr. Dietz was also brought on as a consultant after the Columbine shooting to investigate the motivation behind the attack. He received his degree in psychology at Cornell University and completed his residency in psychiatry at John Hopkins University. In 1978, Dr. Dietz became Harvard University's …
Study reveals Mafia prisoners less likely to be psychopathic than fellow inmates
Italian researchers in Sicily released a new study revealing that members of the Mafia are less likely to be psychopaths than other criminals. The study compared 30 Mafia members in a Palermo, Sicily jail convicted of crimes such as murder, trafficking, extortion, fraud, sexual exploitation and kidnapping, to a group of 39 non-Mafia prisoners, whose offenses included murder, rape, child sexual abuse and armed robbery. The study concluded that, according to the Hare Psychopathy Checklist Revised, none of the Mafia scored in the psychopathic range, while 10% of the comparison prisoners did. The Mafia members were also found to be less ”˜manipulative,' ”˜Machiavellian,' ”˜narcissistic,' ”˜unem …
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