Psychopath – traits of a psychopathic personality. How to recognize them?

Proven content

The term psychopath comes from the Greek words “psyche”, meaning “soul”, and “pathos”, which can be translated as suffering (hence the term “pathology” for some kind of disorder). A psychopath is therefore a person with a “disturbed soul”, or rather a disturbed way of thinking and feeling.

Characteristic features of a psychopath

Psychopath is a person with some kind of dysfunction, or rather cognitive and emotional dysfunctions. In psychiatry there is no disease entity called «psychopatia«, However, textbooks of psychiatry and psychology distinguish a certain set of features attributed to people commonly called psychopaths.

It is worth emphasizing that psychopath he should not be confused with a sociopath, as is often the case in popular discourse. Psychopath it does not have to be a unit at all antisocialas is the case with sociopaths who are averse to social norms and people as such. On the contrary – psychopath he is often a unit high up socialized, having a large group of friends, even charming and attracting people. It does psychopaths particularly dangerous – it is often difficult for a long time to realize that we are dealing with someone with disturbed emotions and pathological thinking.

Fortunately, there are several tests designed for diagnostic purposes by psychologists, such as the R. Hare Psychopathic Tendency Scale, the Psychopathic Personality Inventory, and the Comprehensive Psychopathic Personality Assessment scale to detect these abnormalities.

Personality traits characteristic for psychopathy have:

1. not taking into account other people’s feelings, i.e. lack of empathy,
2. disregard of authorities, norms and social rules, including legal norms,
3. increased tendency to lie and deliberately mislead others,
4. highly developed ability to manipulate people for own benefit,
5. high threshold of feeling anxiety and fear – psychopaths seem fearless, not because they control fear, but because they don’t know what fear is, they don’t feel it,
6. no sense of responsibility for one’s own (immoral) behavior,
7. tendency to blame other people for any failure (they never feel guilty themselves),
8. a strong belief in one’s own uniqueness, supported or not by real achievements,
9. low threshold for feeling frustrated; the psychopath quickly becomes angry and behaves aggressively if he believes that someone or something is standing in the way of achieving the goal he has set for himself,
10. tremendous ease and ability to justify one’s own behavior, especially those morally suspicious; The psychopath is a master of giving rational explanations as to why he has acted extremely mean (of course, mean to others, because he never views his behavior that way).

Are you dealing with a person with the characteristics of a psychopath? Seek support and talk to a psychologist or psychiatrist. You can use the e-Visit option, thanks to which you can talk to a specialist in an intimate way as you like: via video, chat or phone, without leaving your home.

Where do psychopaths come from?

It is unclear what nervous system dysfunctions contribute to personality development psychopathic. Most psychologists tend to suppose that parental mistakes and difficult childhood experiences, such as being a victim of sexual harassment, are responsible for the development of this disorder. However, it seems to be at least for some psychopaths there is no clear cause for their dysfunction and lack of empathy – perhaps they were just born that way. According to one of the psychological theories psychopath it’s a kind of parasite that preys on other people and takes advantage of their weakness. The development of personality traits psychopathic it is explained evolutionarily as a way of adapting to changing environmental conditions and increasing the chances of survival – at the expense of other people.

Can a psychopath be cured?

Personality Disorder called psychopathy it is very difficult to heal or modify through psychotherapy – mainly due to the fact that psychopath he sees no reason to undergo treatment. In his opinion, the problem is with others, never with himself. However, if he or she agrees to therapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy, showing other people’s point of view and feeling (not only one’s own – psychopathic), will work best.

The interesting thing is that, according to some studies, personality traits psychopathic predispose to occupying high positions: leadership, managerial and managerial.

If you want to reduce oxidative stress, you can choose to supplement with selenium as an antioxidant.