A Post For Reference
For those new to my writing...
When writing about something like psychopathy there is always going to be new people coming in with questions that are seemingly simple, but require a huge amount of background to answer. Even if a person has done research on psychopathy, it is almost guaranteed that they do not understand it and that the information that they have gleaned is nonsense. There are many reasons for this, and those reasons require a deeper dive than Google. This post is a reference guide to a lot of my other posts, as well as answers to extremely common questions that I get on a regular basis.
What’s your PCL-R score?
I do not have a PCL-R score. The PCL-R is not used outside of very specific circumstances and places. In fact, it is only meant to be used in two places, which are, forensic hospitals and the prison system. That’s all. No exceptions. It is also not meant to be used by anyone who is not specifically trained on it. It is not something that can be used by people who have not attended specialized training in the PCL-R.
Most psychopaths will never have occasion to have the PCL-R used on them, and even if it were, it is not a diagnostic tool, it is a garbage checklist that has basically no value. I have done a deep dive on the PCL-R and Robert Hare, which you can find here:
If someone claims to have a PCL-R score, they are almost certainly lying. It is exceptionally rare to meet a person who has had this checklist conducted on them, If they have they are likely never getting out of prison to begin with, let alone someone who claims a high score.
Next.
Why don’t you fit X, Y, or Z stereotype about psychopathy?
Well, the thing about stereotypes is that they tend to be ridiculous and not based in reality. Why do they exist? A simple reason? Psychopathy is only studied in prisons.
That’s it, that’s the reason. Think of it this way;
If aliens arrived on this planet and were assessing the quality of the neurotypical human race based on the examples found in prison, would that be a good representation? No, of course not. It isn’t with psychopaths either. However, that isn’t the reasoning that psychopathy is addressed with.
As it is studied in prisons it is assumed that the prison population is representative of the rest of the world. People who are in prison have already demonstrated that they are disordered to the degree that they are a hindrance to their own lives. Is this due to psychopathy? No, it is due to the antisocial aspects of their personalities. It can also be due to having low intelligence.
I went into detail about psychopathy and antisocial personality disorder, and why they should be separated in terms of both diagnostics and research here:
Psychopathy is not in the DSM, so therefore it isn’t real. How can you be a psychopath if that’s the case?
Got you covered:
What’s the difference between psychopathy and sociopathy?
Here you go:
Aren’t all psychopaths criminals?
Nope, less than fifteen percent of psychopaths are antisocial, and you can find more information about that here:
How, why when, were you diagnosed, and who diagnosed you?
As for who my actual doctors are, I will never tell anyone that. First of all, it is no one else’s business but mine. I am an exceptionally private person, and I have no interest in giving people identifying information. Second, none of the doctors who did my diagnosis signed up for internet people harassing them. I write about psychopathy, none of them volunteered to answer random people’s questions and they couldn’t anyway, because they legally are not allowed to.
How do we know that the brain scans you show are your own?
Simple. They aren’t. I have never put up any of my scans, nor will I ever. I have also never claimed that any of them are mine. They are for reference only.
Or:
Where are your medical records to prove what you say?
I will never put up anything from my medical records. Don’t bother asking, because it isn’t happening. Why?
Two words.
Quora Breach.
This was a breach of massive proportions over on Quora. Over a hundred million people had their private information stolen. Why should that matter? Because people really have weird thoughts about psychopaths. For example:
Should psychopaths be arrested once they are discovered by doctors to be psychopaths?
Why don't we exterminate psychopaths or prohibit them from reproducing?
Should we put all psychopaths in hospitals as soon as they are diagnosed?
are just a small sampling of the thinking that gets directed our way. Looking at these one by one, there are literally people that would mass sterilize us, publically label us, exterminate us, incarcerate us, torture us, murder us again, and two more for mass incarceration without cause, short of being born.
Loads of people want to argue that these are troll questions, except they are not. More than once I have had long conversations with people who ask these things and am baffled at their dedication to what they (and of course insist others believe) and think is reasonable and just. Many of them consider us not human. For example;
The psychopaths are not even Homo sapiens, they are a different species. I'm dedicating my life to discovering them and utilize my intelligence to influence a mass political process to have these non-humans removed from the general population.
Now… moving on to me specifically. Let’s have a looksee at what I might be dealing with:
Athena Walker’s real name is “name deleted”, a psychologist specialising in psychopathy, seen here at 4:30 in this psychopath documentary
No, it isn’t. I am not this woman. She has nothing to do with me, nor I her. However, this person is convinced that I am this person and immediately thought the way to deal with their supposed “find” was to doxx this woman. He messaged people this information, he commented this information, and what’s more, he wrote an entire answer with this information in it, including her name, phone number, photograph, work address, home address, and her email address.
She isn’t me, but no matter, that didn’t protect her from getting doxxed because someone thought that it was. I already see how people would treat my personal information based on how they do when they believe that they already have it
Another example:
What advice would older and more experienced psychopaths give to younger psychopaths?
Comment added.
Take notice, “Name deleted”, this is gonna get deleted very soon.
Athena Walker:IP: 209.107.214.195
Mozilla/5.0 (X11; CrOS x86_64 11316.123.0) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/72.0.3626.97 Safari/537.36
Source: Quora employee gone rogue.
I got no less than seven messages from people who got this sent to them. Now add on this;
There were three accounts, all sending the same nonsense over and over. When they were banned, this was his move;
What the hell does he/she wants from you?
And how the hell he/she knows your VPN IP?
Moreover, what would happen if he were to reveal your real one? That’s something I’d investigate.
When scaring me didn’t work (go figure) he created an account in my name, and went with threats;
As you wish, Athena. I’ll be proceeding then. If you block me, I’ll take it as a confirmation that I can reveal your real location. Want to block or wanna talk? Your decision. Think it through
Here’s the thing, of course, I use a VPN. I would be stupid not to. I don’t just use one, I have three. This guy thought that I was so ill-educated about how it all works that because he could tell that I use one and named one of the ones that I use, I would think, I should talk to this dude. He clearly has my best interest at heart.
Why on earth would I give out more information to people like this? What’s more, why do people like this think that anyone is obligated to give it to them? I wouldn’t put my confidential medical records online. Anyone that would I would seriously question their connection to reality.
Then there is another reason. It wouldn’t change anything. People would say that they were just made up. That they were created, and really, I would think that as well because I have already seen someone do exactly that. They created “medical files” with their claims that they were a psychopath. Here’s the thing though, their name was Frank Castle, and the records were a rather amusing nod to The Punisher. I don’t think he was trolling, he was just lying.
If I showed my medical records I would be a fool, and even if I did it wouldn’t change a thing. People make things up all the time, and falsified “medical records” have already been put up on Quora removing that being a reasonable way to see if someone is telling the truth. It isn’t worth my safety to try and satisfy people that will never be so. Nor is it my interest.
Read what I write, or don’t. That’s your choice. What you choose to do, or not do, that’s on you. However, no one is entitled to personal information.
Aren’t female psychopaths actually people who have borderline personality disorder?
Nope, not even a little bit. They are not remotely related:
Aren’t all psychopaths narcissists?
Nope. They aren’t related either. They are quite the opposite of one another:
How can you be a psychopath if you’re not a serial killer?
Most serial killers are neurotypical, and most psychopaths are not serial killers:
Are psychopaths sadists?
Nope, that would be another myth:
Why do you write about psychopathy?
Well… because of all those myths that I have had to debunk above, and also to give people an inside look as to how we think. I spoke about this more here:
There are many more questions that I get, but these are the basics and also the things that need to be addressed the most clearly. I welcome questions, but this way some of the most common responses are collected in one place for easy finding.
First of all, I'd like to thank you, Athena. I used to believe that the world would be so fabulous if it weren't for the existence of psychopaths. I believed the definition was simply anyone lacking a conscience. I, at least, believe in the rule of law, and I'm baffled by the extreme reactions of some people. I'm happy to say that you've completely changed how I perceive this. The problem is simply human nature, primarily among neurotypicals.
The other thing I'd like to say is how completely astonished I am by the weirdness of some people online. The audacity of that individual attempting to obtain your personal information is really disturbing. What motive could he have? Those who hate you astound me. How can anyone hate someone they've never even met?
It seems to me that a lot of this battle is over the definition of psychopathy. In my experience, when you can’t agree on what it is you’re talking about, discussion is futile. But perhaps it’s useful to insist on a definition that brings clarity to the topic, as you do. Second, I believe it’s really really hard for someone wired to feel emotional connection to understand what it means not to have that. That’s why I read your writing. I’m also interested in how you navigate the world, the choices you make, and how you view the rest of us. I think I’d find normals tiresome, but perhaps that’s me projecting emotion where it doesn’t exist.