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.
hi hopeforjoy!
Constantine:
Wonderful post…thanks for that!!!
Do you know if your acquaintance friend is still with that spath wife??
Constantine: So happy to read you my Friend. Hope you are doing well and being a part of life! 🙂
Oh yes, I think the counselor was a little off the hook expecting there NOT to be any hatred. No? Am I merely just to tolerate and accept this sort of thing? I think not. Am I suppose to ‘feel sorry for it’ some more? That is what sucked me into all this drama in the first place! I will say in defense of the counselor: this counselor is NEW, having just come through her final internship for her masters. Hopefully, she will never come to understand the effects of this situation, personally. They just don’t ‘get it’. Not really. But THEY ARE doing their level best to understand and guide me. More over, I am actually ‘guiding myself’ and they are adding unto it.
No; I am completely and fully entitled to pursue ANY LEGAL action I am entitled to. NOBODY truly understands what I have been through. I haven’t detailed the most HORRID things. Some of them I can’t ‘touch’ at all for fear of their searing, burning white hot flames! I just can’t bring myself to utter some of the things I have been through. They will come in time. For now, I am just grateful that I have a little ‘foothold’ on life!
Oh yes, our society has reminded a lot of us that we are entitled to freedom and the pursuit of liberty and all that is free. Well, if I wasn’t sort of an educated/learned person, I would have taken extreme ‘slight’ to the comment my counselor made yesterday about my ‘being off the hook’ with my hatred over this.
HOWEVER, considering she IS ‘new’ – (I was her case study) – and she IS geared to counseling ‘public service’ participants, I did address the issue with her and she retorted back, which I appreciate, but I really don’t think my hate is ‘off the hook’. Not considering we are looking at an intentional murder charge. I am sorry, we don’t agree. She was worried about the hate ‘consuming’ me. I reassured her completely, there is no hate involved any longer….NOW, it is a matter of justification. The only way I can do that IS in a court of law and that is exactly where it sits. Period. She will learn on HER journey through this psychopathic maze, sooner or later. I guess in a way, I am happy she doesn’t ‘understand’. NOBODY should have to go through the things I have been through. NOBODY.
So, after she made that remark to me, I asked, in turn: “So, you think I am crazy? Am I insane because I want justice?” She replied: “First of all, you are NOT the insane one and I realize this, after all this time talking with you. YOU are FAR from being insane, which is more than I can suggest for your “IT”. You have been victimized and almost killed by someone you believed was your best friend for 9 long years. Your reactions are understandable, however, you just can’t let this consume your life nor what’s left of it.”
I wanted to shout: “WHOSE SIDE ARE YOU ON HERE?!” But, I didn’t. I explained a few things to her that I am sure she just ‘didn’t get’ and left her with those thoughts to ponder until we see one another again. I reduced my seeing her to every other week instead of every week. She is my ‘rumination sounding board’. They think I am being foolish pursuing legal action because THEY weren’t the one’s almost murdered. And, as I left the office, I asked: “Am I really suppose to just let this pass me by and not defend the very life I was given back? If so, what kind of dignity does that leave me?”
Yes, you must be careful with your counseling. There aren’t many out there, currently, who completely grasp the situation we have and are coming through. I suggest ‘shopping around’ and asking questions BEFORE starting any kind of therapy. Make sure that you won’t only find more of the same due to a lack of understanding by the very same people who are suppose to be LEADING us out of the dark and into that light.
Don’t always believe they have all the answers because I truly don’t believe anyone has all the answers. If they did, they would actively be DOING SOMETHING to rectify this situation; this epidemic, as it is starting to appear to me.
I stand firm on my decisions and am not changing them ‘just because my counselor thinks my hate is off the hook’! They don’t understand what we have lost and what has been taken away from us. They don’t truly understand the emotional and psychological RAPING and DEFILING of our very spirits and when they make random ‘value decisions’ based upon their OWN personal beliefs, that is a HUGE RED FLAG. Just huge.
NO counselor should be making ‘value judgements’ on their client. They should walk the middle line and not make any reference to ‘judgements’ because no matter how intelligent they are; no matter how many degrees they may have, they still haven’t been through what we have. Thank goodness for them! (RIGHT???!) 🙂
I WAS told that I was an ‘inspiration’ and a very ‘strong’ person. And then my counselor said to me: “I look up to you and think you are an amazing person, Duped.” She is just a young girl…LEARNING, STILL. She will know better next time, I am sure. I asked her if she would back me up on this and her reply was this: “There has not been ONE THING you have told me about this relationship this has NOT been illegal. IT has broken laws left and right with you and for a long time. There is no ‘helping’ IT. It is a seriously sick person and one you just need to stay away from. I know what it has done to you and yes, you have every legal standing, however, don’t allow it to clutter up what life you have left.” And, she is right about that…
I refuse to allow it to ‘clutter’ my life and my ‘thoughts’. I have been disciplining myself to change all these thoughts that cause this horrible ruminating and living a lifeless life…it is very difficult on me: changing my thoughts. It takes great discipline. It is like working a 12 hour a day mind job. It takes being SO INTO THE HERE AND NOW. Nobody told me to do this – it is just something I have taken on for myself: disciplining myself and my mind and my thoughts. I am hot on the trail of purging this all from my being. THAT is how much I want “IT” gone.
This constant ‘discipline’ is very consuming. With my heart condition, I must take it easy but yet at the same time, taking it easy means getting this gone from not only my life but my thoughts as well. I am FIGHTING for my life over here. Literally.
They asked me yesterday, if I could describe what it is I have been feeling. I don’t know how many of you have the same symptoms as I do, because I also have some serious PTSD and MDD, so I don’t know how close we all would be at having the same symptoms, but I would imagine somewhere close…
This experience has all but destroyed us and it takes A LOT of courage and A LOT of fortitude and doing what YOU KNOW, not what you THINK, but what you KNOW is best for you. Not what everyone else SAYS because our situations are as unique as each of us are.
I can certainly SEE this issue coming to light and being treated differently, in the long run. I probably won’t see it in my lifetime, but I am sure a lot of you probably will. It is my wish and my desire and my intention to use my situation as a candle. NOBODY should have to go through these things because of a criminal and evil mind. NOBODY.
You are right, Constantine: most people are sheep…believe anything because they refuse to question. I am one of the fortunate ones: I have access to counseling; (some of the best, irregardless of the chiding); I have wonderful, supportive friends, such as yourself and everyone else here. I have the ways and the means to just ‘pause’ for a moment in my life, while I put it back together as best I can. Sometimes I think ‘lingering’ too long on the problem can defeat us. Sometimes I think the only solution is just to JUMP INTO LIFE and start LIVING IT. All horrors aside, it is all we CAN do.
Yes, our culture has defined these personalities yet do very little to curb their unacceptable behavior because they always seem to fly under the radar. That is not a foolish person! That is a very calculating person. And I am to believe that ‘it’s okay’ that I was almost murdered and I am off the hook with hate? hahaha My goodness, this intern will learn. 🙂 I hope not personally. And, no, I am not going to ‘let her go’, I am trying to acquaint HER with all of THIS, just as much as “I” am trying to derive, from HER, HER experiences and education. I will keep her. We need more people to ‘understand’ our plight and the only way that will happen is if we EDUCATE THEM, sometimes.
Last week, when I had my ‘regular therapist’ appointment, she was concerned and worried that I was going to ‘give up’ and just let my heart condition overtake me. In effect, committing suicide through my own fragile medical condition. 🙂 hahahaha
I completely reassured the counselor that I would not be doing so much fighting to get my life back, if I were thinking of ending it. That my life will end itself, when the time comes and I don’t need to help that along. 🙂 No, I fully intend on seeing this through. I will be SOOOOOOOOOOO settled in my life after this. THEN I will have that peace in my life I have been fighting for and to find before I die. I want to find it JUST ONCE. JUST ONCE I want my life to be all for me. All about just me. Just once.
Don’t let NO COUNSELOR tell you that what you have just come through IS YOUR OWN FAULT. WE WERE MANIPULATED. We were used by a criminal type person and these people do need to be stopped. For starters: take a stand. No contact. If there are physically violent issues: make local authorities aware. Even if they refuse to take a formal report from you. GO STRAIGHT TO THE PROSECUTORS OFFICE in your locale and DEMAND to speak with someone if you have been or are in any physical danger or risk. Do not underestimate a sociopath.
The sooner you can get them behind you, the better off you will be. The trick from now on is seeing them coming and deflecting them. THEY are the ones responsible and only them.
I am finished ‘understanding’ and NOW defending myself.
Don’t allow them to ‘toy’ with you anymore. Just take a stand. That is what defines us as individuals and the people we are.
Sure, it hurts; oh my goodness, I know how much it hurts…but they aren’t worth all that hurt. They just aren’t. We need to accept that. No matter how much we have loved them, that in itself was a lie.
Thanks, Constantine for the hugs. I hope you are doing alright.
Once again, happy to read you. Have a great weekend.
Love, always ~ Duped
BBE-thank you for your kindness! ♥ What a nice dream of your childhood dog! 🙂 I have that dream of a dog that wasn’t legally mine, but I loved him as mine. He belonged to a medical student who was gone a lot and he was so lonely. I related to him and spent many days with him outside his pen, petting him thru the wire and giving him licks off my popsicle. He figured out how to dig out, leave the pen and come to my home, where he spent his days and most nights, as the guy was gone long hours. He moved many miles away to a hospital north and took ‘my’ dog with him. Late one night..I heard a pound on the front door-scared us all!..it was ‘my’ dog-he had walked all the way back to me. He was dehydrated, with bleeding paws and collapsed in my arms! I nursed him back to health. The guy showed up and said he knew that dog would come back to me. My dad told him I loved him and he loved me and offered to buy him[my dad was a great, kind man] [dog was a show winning Boxer]. The guy refused and I never saw my bud again. But, I believe in heaven and I believe I will see him again-for what is heaven w/o our animal friends? ♡ HUGS to you BBE! We will see our friends again!
Duped: Yes, the P’s do show likeness, I agree with you!
The answer for me is: they choose to follow evil and I choose to follow God.
C.S. Lewis said: “Wickedness, when you examine it, turns out to be the pursuit of some good in the wrong way. You can be good for the mere sake of goodness: you cannot be bad for the mere sake of badness. You can do a kind action when you are not feeling kind and when it gives you no pleasure, simply because kindness is right; but no one ever did a cruel action simply because cruelty is wrong–only because cruelty was pleasant or useful to him. In other words badness cannot succeed even in being bad in the same way in which goodness is good. Goodness is, so to speak, itself: badness is only spoiled goodness…..Evil is a parasite, not an original thing.”
Yes, TB: They DO follow evilness. I believe it’s true.
Yes, following the “Light” is the only real answer. I agree with you, a thousand percent! Only the Angels have brought me this far. I am beholding for their Good Graces. xxoo
“….Evil is a parasite, not an original thing.”
All we can do is heal ourselves and forget the ugliness.
It is difficult. It is like losing a loved one, I know. But weigh it all out: all the right and good v. all the wrong and ugly. When you sort it out like that, you get a pretty good idea of what the answer is. Let me tell ya. 🙂
Why do they all ‘act’ alike and have some of the very samilar personalities? Don’t you find that ‘odd’ and a little off-centered? I mean, it’s almost like they are aliens sent here to devour us or something. 🙂 I just find it extraordinarily ‘odd’ that they all seem so similar. Almost as if they were ‘cloning’ themselves. (Just a thought). 🙂
The ol’ “HEAVE HO”! 🙂 <—MY solution to end this madness.
(((TB))) Have an awesome weekend. xxoo
Duped
;
Has anyone heard from LL?
;
Duped: your comment is so positive! I love it!!!!!! Cloning themselves….you do raise a good point and one I’ve really thought about! Have you ever read The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis? That’s a look into the world of demons and their MO. It’s fictional-but very applicable.
Thanks, Duped! ((((DUPED)))) Hope your weekend is super too! â¤
Constantine:
I would bet the guy is still with his wife. I agree…they very rarely do crash and burn as much as we want them to do so. They seem to ALWAYS come out ahead, on top. And I think that’s because they make sure of it! They will always do what is best for them so of course they will come out well.
I totally agree about marriage counseling and that it always tries to preserve the marriage instead of REALLY delving into the issues and making a decision in the best interest of everyone involved. Even though I am a Christian and divorce is supposed to be not allowed only in the case of infidelity, I am not against it and do not always think it is best for people to stay together. My X spath’s wife is a believer, but he is not. He told me that they had gone to counseling and as soon as he realized it was affiliated with the church, he walked out. I have no idea if they have gone to counseling since, but I can imagine that scenario…the therapist trying to keep the marriage together when they have no idea what this guy has done or is capable of doing. Believe me, he is so charming, the therapist would never recognize he is a spath. It’s so disheartening.
Hahahaha!! Thanks for agreeing with me about the b*tch at work, but I left there almost a year ago. It is coming up on a year in 10 days!! I got out of there…absolutely could not deal with it. Gave up a great job of 12 years! And he did NOT go on vacation with her. She asked him, but he didn’t go. And they are both married. I am so glad I will NEVER see her or talk to her again. This is a big enough city that I most likely will never see her again and even that is too soon for me. She is the MOST manipulative woman I ever came across in my entire life. Very cute and sexy and boy did she ever use it. It was sickening.
Thanks for your post…it helped me today!!!!! 🙂