Reviewed by Joyce Alexander, RNP (Retired)
I bought The Psychopath Test—A Journey Through the Madness Industry, by John Ronson, based mainly on the title. Jon Ronson is a journalist and author of two previous books that were widely accepted. A movie was made about one of them, The Men Who Stare at Goats, starring George Clooney. The first couple of chapters of this book weren’t all that interesting to me, but before long I was hooked into the story he was writing.
Mr. Ronson looks at the “madness industry” from an outsider’s point of view. He actually took training from Dr. Robert “Bob” Hare in how to use the Psychopathic Check List-Revised to spot a psychopath. Ronson went a few steps further, though, in his learning about commercial psychiatry, and the industry that has grown up around the DSM II-V, defining what is and what is not “madness.”
Dr. Robert Hare, as we know, was the developer of the PCL-R, which is similar to the “cook book” diagnostic manual for psychiatry (DSM), with check lists of symptoms for definite diagnostic criteria to define and “diagnose” what is normal behavior and what is not. There were some interesting discussions documented between Ronson and Dr. Hare about the validity of the PCL-R and where the “cut off score” should be.
Ronson gave the history of the development of the DSM, which has expanded with numerous added “disorders” and “mental illnesses” with each new edition and revision, to where it is now nearly a thousand pages. Though it is intended for mental health professionals, the DSM IV sold many, many more copies, mostly to laypeople, than there are mental health professionals in the world.
Ronson set out to interview and evaluate several people who were “notorious” criminals or well known high-flying and important business leaders and politicians in several countries to see how they fared when compared to the PCL-R. He also was able to visit the inside of the “hospitals” in the UK where diagnosed psychopathic criminals are held, literally “forever,” while they are being “treated” for their psychopathy after their criminal sentences are served out.
Ronson’s faith in the diagnostic ability of the mental health professionals was not strengthened when he studied the famous experiment by Dr. David Rosenhan and several others in the 1970s, who went to several mental hospitals and reported to the physicians there that they “heard voices” in their heads. This was the only abnormal symptom (or lie) that they presented to the professionals. They were admitted to the hospitals, where they never again acted “crazy” or lied to the staff. They behaved entirely normally. It was almost two months before they could “get out” by admitting that they were crazy and needed help. “There was only one way out. They had to agree with the psychiatrists that they were insane and then pretend to get better.”
Rosenhan’s experiment, once published, caused pandemonium in the mental health profession. One hospital challenged him to send in more fakes. Rosehan agreed. The hospital claimed it found 41 fakes the first month. The down side of their sleuthing, though, was that Rosenhan hadn’t sent any fakes to their hospital.
While no branch of medicine is totally objective, (they don’t call it the “practice” of medicine for nothing!) by its very nature, psychiatry is somewhat more subjective (in the eye of the beholder) than physical medicine. Ronson’s book does make the point, though, that putting labels on every behavior imaginable isn’t the answer to improving the practice, and neither is a pill for every disorder.
Psychiatry and pharmacology have both made vast improvements in the lives of many people who are truly mentally ill, but with poor diagnosis and poor medication, some great horrors have also been accomplished as well. Not every bad behavior means a person is psychopathic and not every bouncy kid is ADHD or bi-polar at age three. Ronson does make the point that mental health is a located on a continuum. No one is 100% mentally “healthy,” any more than no one is 100% physically “healthy.”
On the whole, I enjoyed the book, and he makes some great cases and writes in an interesting manner. The only criticism for his writing are the first couple of chapters “The Missing Part of the Puzzle Revealed—”and I’m not quite sure why they were included in this otherwise very interesting book. Maybe somehow I missed his sense of humor, but the rest of the book made up for the start I didn’t get.
I would recommend this book to anyone wanting to learn about abnormal versus normal psychology, and a bit about the “industry” that has grown up around “madness.”
The Psychopath Test on Amazon.com.
Great excerpt TB!
I was thinking the other day, something my counselor had said to me that I found intriguing: “You two are kindred spirits and that was the bond. That is what made you two so inseparable. You bonded.”
Yes; that made it all the more difficult to let go of that dream IT was mirroring back to me. We were ‘connected’ and as I got sucked deeper and deeper into that ‘bond’ “IT” became more degrading and more hateful and spiteful. The closer we got, the more it actually came to hate and despise and be jealous of me.
Life has become a stranger to me the past five years. Isn’t that odd and strange? I was so consumed by the relationship that I forgot how to live. I was literally held ‘captive’ but inside my mind. I have never had anyone manipulate me this way before and it was very ‘gleeful’, I am sure to see someone so ‘compliant’. I must have been a real joke to it. It’s chilling to realize your kindness and caring has gotten you close to being murdered. That still blows me away when I think about it. “MY BEST FRIEND”. Imagine that.
Duped: thank you! â¤
” The closer we got, the more it actually came to hate and despise and be jealous of me.”
Yes! Very well put…same experience I had! It’s like they want to be US and are resentful they are not!
“I was so consumed by the relationship that I forgot how to live.”
Again, that is so true!!!! I’m having to learn! For well over a year, I kept asking myself, “Who/what am I? I’ve lost me!”
TB;
I was very touched by your post regarding animals. I have recurring dreams about my childhood dog. I get them at stressful times in my life and when I wake up, I feel the dream was something very beautiful and hopeful that a heaven actually exists.
it does seem like many of us have something in common with the spaths: an abusive childhood.
But we made the choice to be more compassionate while a similar circumstance made them choose to lack compassion. What was the difference?
Well, I have 2 spath siblings although my oldest sister and I are empaths. The difference here was that they were chosen by my parents to be “special”. They were spoiled. My sister and I were ignored, at best.
Still, my sister and I became vulnerable to other N’s. The common factor, the abuse, makes us feel for them, while concurrently, it makes them feel nothing for us.
How sick is that? There’s got to be a reason.
Skylar,
Is it possible that you are vulnerable to N’s as an adult b/c as a child, you were made to feel responsible?
I know that is my problem. I was the family scapegoat and as an adult, I find myself fulfilling my legacy. I’m getting better but I do have to learn skills how to MAKE myself be aware b/c ALLOWING OTHERS TO USE ME SEEMS NATURAL. It is my childhood trigger, that if I can serve others well enough, they will appreciate and care for me. Only, that’s not NORMAL, that’s exploitative.
I had to LEARN how to recognize two way relationships b/c of course, one way relationships are red flags for dysfunctional.
Could it be that your reason is the same as mine?
Katy,
you are so right about being made to feel responsible.
Those words don’t begin to describe what it means.
We take on the responsibility of everything, we WANT to carry the cross for others. One day I saw a blind woman crossing the street and I was so glad that I had the opportunity to help her! How sick is that? It is sick because it’s a very narcissistic attitude. It was all about me, rather than her. I understand now how very very sick my upbringing made me.
Learning and feeling are two different things. The programming has to be broken. I work hard on it everyday. It’s very confusing.
Yes, I was the scapegoat too, but it was hidden from me. It took a long time to see it. And it’s complicated because my poor spath brother was BOTH. He was the golden child, given extra care and permission, but he was also punished and shamed severely.
I don’t want to think about my parents as spaths, but the clues are all there. Maybe everyone is tainted with original sin, or maybe I’m saying that as a way to give my parents an excuse. *sigh*
I’m very sad and confused today.
TB: I see a thread of a pattern between them all; do you?
My next question is this: are they by-products of our society? I seem to see this A LOT now, more than ever, if I put aside my own personal feelings. Does anyone else see this as I do?
It’s amazing and astonishing the things we do for love. Isn’t it? I almost don’t think it is worth being consumed for nor over. You all have come to know me pretty well, judging by the things I say and have a ‘notion’ of the kind of person I am, from the things I say. The one time in over 10 years, I let anyone that close to me and wham! Ironic; isn’t it? Or was that ‘irony’ manufactured just like the relationship itself was?
You know, the more I ‘understand’ what has gone on, the more I become STRONGER than “IT”. Seriously. I am not being egotistical when I say this either BUT: I AM STRONGER THAN IT. I will always be stronger than it BECAUSE I CARE and HAVE FEELINGS and REAL EMOTIONS. I HAVE a ‘life’ which is more than “IT” can say for ITSELF.
I was chided earlier today, by one of my counselors, for being so filled with hate when I said that I intend to make IT pay for the misdeeds it has done to me. I asked her what the difference was between vengeance and justice. She told me she felt my hate was off the hook, which it really isn’t. I mean, I haven’t hired a hit-man nor have I gone out of my way to do anything to it, at all. How can that be construed as hate? I don’t hate it. In fact, I, at this very moment, feel absolutely NOTHING for it other than it is a specimen. A specimen of great wonder and amazement and something not to be taken lightly. It is the very materialization of evil to me. That’s what it is.
I fell for the ‘broken wing’ ploy. My bad. I thought in this life you returned kindness with kindness and loyalty with loyalty. Apparently we read different books.
I refuse to fight to care about anyone. I refuse to allow someone to decimate my life and walk away laughing, especially after they have tried to kill me and thought it funny and comical. I don’t see how justice can be construed as hate. I have no hate for “IT” anymore. I just have nothing for “IT”. It tried to purposely harm me and I should let that go? Would you?
No; I feel I am absolutely, 100% correct. I don’t wish to decimate “IT” but it sure tried to decimate ME! And there has been absolutely NO reason for it whatsoever. I intend to follow through with everything exactly as I have said. I am not consumed with hate, but I AM consumed with justice at this point. Maybe stopping “IT” will save someone else further on down the line. Who knows how much UGLINESS my following through is going to prevent?!
I AM JUST AS IMPORTANT AS IT IS. MY LIFE IS WORTH JUST AS MUCH AS IT’S. If I don’t do this, who will? Hmm? Who will be IT’s NEXT VICTIM? Who is to say…
If I don’t do it and make it stand accountable, for it’s actions, WHO WILL? See my point. It’s two-fold, “I” get justification and IT stands accountable. No hate involved. That’s just a matter of fact. Right is right and wrong is wrong and MURDER should be overlooked? I don’t think so. I really don’t think so. Not this time. Not with me. I am sorry. There is no reason nor excuse that will suffice.
I am sorry skylar you are having a sad day. ((hugs))
I just had a glass of red wine, for the ticker…been without electricity half the night due to a power outage.
Have a good night everyone. Thank you for all the words and all the caring you have shown me. I will never forget any of you. This is a big weekend for me. Will it remain quiet on the verge of 3 months NC? Hmm? THAT is usually the limit before IT steps in again. Let’s see if it comes lurking….
Duped
;
Skylar,
Sorry to hear you are having a not so good day. What you said about your brother, that is what spath ex does to my son. He elevates him to golden status then demeans him for something that makes no sense. My therapist said that spath was probably parented in this way as well.
I think that parents can do so much damage and not even be aware of it because that is the way they were raised. Like a legacy of abuse.
Hope your day brightens a little, you are a wonderful and insiteful person and I look forward to reading your posts!
HI Sky – know you are probably asleep now, but wanted to ask what is going on in your life the last few days? I haven’t been reading much and may have missed it, but the question is a personal one for you. if you just wirte everything down that has been happening – don’t think about the significance of any one thing, just write the whole shebang, you may understand what’s going on, and the confusion will lift. xo one joy