of course i am not a doctor, but, my experience with people who fit the dsm markers for psychopathy really leads me to believe it is a disorder of fear and anxiety, fwiw.
as a basic set of statements, everyone has some kind of mixture of fear and hope when dealing with any stranger (politeness and basic social norms govern these) and some mixture of will-to-pleasure and sympathetic connection to others in your life. ime the borderline-types have their fight-or-flight responses jammed always to fight, over basically nothing. it seems like a really extreme form of self-protection. they can't bear to give anything or to place themselves in a position of weakness for a second, and have to struggle to maintain dominance in all situations, no matter how trivial or short-sighted. the unknown is always trying to fuck you over, and everyone is always unknown to some degree.
i guess this could be a learned (or, uh, beaten in) variety of the disorder as the examples i had in mind had some really rough and, importantly, arbitrarily horrible experiences while young. what i'm describing is not a soul-deep understanding of the human world as being pathetic and weak, but being sneaky and hostile.
― goole, Wednesday, 6 June 2012 18:41 (twelve years ago) link
right, and that squares w/ the accepted idea that depressed people are basically constantly in flight / withdrawal mode
well put!
― the late great, Wednesday, 6 June 2012 18:43 (twelve years ago) link
it is important though to recognize the social norms involved - a psychopath might be very disruptive to the lives of the people around them, but a depressed person can be the same (by not getting out of bed for several days, to use an example i'm acquainted with). we tend to think of the former as much worse than the latter but i'm not sure that's true.
― the late great, Wednesday, 6 June 2012 18:45 (twelve years ago) link
http://guyism.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/ferris-cameron.jpeg
― omar little, Wednesday, 6 June 2012 18:51 (twelve years ago) link
Lock thread
― fancy poodle (latebloomer), Wednesday, 6 June 2012 18:54 (twelve years ago) link
goole, what you're describing does not sound to me like psychopathy
― Mordy, Wednesday, 6 June 2012 19:19 (twelve years ago) link
my understanding is that there's a part of your brain that helps you give up.
Don't I fuckin' know it.
― Guess what? They crucified him. (Jon Lewis), Wednesday, 6 June 2012 19:25 (twelve years ago) link
Thread relevant but pretty terrible article about how we can all learn some good tricks from psychopaths:
http://www.salon.com/2012/10/13/how_psychopaths_take_over/
― Mordy, Sunday, 14 October 2012 01:08 (eleven years ago) link
I think maybe more interesting as Exhibit A on the pop cultureization of psychopathy.
― Mordy, Sunday, 14 October 2012 01:10 (eleven years ago) link
What would you think if somebody started trying to make deals with somebody you didn't get along with about you behind your back online , then openly announced they'd done that to a whole chatlist you were on?
Just been wondering about this for a while.
― Stevolende, Sunday, 14 October 2012 08:06 (eleven years ago) link
also if after a rather psychotic flame had been posted about putting an individual's child in the microwave, somebody reposted the flame message to show how it was punctuated?
― Stevolende, Sunday, 14 October 2012 08:32 (eleven years ago) link
http://www.psychologytoday.com/collections/201305/confessions-sociopath/confessions-sociopath
― Kiarostami bag (milo z), Thursday, 9 May 2013 20:32 (eleven years ago) link
i'm distrustful of that magazine on the whole but goddam
― goole, Thursday, 9 May 2013 20:48 (eleven years ago) link
http://www.theverge.com/2013/10/31/5025744/james-fallon-the-psychopath-inside-interview
― Mordy , Friday, 1 November 2013 13:30 (ten years ago) link
jimmy-fallon-the-psychopath-inside-interview
― socki (s1ocki), Friday, 1 November 2013 13:32 (ten years ago) link
Should I find the pop-culturisation of psychopathy more frightening than the existence of psychopaths?
― cardamon, Saturday, 2 November 2013 03:45 (ten years ago) link
Because in reading this thread several dozen people I knew briefly became identified as 'psychopaths' in my mind, before I remembered I have no acceptable data about them and am not a psychologist and have only the shakiest idea of what a psychopath even is
― cardamon, Saturday, 2 November 2013 03:53 (ten years ago) link
I wouldn't like to be pathologised and want to avoid pathologising others, etc
― cardamon, Saturday, 2 November 2013 03:54 (ten years ago) link
http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/science/2013/11/the-neuroscientist-who-discovered-he-was-a-psychopath/#ixzz2lcOhO2WY
“I got to the bottom of the stack, and saw this scan that was obviously pathological,” he says, noting that it showed low activity in certain areas of the frontal and temporal lobes linked to empathy, morality and self-control. Knowing that it belonged to a member of his family, Fallon checked his lab’s PET machine for an error (it was working perfectly fine) and then decided he simply had to break the blinding that prevented him from knowing whose brain was pictured. When he looked up the code, he was greeted by an unsettling revelation: the psychopathic brain pictured in the scan was his own.
― sweat pea (La Lechera), Monday, 25 November 2013 19:33 (ten years ago) link
YOUR SCORE 33%You are warm and empathic with a heightened awareness of social responsibility and a strong sense of conscience. You like to carefully weigh up the pros and cons of a situation before you act and are generally averse to taking risks. You are very much a ‘people person’ and dislike conflict. ‘Do unto others…’ are your watchwords. But, although you avoid hurting others, those residing at the higher end of the psychopathic spectrum might not be as considerate, so stay vigilant to avoid being hurt unnecessarily.
You are warm and empathic with a heightened awareness of social responsibility and a strong sense of conscience. You like to carefully weigh up the pros and cons of a situation before you act and are generally averse to taking risks. You are very much a ‘people person’ and dislike conflict. ‘Do unto others…’ are your watchwords. But, although you avoid hurting others, those residing at the higher end of the psychopathic spectrum might not be as considerate, so stay vigilant to avoid being hurt unnecessarily.
What's your psychopathy percentile? http://psychopath.channel4.com/quizzes.html
― Mordy , Thursday, 26 December 2013 23:13 (ten years ago) link
15%
Although that's for a test with only 11 questions, on Channel 4's website advertising their 'Psychopath Night'. So, pinch of salt, etc..
― that's you, that is (snoball), Thursday, 26 December 2013 23:16 (ten years ago) link
39%
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, 26 December 2013 23:25 (ten years ago) link
36% which is higher than I thought!
Though your conscience is in the right place you also have a pragmatic streak and generally aren’t afraid to do your own dirty work! You’re no shrinking violet - but no daredevil either. You generally have little trouble seeing things from another person’s perspective but, at the same time, are no pushover. ‘Everything in moderation – including moderation’ might sum up your approach to life.
― ryan, Friday, 27 December 2013 00:01 (ten years ago) link
Even if you only score 15%, it means if you took your personality and chopped it into 100 equal pieces with a cleaver, then sorted the pieces into two piles, you'd end up with a little heap of 15 raw chunks of pure psychopathology. That sounds very worrisome.
― Aimless, Friday, 27 December 2013 00:35 (ten years ago) link
ha i scored 3%
― mambo jumbo (La Lechera), Friday, 27 December 2013 00:41 (ten years ago) link
100%
― socki (s1ocki), Friday, 27 December 2013 00:43 (ten years ago) link
jk 33%
^ psychopath move
― ryan, Friday, 27 December 2013 00:48 (ten years ago) link
30%
― Porto for Pyros (The Cursed Return of the Dastardly Thermo Thinwall), Friday, 27 December 2013 01:19 (ten years ago) link
what are you guys agreeing with? i hope it was just the roller coasters!
― mambo jumbo (La Lechera), Friday, 27 December 2013 01:26 (ten years ago) link
Fallon says he'd prob be a lot worse if hadn't had such a cushy life; it's nature x nurture. But also, right off, makes this other major point:You’re right that there are a lot of definitions of psychopathy, and there isn’t one governing set of symptoms that point to it. If you look to the DSM-5 [ED: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders] psychopathy doesn’t exist, and if I asked my psychiatrist friends they’d agree with that assessment. In large part, that’s because many of the traits that characterize a psychopath — things like narcissism, sadism, anti-social behavior — appear in other disorders. So there isn’t a clean set of defining traits we can look to and come up with a diagnostic criteria. Really, that’s how much of psychiatry has turned out to be: we don’t have categorical answers, because there’s much more dimensionality to these conditions.Third point is, "Stop being an asshole." Even if it's just to see if you can do it (as he claims he's doing).
― dow, Friday, 27 December 2013 01:32 (ten years ago) link
24% on this one.
There is another test which is much more interesting, and measure primary and secondary psychopathic traits. It is the Levenson scale, and is here: http://personality-testing.info/tests/LSRP.php
Took it recently and scored, iirc, over 24% of respondents for primary psychopathy (which is thankfully low), and over 85% of respondents for secondary psychopathy (which is very high). I'm pretty clearly not a psychopath, though, seeing as I spend half my life torturing myself with guilt and self-hatred.
― emil.y, Friday, 27 December 2013 01:56 (ten years ago) link
*measureS
i also scored 36%. i'm fine with stepping over people to reach my goals. n.b. it didn't say 'fuck people over'.
― From the Album No Baby for You! (Matt P), Friday, 27 December 2013 04:21 (ten years ago) link
9%
― 乒乓, Friday, 27 December 2013 04:30 (ten years ago) link
ha I had to ponder the semantics of "stepping over" as well
― ryan, Friday, 27 December 2013 05:01 (ten years ago) link
Well shit, 42%
I win?
― Wendy Carlos Williams (jjjusten), Friday, 27 December 2013 05:18 (ten years ago) link
*crosses self*
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Friday, 27 December 2013 05:23 (ten years ago) link
21%
― Mmm yes hello (crüt), Friday, 27 December 2013 06:52 (ten years ago) link
I scored 24%, but I think this is higher than it would have been partly because my non-psychopathic self-doubt and cautiousness compelled me to answer 'slightly disagree' rather than 'strongly disagree' to most of the questions.
― ferret is followed! (soref), Friday, 27 December 2013 07:48 (ten years ago) link
YOUR SCORE 42%Though your conscience is in the right place you also have a pragmatic streak and generally aren’t afraid to do your own dirty work! You’re no shrinking violet - but no daredevil either. You generally have little trouble seeing things from another person’s perspective but, at the same time, are no pushover. ‘Everything in moderation – including moderation’ might sum up your approach to life.
― people who care abt anti-hipster discourse (sarahell), Friday, 27 December 2013 08:02 (ten years ago) link
61% lol. You all are too nice. Got the same blurb as sarahell though.
― Roz, Friday, 27 December 2013 08:27 (ten years ago) link
48%. But I also did it a week or so ago and got 30-something, so Xmas obviously made me psychotic.
― I can still taste the Taboo in my mouth when I hear those songs (Scik Mouthy), Friday, 27 December 2013 08:38 (ten years ago) link
9%, but some of that's just because I'm a wimp.
― RID US OF SPACE BORES (GOTT PUNCH II HAWKWINDZ), Friday, 27 December 2013 08:44 (ten years ago) link
12%
― mookieproof, Friday, 27 December 2013 08:46 (ten years ago) link
"I like rollercoasters, and have no reaction to seeing animals in pain."
― that's you, that is (snoball), Friday, 27 December 2013 08:57 (ten years ago) link
24%. Rollercoasters, and fuckups are always someone else's fault.
― Scuse me while I kiss this guy correspondent (ledge), Friday, 27 December 2013 09:08 (ten years ago) link
42%. should I, or more importantly, the people around me be worried?
― not_goodwin, Friday, 27 December 2013 09:51 (ten years ago) link
27%, same answers as ledge
― poor fishless bastard (Zora), Friday, 27 December 2013 10:16 (ten years ago) link
Twitter tells me that every hardcore fashion person who took this test got 70 per cent and they were proud of their scores.
I got 42, but my dad was/sister is a total sociopath, so could have been worse.
― hatcat marnell (suzy), Friday, 27 December 2013 11:04 (ten years ago) link