Thanks Athena! There’s so much interesting information and aspects of what you write about within the field of psychopathy - that I think it needs to be shared with as many people as possible!
Most, but not all insights you share about your cognitive outlook and perceptions in general - I can totally identify with. And tbh some of the ones I think I don’t identify with - are due to myself obscuring these from myself, because I’ve learned to believe I feel certain things I don’t - which I don’t actually know anyway!
Regardless of before any drug consumption, I had to frequently emulate emotional responses to events - which would appear to shock other people, so as not to stand out as being callous! (Much like how I learned to pretend to pay attention, by nodding and repeating certain words back - this being due to my ADHD inattentiveness). Obviously this is a completely separate, but potentially coexisting condition. However dealing with the required acting skills, in order to deal with the attentive mask - was something I had learned to put in place already - making its application in other areas more natural for me.
However, hearing news which would dismay others; this would (more often than not ) result in a mounting, sense of dreaded boredom - knowing I had to produce the verbal and visual responses required of me. I recall wondering why everybody else had to pretend to have them - this being my assumption at the time.
Personally, I’ve refrained from further self-reflection on this, and what it may, or may not mean for myself - but I continue to find the whole topic of psychopathy, as well as the more environmentally acquired PD in general to be of immense fascination!
Thanks for writing such fascinating articles Athena!
After the Halloween post that goes up today, there is going to be a three part series on the PCL-R and Robert Hare. It gives insight into the psychological system as a whole, and I imagine that you will find it quite telling.
Spending time interacting with those on the psychopath spectrum, you may pick up poker tells
They are tells that have a similar feel as high functioning aspergers do.
The individual tells by themselves don’t lend to conclusions, but a pattern of tells emerges eventually.
Everyone perceives the tells, but they are just low level noise until you can sense the pattern.
That’s what psychologists should be taught.
And then what about it?
Regarding the self diagnosed psychopath.
His identity is hooked into his belief structures, so direct evidence against this will just cause cognitive dissonance
One can meet them where they are (pace) and nudge them to where they aren’t (lead)
Find a few things to agree with them with.
Then I might ask “ you know I’m curious, how would you know if you weren’t a real psychopath, but maybe something like that, what evidence would you need to see hear have?
People that are looking to find the pattern of what psychopathy looks like will be capable of seeing it in poorly masked psychopaths only, and those are easy enough to find, which is why psychopathy is studied in prisons. It's a captive cohort that isn't great at blending in with society.
As for the approach you mentioned, I have tried things like that, and it goes nowhere. They are much more entrenched in their personal feelings than they are in evaluating them. One must first be looking for an answer and be open to information, but these types have sought information, made their decisions, and now are evangelizing about them.
I know the type of person you are referring to, and they can be exhausting to deal with. One of them that I knew was the sort to get a nose piercing so they could complain about how negatively employers view potential employees that have... nose rings. She literally created a problem to complain about.
I do know that there are mental health issues that are going to come about by humans going against the way that they have been living for tens thousands of years. It's impressive to me that people think that they are immune to the hardwiring that has been there for a very long time.
However, it does seem that there is a large percentage of people that lean into mental health issues, and create them for the attention.
Have you met the people with "birthday weeks" or even worse, "birthday months"? Just strange to me. They seem to be the ones that are most forgetful about others birthdays as well.
Pretty neat observation on the system. Although psychopathy is not considered within the insurance repayment manual, it is a deviation from the standard. How do you tell other psychopath he or she needs to change if you are one?
Thank you. I think that the one that I do detailing Robert Hare's work might be an eye opener for you, and give you a lot more to chew on intellectually.
The Western approach to mental health seems incredibly biased to me. Not to say that there is a better approach somewhere else, but we should be a lot more critical and skeptical about these artificial categories that were created by the so called 'experts.'
It can be very messy. In an upcoming post I plan to detail a lot of the issues in how things get decided on, how those decisions have massive wave effects across out entire understanding, which leave to a lot of question, and very few answers.
Thanks Athena! There’s so much interesting information and aspects of what you write about within the field of psychopathy - that I think it needs to be shared with as many people as possible!
Most, but not all insights you share about your cognitive outlook and perceptions in general - I can totally identify with. And tbh some of the ones I think I don’t identify with - are due to myself obscuring these from myself, because I’ve learned to believe I feel certain things I don’t - which I don’t actually know anyway!
Regardless of before any drug consumption, I had to frequently emulate emotional responses to events - which would appear to shock other people, so as not to stand out as being callous! (Much like how I learned to pretend to pay attention, by nodding and repeating certain words back - this being due to my ADHD inattentiveness). Obviously this is a completely separate, but potentially coexisting condition. However dealing with the required acting skills, in order to deal with the attentive mask - was something I had learned to put in place already - making its application in other areas more natural for me.
However, hearing news which would dismay others; this would (more often than not ) result in a mounting, sense of dreaded boredom - knowing I had to produce the verbal and visual responses required of me. I recall wondering why everybody else had to pretend to have them - this being my assumption at the time.
Personally, I’ve refrained from further self-reflection on this, and what it may, or may not mean for myself - but I continue to find the whole topic of psychopathy, as well as the more environmentally acquired PD in general to be of immense fascination!
Thanks for writing such fascinating articles Athena!
After the Halloween post that goes up today, there is going to be a three part series on the PCL-R and Robert Hare. It gives insight into the psychological system as a whole, and I imagine that you will find it quite telling.
Spending time interacting with those on the psychopath spectrum, you may pick up poker tells
They are tells that have a similar feel as high functioning aspergers do.
The individual tells by themselves don’t lend to conclusions, but a pattern of tells emerges eventually.
Everyone perceives the tells, but they are just low level noise until you can sense the pattern.
That’s what psychologists should be taught.
And then what about it?
Regarding the self diagnosed psychopath.
His identity is hooked into his belief structures, so direct evidence against this will just cause cognitive dissonance
One can meet them where they are (pace) and nudge them to where they aren’t (lead)
Find a few things to agree with them with.
Then I might ask “ you know I’m curious, how would you know if you weren’t a real psychopath, but maybe something like that, what evidence would you need to see hear have?
People that are looking to find the pattern of what psychopathy looks like will be capable of seeing it in poorly masked psychopaths only, and those are easy enough to find, which is why psychopathy is studied in prisons. It's a captive cohort that isn't great at blending in with society.
As for the approach you mentioned, I have tried things like that, and it goes nowhere. They are much more entrenched in their personal feelings than they are in evaluating them. One must first be looking for an answer and be open to information, but these types have sought information, made their decisions, and now are evangelizing about them.
I know the type of person you are referring to, and they can be exhausting to deal with. One of them that I knew was the sort to get a nose piercing so they could complain about how negatively employers view potential employees that have... nose rings. She literally created a problem to complain about.
I do know that there are mental health issues that are going to come about by humans going against the way that they have been living for tens thousands of years. It's impressive to me that people think that they are immune to the hardwiring that has been there for a very long time.
However, it does seem that there is a large percentage of people that lean into mental health issues, and create them for the attention.
Rebels without a cause
Cookie cutter misfits
Ostentatious pathologies
Narcissistic martyrdom
Have you met the people with "birthday weeks" or even worse, "birthday months"? Just strange to me. They seem to be the ones that are most forgetful about others birthdays as well.
Excellent post Athena! I’m going to share this on FB if you don’t mind?!
Of course you can. You can share my posts wherever you would like to
You had me at, the title. I couldn't agree more.
Pretty neat observation on the system. Although psychopathy is not considered within the insurance repayment manual, it is a deviation from the standard. How do you tell other psychopath he or she needs to change if you are one?
Thank you. I think that the one that I do detailing Robert Hare's work might be an eye opener for you, and give you a lot more to chew on intellectually.
I think you’re smart. Simply put, you haven’t found your herd.
The Western approach to mental health seems incredibly biased to me. Not to say that there is a better approach somewhere else, but we should be a lot more critical and skeptical about these artificial categories that were created by the so called 'experts.'
It can be very messy. In an upcoming post I plan to detail a lot of the issues in how things get decided on, how those decisions have massive wave effects across out entire understanding, which leave to a lot of question, and very few answers.