A sociopath is someone who has a pervasive and persistent disregard for the rights and feelings of others. This disregard is manifested in the antisocial behavior sociopaths show. While we usually think of antisocial behavior as criminal, not all antisocial acts are illegal. A person who slips up once is not a sociopath. Sociopathy is a lifestyle.
Since humans are designed to live in society, a healthy personality has prosocial inclinations. Therefore, people who are pervasively antisocial are disordered in the sense that they are not the norm (thank God). Although antisocial behaviors are observable actions like lying, stealing and assault, there are personality traits that cause antisocial behavior. It should come as no surprise that people who have a sense of entitlement, over-rate their own greatness and have poor self-control are more likely to hurt others and show pervasive antisocial behavior.
The American Psychiatric Association has defined a group of personality disorders it calls “cluster B”. According to a recent paper* by German psychiatrist, Christian Huchzermeier, M.D., “ The cluster includes disturbances of personality that go hand in hand with emotional dysregulation phenomena, a tendency towards aggressive—impulsive loss of control, egoistic exploitation of interpersonal relationships, and a tendency to overestimate one’s own importance.”
The disorders of “cluster B” go together because what underlies them is a disturbance in three developmentally acquired abilities I have called The Inner Triangle. These abilities are:
Ability to Love
Impulse Control
Moral Reasoning
These abilities that a child gains during development are a triangle because the development of each depends on the other two. A child begins to acquire ability to love in the first year of life, impulse control begins in the second year of life. At two years of age there is already a link between ability to love and impulse control. Children with the best impulse control also are the most loving/empathetic. Moral reasoning begins in the third year of life and its development depends on a loving nature and impulse control. Similarly the most moral kids are also the most loving and self-controlled.
I think of the cluster B disorders as different manifestations of damage to the inner triangle. I think of sociopaths as individuals who completely lack ability to love and have impaired impulse control and moral reasoning.
Given the Inner Triangle, it should come as no surprise that it can be difficult to find people who have only one cluster B personality disorder. For that reason individuals with antisocial personality, narcissistic personality, borderline personality and histrionic personality often have symptoms of the other disorders. If someone gets a diagnosis of only one of these, it doesn’t mean that the person doesn’t also have one or all of the others. The person making the diagnosis simply thought that the one chosen best described the person. You should know there is a gender bias in diagnosis such that women are often labeled “borderline.” These women can also be sociopaths who leave a trail of victimized friends, lovers and children in their wakes.
A recent study reported in Behavioral Science and the Law, “The Relationship Between DSM-IV Cluster B Personality Disorders and Psychopathy According to Hare’s Criteria: Clarification and Resolution of Previous Contradictions” examines the relationship between psychopathic personality traits as defined by the screening version of the PCL and Cluster B personality disorders. The authors of this study were careful to examine people who had only one cluster B disorder. They found psychopathy to be associated with all cluster B disorders.
The authors conclude:
“One clinical implication of our results, nevertheless, is that in cases where a cluster B personality disorder is diagnosed a high psychopathy value is to be expected, especially where antisocial, borderline or narcissistic personality disorder is involved. The PCL score is a better predictor of subsequent events, such as problems during (criminal) custody or a relapse into delinquency, than a diagnosis of a DSM-IV personality disorder, especially in forensic populations; therefore, an additional investigation with the PCL should be carried out, if a cluster B personality disorder has been diagnosed.”
It is important for Lovefraud readers to be aware of this study especially if there is a divorce/custody proceeding or a cluster B personality disorder has been diagnosed. Many people might think that if the partner has been “diagnosed borderline” or “diagnosed narcissistic” that means the partner is not a psychopath/sociopath. This study suggests otherwise. IF YOU ARE INVOLVED WITH SOMEONE WHO HAS THESE YOU HAVE TO CONSIDER THEIR HARMFUL BEHAVIOR AS AN INDICATION OF PSYCHOPATHY/SOCIOPATHY. There are some people with cluster B, histrionic, borderline and narcissistic disorders who are not highly antisocial. But if the person is lying, cheating and manipulating, that is antisocial behavior. This behavior in the context of any cluster B means the person is potentially very dangerous. As the authors state:
“Screening for PCL-based psychopathy can also be important for general psychiatric patients with a DSM-IV personality disorder, so that potential difficulties in the course of their treatment can be anticipated and this comorbidity can be targeted in the planning of therapy. Patients with both a DSM-IV personality disorder and PCL-based psychopathy can exhibit behavior that is particularly dangerous to therapy (Stafford & Cornell, 2003).”
If you have been diagnosed with borderline personality and reading this frightens you, I am sorry. You can improve by working on your inner triangle. Talk to your therapist about DBT a treatment that is very effective in improving the state of the Inner Triangle in people who are motivated to do it.
*The reference for the paper discussed is Behav. Sci. Law 25: 901—911 (2007).
Categorical has more than a single meaning. My bad in misinterpreting what you wrote.
shut my mouth
There are plenty of other things to eat than meat, but saturated fat is an essential component of every cell in our bodies. Meat is also the most efficient means of getting b-12 and iron ( b12 supplements are often not efficiently absorbed by the body and as a result many vegans resort to regular b12 shots ) . Keep in mind many important vitamins are fat-soluble. Also, veganism does not work for everyone- meaning in fact, for many people, switching to a vegan diet has actually coincided with a deterioration in health. ( See Ex-Vegan interviews at http://letthemeatmeat.com – the author of the blog was a former vegan) … Also, there is a huge misconception in the vegan/veg community that somehow agriculture in itself is a benign construct ( that agriculture doesn’t harm animals, or the environment ) – even in agriculture as it is practiced today, soil is depleted and rendered useless and entire habitats are destroyed ( and with it the animals that reside within it ). I recommend to anyone whose interested in this topic to check out Lierre Keith’s book, The Vegetarian Myth- it’s important to see both sides of the argument.
http://www.amazon.com/Vegetarian-Myth-Food-Justice-Sustainability/dp/1604860804/ref=sr_1_1?ie=utf8mb4&qid=1313567461&sr=8-1
Just shedding light on the flip side as to provide a balance of views.
That said, I respect your personal choice in refraining from consuming animal products. Some people thrive on a vegan diet- some don’t ( and it’s not because they’re “doing it wrong”- it has to with their unique biology ). Further, the notion that a vegan diet ( not saying that you personally stand behind this notion ) from an environmental standpoint- bears a smaller impact on the environment is rooted in misunderstanding.
Oh my……
Some people thrive on a vegan diet- some don’t ( and it’s not because they’re “doing it wrong”- it has to with their unique biology ).
I disagree and, again, I am not here arguing for veganism and do not wish to discuss this further. However, I will agree with the below and say in closing…
Further, the notion that a vegan diet ( not saying that you personally stand behind this notion ) from an environmental standpoint- bears a smaller impact on the environment is rooted in misunderstanding.
There is no such thing as 100% vegan in today’s world. It is an impossibility and there is harm to animals and the environment from every single purchase of any product we make. Many vegans seem to think because it is vegan it must be environmentally sound/ animal friendly. That couldn’t be farther from the truth.
Again, my initial argument was that killing animals for FUN is a strong indicator on the scale of sociopathy. Why such the strong defense of anti-veganism and no-one mentions what I actually wrote about???
I’m not sure that the people who “club baby seals” are in it because they get “pleasure” out of what the do for a living or that that automatically means they are psychopaths. IT IS HARD NASTY WORK IN AN AREA WHERE THERE IS LITTLE OTHER CHOICES FOR WORK.
Frankly a sharp blow to the skull renders the animal unconscious immediately, and has been the main manner of killing for slaughter for thousands of years except for the Muslims and the Kosher killing which was done by cutting the animal’s throat, which if actually done correctly, the animal doesn’t even realize they have been “hurt” or injured as the sharp knife doesn’t “hurt”—like cutting yourself with a razor blade you may not realize you’ve been cut until you see the blood.
Captured bolt is the USDA mandated manner of stunning the animal before slaughter and is a long bolt that is “shot” out of a “gun like” machine and penetrates the brain, but is not like a bullet, separate from the gun. The bolt remains in one piece and is still attached to the gun.
People who are not accustomed to seeing animals killed for meat may be quite upset by watching the process, the same way some girls in my nursing class fainted when they saw the first abdominal operation and the person’s belly being opened.
I grew up with the community cooperative hog killings in the fall. It’s dirty work, and hard work, but it was and is survival. No one enjoyed killing anything, it was just another chore, and most folks prided themselves on shooting the animal or sticking the animal with the least amount of trauma to the animal.
Though there has been an idea that one way to spot a psychopath is that they almost always abused animals as a child, this has since been proven that not even the majority of psychopaths much less all abused animals. My psychopathic son was actually very careful to see that his pets and livestock were NOT abused. Yet, he has no problem killing a human.
There was a while when abusers were assumed to have BEEN abused as children, but even that has now been proven that most abused children do NOT themselves become abusers in adult hood, though some do.
There was a long period of time when babies were considered blank slates upon which environmental things wrote their life, so if they did not turn out to be upstanding citizens it was because of poor parenting. Parents were blamed for their kid’s mental illnesses which we NOW KNOW are almost all mostly genetically induced.
Studies with identical twins raised apart show that psychopathy is one of those things that has a HIGH LEVEL of genetic influence, but not 100%. I do wonder though, since it is not an “is or ain’t proposition,” just how high in P-traits the twins that are NOT rated as psychopathic have.
I talked to one of the researchers in prisons in New Mexico a while back and his research shows that the AVERAGE score of ALL inmates is 22, and of course the PCL-R criteria is 30 for being “diagnosed” as a psychopath, but anyone with a score of 22 is a BAD ACTOR for sure! That means that half of the inmates score 22 or above, and though the other half scores lower than 22, the majority of them are STILL way above the average score of 4-5 of the general population.
That might account for the fact that only about 40% of the inmates released on parole are not rearrested for another crime before their parole is over.
I don’t guess there is anyone on this blog who has RANTED more about cruelty to animals than I have….the USDA blockade of horse slaughter has led to so much SUFFERING of horses who are old, crazy, untrainable, or just unwanted, because now that leaves the only market for their meat in Mexico, and the horses must ride on a crowded stock car for hundreds or even thousands of miles to get to Mexico where they will be killed by being clubbed on the head instead of shot with a captured bolt gun, but I don’t even object to that, what I object to is the days and weeks of ABJECT FEAR these animals must endure to get there being crammed into cattle cars with other animals they don’t know, kicking and fighting for food and water….and all because some Senator and her backers thought that killing horses was “cruel” and that they are “pets”—not taking into consideration that they are also LIVESTOCK. Some cultures eat dog, snake or cat, and some horse (I’ve eaten horse when I was in Africa and it is quite good actually) so what is “livestock” and what is “pet” is simply a matter of culture not a mandate from nature.
While I am glad that whybother is happy with her choice of menus and her politically correct views of something that she is emotionally involved with on animal rights, I would like to point out that FINALLY the US SPCA is getting back on the band wagon to open up USDA slaughter of horses since it has become so obvious that there is SO MUCH SUFFERING that has been caused to LIVING ANIMALS because of the ban. While I realize that “no kill” pet shelters may be PC, the fact is that until there is less breeding of dogs and cats that have no value or use and that there are not homes for, it will be necessary to put down dogs and cats by the hundreds and thousands in this country because there is no way to feed and house the huge numbers of animals bred each year by unthinking and ignorant people. With the lack of rain in Texas and Kansas as well as Oklahoma and Arkansas and hay going for $60 or more per bale, I can see that there will be more and more horses suffering from lack of food and care, and going to Mexico to meet their ends this year than last (Last year was 57,000) and they’ll still end up being “burritos.” I’m done on my animal cruelty rant for this week.
Hey Oxy,
Yes, and let’s not forget the world’s most famous vegetarian and dog-lover: Adolf Hitler!
(In short, I agree with you, even if I’m a half-hearted vegetarian myself. But I have to confess, I’m not a fan of the seal clubbing business!)
whybother- I am merely responding to what you wrote. I am not sure why you feel justified in expressing your personal views here yet don’t welcome to same response from others. If you write something here, I am entitled to debate it ( as you are entitled not to participate in it ). I am also curious as to why you paint my position as “strong defense of anti-veganism”- I’m just shedding light on the other side of the coin.
whybother wrote
It’s not a matter of disagreement or agreement. Lierre Keith ( author of The Vegetarian Myth ) is just one example ( of many ) of someone who did not THRIVE on a vegan diet. She has an irreversible degenerative spinal condition as a direct result of her vegan diet ( which she maintained for more than 20 years. Yes- she supplemented religiously. ). Another example is the author of Voraciouseats.com ( formerly voraciousvegan.com ) who has documented her health problems associated with her vegan diet on her blog. To say that a vegan diet DOES work for everyone is to invalidate the health problems experienced by these individuals.
I am not trying to suade or dissuade anyone. I am merely presenting the facts as they are. As to why you are taking my words/arguments as hostile- I am clueless. I wasn’t posting the links I did just for you- they were for others too who may have been reading the blog.
Further- when I talk about environmental impact, i am talking about the impact of agriculture- not being 100% vegan. Veganism does not solve the issue. Agriculture ( ie including all the soybean crops that are needed to sustain a veg staple : tofu ) depletes habitats- while at the same time killing off the animals to whom those habitats are homes. Veganism doesn’t have any less of a “carbon footprint” than an omnivorous diet. That is the premise of Lierre Keith’s book, “The Vegetarian Myth”. Abstaining from eating animal products only fulfills a personal ideology- perhaps it absolves one of personal guilt, or fulfills one’s personal worldview in not consuming any parts of an animal ( so it doesn’t weigh on the conscience ) but simply abstaining does not leave any less of an environmental footprint than a diet that includes meat.
Actually constantine and Dancing,
The cow, the goat, the sheep, and the camel as well as donkeys and horses, actually furnish food by converting grass into protein that otherwise would not be available to the human population. Where it becomes “expensive” in terms of a carbon foot print is in the grain feeding of these herbivores instead of consuming the grain directly by humans. For each pound of meat produced by grain feeding it requires anywhere from 1.4 to 3.5 pounds of grain, where grass-only feeding produces the meat more slowly but at a more cost-effective way. There is a developing market for “grass fed” meats and “free range” meats and poultry….which is why I was getting $22-30 a pound for my steaks and $10-14 a pound for hamburger that I sold. In Grass-fed, the meat has more omegas and the fat has less “saturated” fat and more of the healthy fats that don’t stop up your blood vessels. Besides the fact that my animals were and are raised low stress in family friendly groups…and slaughtered in USDA plants that do not use hot shots etc. on the cattle—family run operations, not corporate run. I actually went with my cattle to calm them when they went to the facility so they would not be afraid. Now that I no longer sell meat to others, I do my own killing and processing and if there’s any “dirt” on my meat I know where it came from. I have NO guilt about how my animals live or die, and the only time I have any “satisfaction” in killing one is if it is one that is a kicker or aggressive, as I have culled my herd for 20+ years for disposition and aggression is a sure trip to the freezer for even a mama cow, which is why my cattle are so docile. I round’em up with a loaf of bread! Even in cattle a “wild” one will have wilder calves, and aggression is not only sex-linked with bulls being more aggressive than cows or steers, but is also either parent to calf…but they also watch how the other cattle respond and go along with them. A baby calf (a new one) will watch how mom reacts when you walk up to her and if she runs, he will, if she doesn’t run and doesn’t seem afraid, the calf will usually come up and sniff you.
The genetic component to temperament seems to hold true for lots of things—dogs, with some breeds having a “reputation” for being more aggressive than others, etc. and even with breeds of cattle, the Famed Spanish fighting bulls for example. Even rodeo stock now is “bred” and they keep records for these animals and register them though they are not “pedigree” anything else except rodeo bucking stock. I know the guy who started the breeding of bucking stock and the registry for them. They are selected for their bucking tendencies….just like milk cows are selected for milk production….but because milk cows are also closely handled, generally the REALLY wild ones are shipped on down the road if they are TOO AGGRESSIVE so they are secondarily selected for anti-aggression as well, where as beef cattle are selected for speed of gain of their calves, but are not handled much so the wilder ones are not selected out of most beef breeds.
Dr. Leedom said in a post here a year or two ago that some study had shown that 25% of the kids in the public housing in England were fathered by psychopaths. I’m not sure where she got this statistic but I don’t doubt it at all. I read a London paper most days on the internet and the things I read about “public housing” and “welfare” in general in the UK and the recent riots and looting make me think that our social welfare is subsidizing the young to produce more babies than they might otherwise do, and with the culture of casual “hooking up” and having children out of wedlock, I would think this actually would SELECT FOR rather than against the parents who are not stable or motivated enough to work and provide for those children. That may not be PC to say so, but no one ever said I was all that PC. LOL
We know that young (and even older) Psychopathic guys have lots of hook ups and many sexual partners so this is selecting FOR the psychopathic gene by giving them more chances to produce offspring. I knew one P guy who had 6 kids by the itme he was 30 and had two women preg at the same time one wiht twins. Every time he got out of prison he got 2-3 women preg/.
Woody Harrelson’s father, Charles, who was a serial killer for hire and a psychopath “delux version,” had 8 wives even though he spent most of his life in prison, and he abandoned woody and his brothers for his mother to raise. Don’t know about the other kids, but I think Woody is a pretty insightful man though he is a dead ringer for his P father when the man was younger.