Scientific research

The common wisdom in the mental health field is that sociopaths "burn out" in middle age. If only it were true. According to Lovefraud's research, after age 50, the behavior of sociopaths is just as bad — or worse. In Lovefraud's online survey, 2,120 romantic partners, family members, friends and associates of suspected sociopaths answered questions about their experiences. Here were the key questions of the survey: Did you know the individual both before age 50 and after age 50? A total of 1,276 people answered the question, and 65% said yes, they did know the individual before and after age 50. Did the individual "mellow out" or "burn out" after age 50? Did the individual …

Sociopaths get worse after age 50, say 91% of Lovefraud survey respondentsRead More

University of Windsor researchers still in need of participants to complete online survey about experiences in relationships with psychopaths Researchers are interested in hearing about your experiences with suspected psychopaths. Use the link below to complete a screening questionnaire to determine if you are eligible to participate in the study: Screening questionnaire For this screening questionnaire, you will be asked about a specific time when someone you suspect is a psychopath made you question your memory for a past event. This may have been because they told you that your memory was incorrect, that the events did not happen, or that other people have doubts about your …

Did a suspected psychopath make you question your memory of a past event?Read More

Is the disordered person in your life antisocial, narcissistic, borderline, psychopathic — or perhaps even Machiavellian or a sadist? You may have struggled to figure out which definition applies, perhaps reasoning that a narcissist isn't as bad as a psychopath. In reality, all of these disorders are bad news — people who have them engage in similar destructive behavior. Now, research from Europe shows that all of these disorders share a common denominator. In a paper called The Dark Core of Personality, Ingo Zettler, a psychology professor at the University of Copenhagen, and two German colleagues, define the "D-factor" at the dark core. They write: All dark traits can be traced back …

‘Dark core of personality’ — what antisocials, psychopaths, sadists and other miscreants have in commonRead More

Editor's note: Please welcome a new contributor to Lovefraud.com — Eleanor Cowan, author of "A History of a Pedophile's Wife."  Born in 1948, the same year women first voted in Quebec, she began her life odyssey with a lovely home, good food, some affection, and soon, the company of nine siblings. These are the details she relied upon, not the nights of sexual abuse, the constant criticism of her mother, nor the religious oppression in her strict family. With the alcoholism of her mother and the chronic absence of her Dad, life slid downhill fast. She became a devout Catholic, an anxious people pleaser  — and a complete stranger to herself. Three drug-rapes into her 20's, she decided to …

From Moon to Earth — recognizing that my experience was actually abuseRead More

There's a rumor floating around in mental health circles that sociopaths "burn out" with age, that they engage in less antisocial behavior as they get older. Is this true? Lovefraud wants to find out. So we've developed a survey to gather data from you. Were you involved with a sociopath while he or she was over age 50? The individual could have been any of the following: Your spouse or ex-spouse Your romantic partner Your parent Your stepparent Your child Your stepchild Your sibling Another family member A work colleague A business associate A friend, neighbor or acquaintance If you are familiar with how this individual behaved while over the age of 50, please …

Senior Sociopath survey closing soonRead More

When Samantha was six years old, she tried to choke her two-year-old sister as they sat in the back seat of their mother's car. After mom separated them, Samantha said she wanted to kill everyone in the family. The anecdote starts an article in the June issue of The Atlantic, When Your Child Is a Psychopath. The author, Barbara Bradley Hagerty, writes that Samantha was diagnosed with conduct disorder with callous and unemotional traits. She has the traits of a budding psychopath. Hagerty spoke to many of the leading experts on psychopathy and how it develops for this article. It's a good explanation of the state of the science. The article also describes a treatment program for …

The Atlantic publishes: ‘When Your Child Is a Psychopath’Read More