ON PSYCHOPATHY
A post about some article at a tabloid
I couldn't believe myself buying a tabloid with a headline: CANNIBAL EATS TEENER'S HEART, LIVER. And to actually think that this is another one of my psychoanalytic games that i like to play. I have, and my friends know, quite an addiction towards psychology especially in the realms of psychoanalysis. I wanted to master the art of knowing a person at a glance. Or by just looking into his room, his stuff, his behavior i could know his pattern, his psychopathology, his reaction to stresors. i may sound weird but i am actually enjoying deducing and exploring a persons behavior and try to see if there is something wrong with his structure. And if there could be, how will i approach such person: in a jovial, edgy way; maybe in a realistic way; or in a more sensitive and caring way. It maybe too pretentious, and can be a lot insensitive of me, but actually this is what most people do when they meet first hand, they adjust to the personality of that person.
Now, how can this be so important not only to me?
Take a look at this article.
From People's Journal Tonigt Vol XXVII, No. 282
Tuesday, August 5, 2008, HEADLINE NEWS.
Continuation of the cannibal article.
You see, there is this unpredictable nature of the human mind. But along this random thoughts and actions, there is always a pattern. Why? because we are rational beings, we are capable of higher learning and cognition, thus can be predictable technically. Taking this incidence for example, the suspect, Rommel Jandoc, clearly exhibits a psychological construct called PSYCHOPATHY. Psychopathy is a syndrome, a phenomenon of a human mind that can be diagnosed by the presence of an ANTI-SOCIAL DISORDER or a DISSOCIATIVE IDENTITY DISORDER. this is not the only signs of psychopathy, it has long list of candidate diagnosis which can further lead to a structure which is called HARE PSYCHOPATHY CHECKLIST (from wikipedia, the most credible(irony) source of all) :
Factor1: "Aggressive narcissism"
- Glibness/superficial charm
- Grandiose sense of self-worth
- Pathological lying
- Cunning/manipulative
- Lack of remorse or guilt
- Shallow affect
- Callous/lack of empathy
- Failure to accept responsibility for own actions
- Promiscuous sexual behavior
Factor2: "Socially deviant lifestyle"
- Need for stimulation/proneness to boredom
- Parasitic lifestyle
- Poor behavioral control
- Lack of realistic, long-term goals
- Impulsivity
- Irresponsibility
- Juvenile delinquency
- Early behavior problems
- Many short-term marital relationships
- Revocation of conditional release
Traits not correlated with either factor
- Many short-term marital relationships
- Criminal versatility
However, the American Psychiatric Association noted that PSYCHOPATHY is obsoletely synonymous with antisocial personality disorder. The WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION also notes the same thing and provides another list of symptoms which classifies Psychopathy as a dissocial personality disorder:
Specifically, the dissocial personality disorder is described by the World Health Organization by the following criteria:
- Callous unconcern for the feelings of others and lack of the capacity for empathy.
- Gross and persistent attitude of irresponsibility and disregard for social norms, rules, and obligations.
- Incapacity to maintain enduring relationships.
- Very low tolerance to frustration and a low threshold for discharge of aggression, including violence.
- Incapacity to experience guilt and to profit from experience, particularly punishment.
- Marked proneness to blame others or to offer plausible rationalizations for the behavior bringing the subject into conflict.
- Persistent irritability.
See here, there are many types of describing a person with a psychopathic personality disorder. But then what if there is a more general, deductive method for knowing such personality disorder? the one that can encompass not just the possible disorders related to it but to other disorders like mood disorders(depression, manic-depressive) and psychoses (Schizophrenia)?
What could be the proper scheme to generate a psychological profile with just the evidence given?
This crosses us to the boundaries of an even grander body of knowledge: FORENSIC SCIENCE. This is where psychology meets reality took place. All of what i am saying can be applied to this field.
Forensics psychology largely deal with behavior. As we know behavior is prompted by our actions alone, and to other people. This is an spontaneous process, and involves always a hidden motive or driving force to do so even the subconscious. behavior sculpts our personality, because it sums all our actions both subconscious and the conscious. Sometimes brain processes can lead to a very different, and usually deviating interpretations of our personality thus leading us to different states of personality disorders. This certain phenomenon is long term and cannot be caused by terminal or non-permanent origins like drugs, thought it can part of his obsessional thought. Personality disorders are encrypted since childhood, and due to certain extreme stresors (like witnessing the death and murder of family) during the developmental age of a person, can lead to tweaking the brain function (as if it was rewired and connected to a different socket). THis can lead to catastrophic change in the lifestyle and subconscious thinking of the person or child. wATCH this trailer of one of my favorite psychopath movies: HANNIBAL RISING.
If we could instantly track or pinpoint the behavior of person by just looking at him and note their tendency towards such disorder, we can prevent the possibility of what happened to that girl. A psychopath can be detained, charged but his mind cannot. If he could, he can still continue doing what he loves doing: obsessional killing.
It may be paranoia: but what if your friend could have one?
What would you do?
It may be paranoia: but what if your friend could have one?
What would you do?
