PsychopathyIS Is A Scam

Nothing more, nothing less...

After last week’s article, I decided that there is a need to do more on PsychopathyIS. There is so much misinformation on that site that it simply has to be addressed. Let’s start with the above image, in which they claim that psychopathy should be used instead of sociopathy.

Why?

It’s not a scientific term…

Really? Because I can search plenty of scholarly sites that address sociopathy. In fact, this took me five seconds to find:

• Differences in the psychological portrait of a sociopath, sociophobe and introvert

• Sociopaths in the Workplace: How to Identify Them to Protect Yourself

• Milieu therapy with the adolescent sociopath

• Is the sociopath socially intelligent? A new framework for understanding sociopathy

That’s a small sampling of what comes up in a site for scientific research. Now, I have said many times over that sociopathy gets shafted in terms of research, and that’s still true. It does. It isn’t a well-researched construct, but that doesn’t make it not real, and sociopaths are certainly not psychopaths.

Used primarily by media…

Okay? So is psychopathy. Usually you will find people just using ASPD. I don’t agree with it, but if they think that “sociopath” is more frequently used in media over “psychopath”, they are on crack.

No scientific papers on it…

Now that’s just a straight out lie. The rest could be conceivably be PsychopathyIS just slanting things to their favor, but this one is totally untrue. Are there enough? No. However, they exist, and I listed four of them above. Again, literally five seconds is all it took to get those titles. This means that they are either incapable of bothering to Google, or they are unwilling. Either way, this is disinformation.

No validated measures assess it…

Really? Does this mean that they also think the PCL-R is garbage? I doubt that, and as much as I dislike the PCL-R, so long as they are willing to accept it as a validated measure for psychopathy, they have to accept it for sociopathy as well:

Prototypical psychopathic individuals showed elevated scores on all four facets of the PCL-R, whereas sociopathic (i.e., antisocial) individuals had elevated scores on PCL-R Factor 2 (Lifestyle and Antisocial facets), but lower scores on Factor 1 (Interpersonal and Affective facets) than prototypical psychopaths

Incremental validity of the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised above and beyond the diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder regarding recidivism in sexual offenders

Also, Hare specifically speaks about sociopathy, and there was an article, that is cited in his Wiki, that speaks about the PCL-R and diagnosing psychopathy. However, when you click on it, it now reads this:

'The Hare Psychopathy Checklist': The test that will tell you if someone is a psychopath

If you look at the URL, or if you use the Wayback Machine, you will see the original title:

'The Hare Psychopathy Checklist': The test that will tell you if someone is a sociopath

Hmm, that’s weird, it looks like the originator of the PCL-R disagrees with your notion that there is, “no validated measures assess it”. I might disagree with almost everything Hare says, but so long as he is considered the “gold-standard” when it comes to such things, y'all gotta live with your “expert”.

No scientific societies study it…

Well, supposedly there is one for psychopathy, but when I go to their site:

The Society for the Scientific Study of Psychopathy (SSSP)

But, when you go through their site, there is almost nothing there. If this is a scientific society, I think that they are sorely lacking in members… and a webmaster. In other words, so what? There really aren’t scientific societies focused on psychopathy that are doing anything useful, so who cares whether sociopathy has one or many either? No one. Just PsychopathyIS, and they count for less than nothing. I am guessing that they would like to be seen as a “scientific society”, but no, they are just grifters looking for attention and a payday.

The term has no accepted definition (sometimes means, “diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder:sometimes means antisocial due to social experiences: sometimes means worse than psychopathy”, etc.)…

They have to be kidding. Literally every one of those arguments are used against the very thing they have named their little scheme after, psychopathy. I have dealt with countless people that have said these very same things regarding psychopathy because they don’t want to admit that it is a real thing, and in fact, as they will so stubbornly insist, “The only recognized term is antisocial personality disorder, and nothing else”.

Now these people want to make that same argument, but let psychopathy have a seat at the table, but again, shaft sociopathy. Hmm, seems unreasonable.

Let’s look at their claims regarding their site:

PSYCHOPATHY IS… About truth. Separating fact from fiction. Freeing sufferers and their families from stigma. And helping them find a place where they feel free to share their story.

Well, we know that’s not true, as they have already lied verifiably several times. Other things that they have said are murky at best, and they seem to know that they are skirting a line.

Also, no one who is psychopathic is suffering. They need to get their self-righteous heads out of their self-righteous butts. If they are so concerned about stigma, they wouldn’t be spreading this load of nonsense all over the internet as though they have a clue about psychopathy.

PSYCHOPATHY IS… About hope. About letting people know the disorder can be treatable.

Nope. Isn’t. More than that, no psychopath wants to be anyone other than they are. We do not want your idea of “treatment”, which I can guarantee you, is a money making scam to bilk people out of money that think that they are psychopathic, and are so very ashamed over it. We will get back to this in a bit.

PSYCHOPATHY IS… About resources. We have assembled the most comprehensive set of scientifically accurate videos, articles and podcasts about Psychopathy on the internet.

I wouldn’t take their recommendation for a landfill, let along resources for psychopathy. Let me remind you all, they put up the subject of my last post as a credible person without a hint of irony. If they were experts in psychopathy, they would have been able to see through her BS on day one. Yet there she is, all over their site, as an “expert psychopath”.

PSYCHOPATHY IS… changing the conversation about this misunderstood disorder.

Laughable. If that were true, they would have said “difference”, not “disorder”. They still think on psychopathy as a negative, something to be “fixed” or “treated”, by their methods that are tantamount to torture.

Let’s get into that “hope” part again, and where I mentioned the shame thing. You might be wondering where I got that from, and it is from this next story that one of our readers brought to my attention. Let’s have a look see, shall we?

You just wouldn’t know I’m a psychopath. Even my wife was mildly shocked when I told her. When I was 5 I beat my dog. I actually still regret that and it’s one of the few things I do really feel shame about. I never told anyone that besides my therapist. I actually like animals more than people now by and large. I’ve stolen hundreds of thousands in property over my life and 10’s of thousands before I was 18. I’ve stolen someone’s social security number because they pissed me off and I still think they deserved it. By the time I was 10 I started regularly stealing from my parents.

You feel shame, and regret, you are therefore, not a psychopath. No psychopath experiences shame or regret. A sociopath might, but this site claims that there is no such thing, so you are out of luck. I guess the best we can do for you is neurotypical. Not because I think neurotypicals have a penchant for beating animals, but because I think that they called you a psychopath when you clearly aren’t one, and I am not qualified to diagnose anyone, just like the folks on this site, so you’re out of luck, and neurotypical it is.

Kidding aside, a five-year-old that beats an animal learned that from somewhere, likely from his immediate and primary caregivers. As I said, I can’t diagnose anyone with anything, I do not have that sort of credentials, and it can’t be done over the internet anyway, but I can say this, he seems to have been an abused child, and abused children act out.

They will continue acting out their whole lives if they are never taught the skills to manage their emotions. He goes on to describe generally being a criminal. So? Most criminals aren’t psychopaths. Does he qualify for a diagnosis of ASPD? Maybe, but he definitely is not a psychopath if he can feel deep and long-lasting emotions, as he himself describes. Let’s keep going:

I’ve trespassed, vandalized property, shoplifted but most of my theft was digital. Stealing things online barely even used to register as illegal for me. I’ve talked my way out of arrest and as a result I have no criminal record despite breaking more kinds of laws than I can shake a stick at. I literally assumed they would let me go because it was a minor offense and I was white/well spoken/educated. Despite a warning from the cops after crying crocodile tears, I committed a worse but related offense a year later and continued to do so on occasion for a decade.

Again, and? Where is the evidence for this supposed psychopathy? If you haven’t picked up on it yet, their idea of “psychopathy” is “criminal”. That is the only explanation for these two paragraphs, as they list emotions that are universally accepted as being absent in psychopathy, and the only evidence of his supposed psychopathic mind is criminal offenses.

I am sure they think that they whole, “I’ve talked my way out of arrest and as a result I have no criminal record despite breaking more kinds of laws than I can shake a stick at. I literally assumed they would let me go because it was a minor offense and I was white/well spoken/educated. Despite a warning from the cops after crying crocodile tears”, but that isn’t unique to psychopaths. Any criminal that is seasoned enough can talk their way out of trouble if they have the confidence to do so.

I might have been inclined to agree that this might have to do with psychopathy had they not spoken about the regret and shame about beating the dog. Not only because those two emotions aren’t available to a psychopath, and also, to beat a dog it takes a great deal of sustained rage, and a psychopath can’t feel that either. So, his ability to sweet talk cops isn’t evidence of anything other than being a fast talker.

To most people in the world I’m charming, likeable, and mildly egotistical on occasion. I’ve never committed a violent crime though I definitely got into a lot of scraps for my age as a 6 year old. I only stopped cause my father told me I’d probably go to jail if I didn’t stop and that going to jail was for stupid people. My parents are by and large normal and very successful professionals albeit pretty narcissistic. Not at all the type of people you’d think would have a kid that would be a psychopath. They don’t know the half of what I’ve done in my life although they were afraid of me because I’d punch holes in the wall when they behaved badly.

He’s never committed a violent crime, except that dog-beating thing. That’s a violent crime, whether he feels bad about it or not. It’s still violent, and it is definitely a crime. Six-year-olds aren’t violent without a cause. Claiming that he had the honky-dory perfect life, but were an animal abuser and bully, that doesn’t track with reality. Also, punching holes in the wall is a highly emotional thing to do. That is rage, my friends, and that also means, not a psychopath.

I’m in therapy now. I’m happier. My wife is happier. I’ve stopped breaking the law but I’m still pretty a mischievous guy. I also frequently remind my very understanding therapist that my primary motivation for not breaking the law is the recognition that I basically barely made it to my 30’s without being put in jail not because I feel guilty.

Why would he feel the need to “remind your very understanding therapist that my primary motivation for not breaking the law is the recognition that I basically barely made it to my 30’s without being put in jail not because I feel guilty,”? I mean, his therapist should be the one that “diagnosed” him, right? How else would he be so sure that he’s a psychopath? If the therapist is the one that labeled him with ASPD, that person wouldn’t need to be “reminded” of anything. Also, why feel the need to repeat that he doesn’t feel guilty? It sounds to me like he is trying to convince everyone else by convincing himself first.

I’ve also done some pretty altruistic things from time to time in my life for no other reason other than because I thought the person(s) was deserving. Like a fictional protagonist who encounters a stroke of luck from a passerby benefactor. I’m full of contradictions. Like I said, you just wouldn’t be able to tell. I scored a 99% on the at-risk model on this website as well as at or near the threshold of psychopathy on several other models.

That sounds like some main character syndrome thinking to me, but what do I know? Well, I do know one thing, and that is that the “test” on this website is a joke, but I will get back to that in a moment. First, I have to address the, “I’m full of contradictions,” bit. Nothing about being psychopathic means that you can’t do kind things for someone.

What I don’t understand is this, “deserving” bit. I don’t think about things like that so deeply. I simply see something that can be done by me and then choose to do it or not. The other person’s level of being “deserving” never crosses my mind. The opposite certainly can, as in, that person is an ass, so I will not waste my energy on their problems, but I don’t think about people in terms of “deserving”. That’s weird to me.

Now, back to that test. For those of you that haven’t already seen it, I took their pointless test and wrote about it here:

As you can see, I didn’t have flattering things to say about their site a year ago, and it has not improved. Their test is useless. It is not diagnostic in the slightest, and it sounds to me that this individual is not diagnosed with psychopathy at all. It sounds like he decided that he was a psychopath based on online assessments like the one on their site.

You cannot diagnose anything this way, and definitely not psychopathy. It is pretty well guaranteed that you will get the result that you want to get out of it. Look through the test yourself on the link above, and you will see that the questions are easily to read through. If you want to think of yourself as a psychopath, answering the questions appropriately to get that result is easy. This is why you have to be diagnosed by a professional, not by internet tests.

This sort of thing creates a lot of misinformation surrounding psychopathy. It is a real problem over on Quora, where people self-assess, insist that they are psychopaths, but they can feel things like depression, love, guilt, shame, or whatever other imaginative emotions that they will insist that psychopaths can feel.

It is one thing to see on Quora, as there is nothing there that prevents anyone from writing on anything, but that isn’t the case with PsychopathyIS. This is supposed to be a site that is run by professionals that understand psychopathy. That is their whole claim, anyway. They clearly don’t, because if they did, this story would never have passed muster. Instead of recognizing that this individual automatically would be disqualified for psychopathy, they instead put this at the bottom:

This story has been submitted anonymously via the form on our website that allows people to share their experiences. Psychopathyis.org cannot verify the accuracy of the submitted content.

In other words, a person can write whatever they want, and instead of screening it for accuracy and filtering out ones that would be drastically misleading, such as this one, they put it up and try to hide behind their disclaimer. That’s not acceptable. Also, this is the first “personal story” that you come across on their site. There are others, including one from ME Thomas, adapted from the book, Confessions of a Sociopath, but the story is titled, “A Psychopath’s Story”. I wish they would make up their minds.

In the post where I took their test, I spoke about their willingness to “diagnose” psychopathy in children.

YES, PSYCHOPATHY IS TREATABLE.

And while there’s a variety of ways to improve symptoms, there’s still much to be done to develop more effective options.

The most successful approaches to treating psychopathy are multimodal. This means they include multiple approaches at once, including psychotherapy, behavioral skills training, and recognition of the important roles of family, school, peers, and the community. They may also incorporate medication.

Below, we provide more information about all of these treatment options.

INDIVIDUAL-FOCUSED THERAPIES

FAMILY-FOCUSED THERAPIES

RESIDENTIAL TREATMENT

MEDICATION

None of that would be helpful to a psychopath, but the children that they will inflict such things with will be irreparably damaged. I don’t think that they care, however. They make the claim that people with psychopathy are responsible for thirty to forty percent of violent crime in the US. The study that they appparently got that number from also states:

“According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (1992), nearly half of all law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty were killed by perpetrators matching the personality profile of a psychopath”

The FBI still uses and validates the MacDonald Triad. Why on earth would anyone take their word for it? They are still operating in the dark ages when it comes to psychopathy.

Also, the paper uses the PCL-R as their measurement of “psychopathy”. I dislike repeating myself, but the only thing the PCL-R is good for is identifying criminals in a prison. I mean… well done I guess?

Sigh… this site is so full of misinformation posing as a credible source, it’s kind of painful to read. They also state:

Children and teens with psychopathy are over 4X as likely to use a gun during a crime as other children.

That is not at all what the study says. It is a study on conduct disorder, not psychopathy. First, psychopathy cannot ever be diagnosed in a child or a teen. Second, conduct disorder is no longer in the DSM as a prequalifier for ASPD. Third, conduct disorder is far more complicated than what they seem to be implying, that it is a chold version of psychopathy.

There are two possible types of conduct disorder. When a child shows persistent lack of empathy, struggles with ADHD symptoms, trouble with school, difficult family life, callous disregard for others, and aggressive behaviors. Presenting under ten years of age and known as, childhood-onset type conduct disorder, this is considered a more controversial diagnosis. Many professionals feel that applying a diagnosis of this type to a child causes the child to live to the label. Adding to that that many children will have periods of aggression and being disruptive that are completely normal for children, and a diagnosis may be reached hastily without that being considered.

The second type is what is seen and diagnosed in teenagers. This of course is considered after the ten year age mark has been reached, and their behavior also shows a lack of regard for others rights, rules of society, and involvement in criminal activity. These teenagers tend to be violent and tangle with law enforcement. There will likely be a consistent pattern of disruption of their schooling, home life, and relationships. However, this presentation tends to show less difficulty than the younger onset. This may have to do with the development of the brain at that stage.

It has also been observed that adolescent-onset conduct disorder is more prevalent and it is thought to be in many ways an exaggeration of normal teenage behavior. There is a link between adolescent-onset conduct disorder and ASPD diagnosis in later life. Most adults diagnosed with ASPD have the earlier diagnosis of either conduct disorder, or oppositional defiant disorder. Oppositional defiant disorder is a less aggressive constellation of behaviors and is lacking in some of the more criminal aspects of conduct disorder, such as theft, and lying. If a person nets this diagnosis they then have a twenty five percent chance of moving to a conduct disorder diagnosis. From there, once a conduct disorder diagnosis is made, that person then has only a twenty five to forty percent chance of an ASPD diagnosis. The diagnosis of ASPD required a conduct disorder diagnosis before the age of fifteen in the prior edition of the DMS.

Causes of conduct disorder are complex and do not lean on one particular factor. It is suspected to be a combination of neurological makeup, genetic components, environment, interpersonal relationships, are all cited as likely pieces of the puzzle. However, here is a list of factors. Let’s see what’s there, and what isn’t:

Having experienced abuse, parental rejection or neglect.

Being diagnosed with other psychiatric disorders.

Biological parents diagnosed with ADHD, alcohol use disorder, depression, bipolar disorder, or schizophrenia.

Poor nutrition.

Living in poverty.

Maternal psychopathology.

Poor parenting / lack of parental involvement.

Inconsistent, overly harsh, or otherwise ineffective discipline.

Exposure to violence.

Peer delinquency.

Having been subjected to physical, sexual, and/or emotional abuse.

Lack of adequate parental or other adult supervision.

What Are Conduct Disorders?

That’s weird, not even a hint of psychopathy or sociopathy. Weird, but PsychopathyIS is going to present it like it is psychopathy in mini me form. There are plenty of other claims as well. They state:

Psychopathy affects all ethnic, cultural, racial, and socioeconomic groups.

But then state:

Outside of the United States, prevalence estimates for psychopathy tend to be lower.

Make up your mind. If it isn’t isolated, as they state, why are they trying to make it sound like it is more common in the US? I can tell you why, but it isn’t the answer that they would give you. I can tell that just by the way they phrased this. The reason that there would be a higher incidence of psychopathy in the US is population and the psychological environment. By that, I mean that there is a focus on psychological study here, and and a high population. In many other countries, there isn’t a huge focus on psychology or neurological differences as there is in the US. High population, and the interest in studying it makes for a higher possibility of it being diagnosed.

However, that isn’t the only reason. The PCL-R is used in this country like it is going out of style (we can only hope this will be the case in the near future). People that have no training in using it do so anyway, and diagnose people with psychopathy that aren’t remotely psychopathic. It is a serious issue in the criminal justice system. Based on the way that they wrote this, it seems to me that they are implying that there is a higher incidence of psychopathy in the US instead of a higher propensity to both recognize it properly, but also misdiagnose it on a large scale.

Something that I can’t help but notice about this site. They claim that they want psychopathy to be better understood and to remove the stigma, but then go on to describe psychopathy in the most negative and factually inncorrect terms. They go out of their way to make psychopaths be the equivalent of crininals, all the while stating that it’s treatable.

It seems to me that this is the same grift that I have seen on other sites. It basically boils down to, scare the hell out of the site visitor, and then say:

“Money please! Money please!”

Yes, psychopathy is a scary horrible thing, but we can help you with it. Just give us your money and we will tell you what you want to hear. First, take this test that will confirm your bias that you or your family member is in fact a psychopath, and then submit to our “help”.

No thank you. And I do not encourage anyone to take this site seriously. They list a bunch of people on their board of advisors, and I wonder if the people listed have any idea that their name appears on this site.

There is a continuing education class, at least I think that is what it is, about the overlap of psychopathy and NPD.

PsychopathyIs: The Overlap between Narcissistic Personality Disorder and Psychopathy

It only costs $100.00, and this it what they say:

This on-demand professional training program on The Overlap between Narcissistic Personality Disorder and Psychopathy is presented by Carrie Barron, MD in partnership with PsychopathyIs.

Many people are impacted by a person with psychopathy or narcissistic personality disorder. This program covers the diagnostic criteria for these two conditions, how they overlap, and the possible feelings and concerns elicited by those with whom they are deeply involved or who cross their path. Topics include the importance of correct diagnosis for treatment and prognosis, management versus remediation and separation, and adaptation and coping for families and loved ones. The program discusses how to identify three traits common to both psychopathy and narcissism, one way to manage psychopathy, and one way that loved ones can help themselves.

Sounds like a blast…

I could spend weeks on this site debunking it, but this is long enough for now.

What a mess.

Edit: This is actually on their site:

Can you call a child a psychopath?

No.

And yet, they go on to speak about psychopathic children many times on the site, and recommends putting them on medication and residential treatment.

Yeah, super above board and reliable site.