In the 2004 movie Taking Lives, Angelina Jolie stars as an FBI profiler sent to Quebec, Canada to help solve a grisly murder. Shortly after she arrives there’s another murder—and a suspect.
Jolie interviews the suspect. Afterwards, she says to the Canadian investigators, “Psychopaths actually have very different brain patterns. You say words like tree, sofa, house, rape, incest, murder. A normal person’s brain pattern changes; the frontal lobe reacts. Psychopaths have no reaction. They feel the same about rape and murder as they do about eating dinner. They have no emotional reaction.”
Jolie’s character is right. Everything she says has been validated by scientific research.
As the movie continues, we learn that the murders are part of a pattern, and there’s a serial killer on the loose. A psychopathic serial killer.
Movies such as Taking Lives contribute to the public’s perception that psychopaths are depraved serial killers. Although many serial killers are indeed psychopaths, the vast majority of psychopaths never murder anyone. Psychopaths lie, cheat, steal, defraud and abuse—totally without remorse. But they usually don’t kill.
As Dr. Robert Hare, the international expert on psychopaths, says in his book Without Conscience, “Serial killers are extremely rare; there are probably fewer than 100 in North America. In contrast, there may be as many as 2 to 3 million psychopaths in North America.”
But the imagery is powerful. In the 1991 movie, The Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal Lecter, played by Anthony Hopkins, is a brilliant psychiatrist—and a serial killer who practices cannibalism on his victims.
Lecter is housed in a hospital for the criminally insane. “Oh, he is a monster,” says the hospital administrator. “A pure psychopath. So rare to capture one alive.”
And then there’s the classic Alfred Hitchcock film, Psycho. Despite the title of the 1960 film, the disturbed individual who murders Janet Leigh while she showers isn’t even a psychopath.
Due in part to movies like these, you may associate the term “psychopath” with individuals who are deranged, disturbed murderers. Consequently, you may not realize that you have a psychopath in your life—and it’s your spouse, boss or lawyer.
That’s why Lovefraud has chosen to use the term “sociopath” instead of “psychopath.” The goal is to help you get past the serial killer mentality and identify the character disorder as it usually occurs. When you know what you are dealing with, you can protect yourself.
You’re right-hollywood sensationilizes these crazy psycos-but in reality they are rare.
I know personally of two individuals who lie, cheat and steal from their spouse and family with no remorse and the victims just accept this , I guess in the hopes they will change or they can be changed. But I haven,t seen any improvements. It takes extraordinary steps and pain to leave these sociopathic people when they are family, but it seems the only way.
Yup movie psychos make them look like they stick out. The movie “American Psycho” reminded me of a guy I dated in college…. I was always waiting, years later, to hear he committed murder. Everyone thought he was such a nice guy. Ha!! you can’t tell by looks. Just look at that creep Ed Hicks!
After the Peterson trial I heard from many women who thought “he was so cute, Laci must have been a b*tch, he looked like such a nice guy” etc etc etc. I have compared him to many sociopaths who seduce women (sex addict types) both online & in real life. When people say “oh but Peterson was different – he killed someone” I say “yes, and he only killed one person – and look at how many hearts, souls and wallets he destroyed before he did that one murder.”
Physical “killing” is not the only kind of murder these sociopaths commit. Just as domestic violence doesn’t have to be physical.
great great site & blog!!
Bravo to you Donna for this blog and for lovefraud.com. I wish your website had been online when I first met my soon-to-be-ex sociopath bigamist, for if it had, I certainly would have recognized the red flags immediately.
I saw Taking Lives, and the statement straight from Hare’s work regarding the brain patterns and the lack of an emotional response is sociopaths. But the portrayal of all psychopaths as extreme serial killers distorts the facts.
One thing I have observed recently is that when a sociopath is backed into a corner, their mask pulled away, their image marred, and their world begins to crumble around them…they do act violently and abusively towards their target, albeit they may not kill, they are still very dangerous creatures.
Until we as a society start educating ourselves about these destructive sociopaths, more and more of them will rip through the innocent lives of their targets like a tornado destroying everything in its path.
I will admit that up until four years ago, I did not know much about the behavior of a sociopath. Like so many others, I only heard the word on the news or in movies when someone was describing a serial killer like Ted Bundy.
I was horrified when I learned how many people are impacted by the behavior of sociopaths everyday. So much of the behavior is incomprehensible to a person who has a conscience. I have spent the last four years sharing what I have learned about the personality disorder and I share my own experience in the hopes that I can spare others from going through the pain. I’m lucky that my marriage ended in divorce and that I have another opportunity to find true love.
I hope that as more of us speak out and share our experiences, others will begin to see the magnitude of the problem and understand that anyone could be a target.
My ex is a well respected & well liked paramedic, he had worked for our company for 9 years, and is ‘the type’ of guy older women would want to set up with their daughters. When we started dating, all those older women, we’re ‘so happy’ for me that I was seeing “such a nice guy”. Nice was the word most often used to describe him. A year and a half later, when I caught him cheating, the ever present Dr. Jeckell turned into a Mr. Hyde more evil than anyone I had ever known. Now that the truth is known about him, many of those older women, see him for what he is, but strangly many women our age (30’s/40’s) think “oh he just cheated/ so what he’s a player” As if I’m overreacting, and many find it hard to believe he ‘really’ could have done all the evil things I’ve said he’s done. I believe this misconception about psychopaths/sociopaths is the reason why. I have told these women about socialized/ subcriminal psychopaths, and suggested they read Without Conscience and Sociopath Next Door. Hopefully some do and hopefully they will then see it. Until then, to many.. I’m the one who looks like the psycho for daring to suggest it.
I do agree that Hollywood “sensationalizes” the sociopath, so that most of us think of SPATHs as killers, for example, from the Lifetime Movie Network. I, too, knew little-to-nothing about SPATHs before reading on the net, about people with BPD and D.I.D., and other than that, only from the films I saw. Still, I can point to two films, “Dirt Digger” (British film that I wish I could order a copy & haven’t been able to find out how to yet) and “Lilith” (I got a copy & am going to share it with my therapist), where, if you combined each sociopath, from each movie, they would exemplify my ex perfectly, even though he hasn’t “murdered” anyone (YET..unless you count stressing his first wife into aborting their child)
Until the “professionals” can get it together and come up with a UNIFORM NAME and list of TRAITS for this condition— how on earth do we expect the PUBLIC to be able to know what the heck a Psychopath/sociopath/anti-social personality disorder/psycho/monster etc. is?
FRUSTRATING!!!!
two things:
Hollywood still glamorizes being a “psycho” just like anything else. until it’s not somehow sexy…
i do recall being creeped out when i found myself watching my ex’s personality traits though: American Psycho, The Talented Mr. Ripley, and i think expertly done really: the bad ATF agent ex-boyfriend in Sons of Anarchy!
AND:
when i first heard my ex was “antisocial” (from his own mouth nonetheless) i laughed that his juvie doctors had it all wrong, he was the most “social” person i knew!
that was around month 2? of our relationship and it took me a couple days to look it up, but i remember freezing at my computer desk.
BUT.
i never said a word to him about it. not then. not now. now being 3 1/2 years later, and all i wanted to scream was “i know what you are!” i mean he TOLD me.
the insanity of it all.
i was smart enough to know, foolish enough to not believe.
this is also where implementing solid spath teaching in High School could come in crucial…
…teach young people not to believe Hollywood love… which is full of damn spaths anyways!!!
antisocial – that word confuses me – my x was very social – never met a stranger – was so charming and coniving – on the other hand I am more reserved, kinda shy, I sometimes avoid social events because I feel inadequate or uncomfortable – so anti social fit’s me more than him .oh my brain hurts..
Hens, the way the PROFESSIONALS use the word “social” doesn’t mean what it means to us hill billy hicks. They use it to mean in terms of “Anti-social” that he goes against society, not that he is a HERMIT. That is part of what is confusing between “professional” diagnoses and uses of words and common useages.
Anti-social to US means doesn’t like to be around others, like a hermit, but to them it is a different meaning.
Part of the “confusion” is that they use words differently than we do.
It also becomes confusing to judges, juries and cops etc. and “psychotic” means out of touch with reality, or what we would call “crazy.”It is not a short for psycho-path.