How to recognize and recover from everyday sociopaths - narcissists

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Political correctness and vulnerability to sociopaths

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Mark Cuban, tech entrepreneur, star of the TV show Shark Tank, and owner of the Dallas Mavericks pro basketball team, sparked a firestorm on Twitter last week when he admitted to being a bigot. The firestorm was based on the sound bite: I know I'm prejudiced. I know I'm bigoted, in a lot of different ways. If I see a black kid in a hoodie on the same side of the street, I'm probably going to walk to the other side of the street. Some of those who lambasted Cuban ignored the continuation of his statement: If I see a white guy with a shaved head and lots of tattoos, I'm going back to the other side of the street. If I see anybody that looks threatening, chances are there's part …

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The Sociopath and His Dog

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I'll start by saying that the "his" in my title comes from the fact that this story is about my sociopathic male ex. That being said, I'm sure many of you can think of women who fit this unique description of an "animal lover." So let's begin. My ex loves to tell people how much he loves dogs. He'll also say he loves horses and sheep and cows and chickens and all other sorts of farm and wild animals, but dogs are tops. And there's something really unique about the way a sociopath "loves" a vulnerable creature. It's confusing, wonderful, horrifying, and most often blindsiding. Sometimes, it's even used to shame others. Like me. You see, a couple years ago, I had a little Frenchie-bulldog …

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Abuse in Britain’s boarding schools: One man’s personal perspective

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Writer Alex Renton returned to his alma mater, Ashdown House, to help him write this report on the generations of boys sexually abused in Britain's boarding schools. Reporting on his own experiences at the  boarding school attended by some of Britain's most powerful men, he talks about the existence now of a thriving area for counselors and therapists called Boarding School Syndrome — a private "survivors' group" only those with money seem to know about. Renton writes, “psychiatrists I have spoken to agree that, yes, while sexual and physical abuse is the headline grabber (and what makes criminal cases), real damage is done to children and adults by long-term psychological abuse. A child …

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Lovefraud con man William Allen Jordan – AKA Liam Allen – busted by his latest victim in New Jersey

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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 …

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Q & A With Forensic Psychiatrist Dr. Park Dietz

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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 …

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Gary J. Aronson treats widow like gold – with money acquired by stealing her identity

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By Donna Andersen Lisa and Joe Sorrentino were happily married for 25 years. They worked together every day in Joe's hair salon in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. They enjoyed their family.  But life changed in October 2008, when Joe was diagnosed with lung cancer. Lisa Sorrentino had been working part time in the business, but as Joe weakened, she put in more hours and covered more of his clients. Joe died in October 2009, and Sorrentino was heartbroken to lose her husband and best friend. But she didn't have time to slow down and grieve, because now the salon was hers, and she was working 65 hours a week. One of her clients was Gary Aronson. Her husband had been cutting his hair since …

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Six statements that do not describe psychopaths

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The Society for the Scientific Study of Psychopathy says  "a constellation of traits” defines the psychopath.  The  Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) measures 20 personality traits and behaviors to determine a person's level of psychopathy. But some common ideas about psychopaths are wrong, says Dean A. Haycock, author of Murderous Minds: Exploring the Criminal Psychopathic Brain: Neurological Imaging and the Manifestation of Evil. He suggests six common misconceptions about psychopaths, the first being that all psychopaths are insane. Because psychopaths know the difference between right and wrong, legally, they are not insane. The other five misconceptions are that all mass …

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Are Your Cell Phone Communications Safe?

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By Brad Robinson, Private Investigator We are often asked by our clients who are in the midst of a messy divorce, a contentious child custody battle or a serious stalker situation, "Can he/she be intercepting my cellphone communications?" In almost all cases, the short answer is, "Yes." Cell phone “spyware” Today, it's not just those 3-letter spy agencies who may be listening in to our most private exchanges. Surprisingly sophisticated and inexpensive cellphone "spyware" can be found and purchased online by anyone. The better versions enable an unauthorized eavesdropper to remotely capture copies of your call log, address book, text messages, photos and more (bank account PIN, anyone?). I …

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Guilt, shame and committing crime

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A recent study in the journal Psychological Science suggests that the degree to which inmates express guilt or shame may indicate how likely they are to re-offend. The researchers, June Tangney, Jeffrey Stuewig and Andres Martinez of George Mason University, associated guilt with experiences of tension, remorse and regret. They defined shame as painful feelings directed towards the self. But the researchers also said that when some people experience shame, they become defensive, deny responsibility and blame others. The study showed that inmates who felt shame, but were also defensive and blamed others, were more likely to go back to crime than those who felt guilt. Here's more …

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LETTER TO LOVEFRAUD: He loves, he proposes, he gets money, he abandons

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Editor's Note: This Letter to Lovefraud was submitted by a reader from Italy whom we'll call "Alessia." It all started a year and a half ago when I went through a huge crisis with my life that led me to make a decision to simply leave everything and go out of my country (Italy) on a long luxury vacation of four months. Knowing my destination from a past visit, and based on past decision to make this destination my second home, part of my plan was to buy a house on the beach in this four-month period. Arriving to my destination I didn't waste a second. I made a contact to real estate agency and asked to view some houses. Searching for real estate They sent me a 70+ year old real estate …

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