This semester I taught both Forensic Psychology and Abnormal Psychology at the University of Bridgeport. The students there are an ethnically diverse group and I think are fairly representative of America’s young adult population. In both classes we discussed those individuals who have a “a pervasive pattern of disregard for and violation of the rights of others.” I wrote antisocial personality disorder, sociopathy and psychopathy on the blackboard before we began our discussion. I then asked the students if they had heard of these terms and if they could tell me the definitions.
Only a small percentage had heard the term antisocial personality disorder, nearly everyone had heard the word sociopath, about a third had heard the word psychopath.
The next question to the students was, “What do all these terms mean?” Someone asked if antisocial personality referred to a person that didn’t like to be around others. Someone else said that psychopaths are “out of touch with reality, psychotic.” Most who heard the word sociopath associated it with criminality.
The students were shocked to discover that all three terms basically refer to the same disorder.
That same week, I spoke with an internet search expert. He told me that the term antisocial personality disorder is searched through Google about 5,000 times per day. The term psychopath is searched 60,000 times per day and the term sociopath is searched 110,000 times per day. These numbers are consistent with my survey of university students. My findings indicate that the American Psychiatric Association has done the public a great disservice with their boggled naming of the disorder.
An interesting historical fact is that this disorder used to be called “moral insanity.” Insanity is a legal term that indicates that due to mental defect a person is not responsible for his/her actions. Although many people believe that the morally insane have a mental (brain)defect there is considerable resistance to saying this absolves them of responsibility for their criminal acts.
This week we discussed the case of John W. Hinckley, Jr. the man who shot President Reagan and Mr. Brady, he was found not guilty by reason of insanity and committed to a mental hospital. A psychiatrist for the prosecution, Dietz testified that Hinckley viewed his actions on March 30 as successful. “It worked,” Hinckley told Dietz in an interview. “You know, actually, I accomplished everything I was going for there. Actually, I should feel good because I accomplished everything on a grand scale….I didn’t get any big thrill out of killing–I mean shooting–him. I did it for her sake….The movie isn’t over yet.” In short, Deitz saw Hinckley as a sociopath who was grandiose and trying to impress Jody Foster with his actions, though I believe he actually diagnosed him with borderline personality.
I reflected to the class that it seems that individuals like Hinckley and Dahmer (the serial killer) should be considered special cases of sociopathy and not lumped with the rest. There are sociopaths who are so grandiose and obsessed with power that they seem to lose touch with reality. Not that they are schizophrenic and have delusions or hallucinations, but their interpretations of the world cannot be construed as “normal.”
This is actually where the term “borderline” came from, as is used today to refer to “borderline personality.” The borderline is some point between neurotic and psychotic-borderline psychotic actually. So perhaps we could consider psychopaths those sociopaths who are so afflicted that their thinking and behavior indicate they have lost their grip on reality. Some psychiatrists do think of psychopaths as the worst sociopaths.
Should those with moral insanity who commit crimes be treated differently than others? Should John Hinckley be released now that he has been judged not psychotic? These are questions for another week.
See also:
https://lovefraud.com/blog/2006/07/30/confusion-about-sociopaths-pyschopaths-and-antisocials/
If you have a personal example of a sociopath’s “loose grip on reality” please share it with us in a comment.
Using radiowaves to effect changes in cancer cells does not mean we are “energy”.
BloggerT7165: Sigh …
BloggerT7165: Was it you that I asked to list who are known psychopaths? Or was it someone else?
It may have been Elizabeth Conley that I asked … I don’t know … DRS must be setting in (LOL).
Peace.
This seems as good a topic as any to wade in tonight to say…
I just read “Women Who Love Psychopaths.” And thank you, thank you, thank you to Sandra Brown and Dr. Leedom for this book.
Your obvious compassion for the victims gives us a little reed to cling to as the rest of the world goes rushing by, judging and condemning us without really knowing what it is like to be the target of one of these people.
I’m sure I will be re-reading this book many times over in the future, but for now, just a huge heartfelt thanks for writing it.
Wini: .. 🙂 Sorry Wini if I am not getting what you are trying to convey. My favorite free movie talks about energy and when people make a claim about it. (http://herebedragonsmovie.com/) if you are not meaning it in that way than I am just misreading what you are saying.
I don’t think it was me Wini but its been a hectic week for me. Kidney stones and our dog of 13 years just died last night so my mind has been distracted a tad. If you did ask me I apologize for not seeing it.
BloggerT7165: I have to review the site you are listing and get back to you. I can’t answer your questions right now, because I haven’t read anything you are talking about right now.
List known psychopaths that we all know. Do the mental health professionals agree with the known psychos versus sociopaths?
Peace.
BloggerT7165: I’m sorry to hear about your dog. I’ve had so many deaths of my pets over the last year and 1/2 … they were all over 15-17 years old. I only have one old timer left … they were with me when I bought my house … so it’s pretty sad situation … since they are part of the family.
Peace.
BloggerT7165: For the future, if you just type in the URL without the parenthesis surrounding it … then we can just double click on the link and go right into the site.
No matter where you type a working URL on your computer, whether on-line or in a document, you’ll see it highlighted, which tells you that it’s an active account.
Peace.
Do the mental health professionals agree with the known psychos versus sociopaths? – well seeing as there is no diagnosis of sociopath or psychopath in the DSM…And researchers have various thoughts on the matter. Donna listed them on the main page under the psychopath/sociopath listing. So there is still research going on and no answer yet.
As for listing known ones that we all know that would be difficult without knowing all the details and the media rarely provides decent information. Plus the media tends to only show the most sensational cases such as serial killers, serial rapists. They rarely show the con artists, the bigamists, and other cases like that. I have one on my site that talks about someone who appears to have many qualities of a psychopath and may be a psychopath or a sociopath.
http://whataboutwhenmomistheabuser.blogspot.com/2008/10/look-at-female-psychopath.html
That case is interesting because it seems that the mother may have been a psychopath and the son a sociopath due to his mothers influence. They also may not be.
And thank you for your words on the dog. You are right she was very much part of the family and it felt like losing a loved one. It feels weird today not having her here.