The Myth Of Psychopathic Suffering

This article will not die...

This one is a doozy, guys. This is one of the most shared articles by people that think that they understand psychopathy, but do not, written by a dude with a large number of letters after his name, that lends it, unfortunate, and totally unearned credibility. This will be a multipart post, because I have been writing for an hour, and this author’s imagination is quite the foe to deal with.

We will be going through the article, The Hidden Suffering of the Psychopath. This was written by a guy named, Willem H.J. Martens, who has both a PhD and an MD, but based on his idiotic conclusions regarding psychopathy, I can only guess he got them as prizes in a Happy Meal. Or, perhaps this is just an excellent example of how terrible the education system is. Shall we, then?

Side note, I will be writing as though I am speaking directly to this guy because that is how I feel like writing.

The Hidden Suffering of the Psychopath

The psychopath has the image of a cold, heartless, inhuman being. But do all psychopaths show a complete lack of normal emotional capacities and empathy?

Yes.

That should be the end of the article, but of course, since that would be accurate and far too easy, instead, let’s read as Willem H. J. Martens, MD, PhD, reinvents psychopathy to suit his needs instead of serving reality as someone with those credentials should be.

Also, the hyperbole is a lot in that first quote. Dude… take it down a notch. We’re literally just getting started.

Psychopathy is characterized by diagnostic features such as superficial charm, high intelligence, poor judgment and failure to learn from experience, pathological egocentricity and incapacity for love, lack of remorse or shame, impulsivity, grandiose sense of self-worth, pathological lying, manipulative behavior, poor self-control, promiscuous sexual behavior, juvenile delinquency, and criminal versatility, among others.

Apparently, Monsieur PhD doesn’t know the fundamental basics of the PCL-R. This is a disappointing start, man. You apparently have all the letters, so you should know that those letters, PCL-R has two sections of traits. Factor one traits relate to psychopathy, while factor two traits relate to antisocial personality disorder. Almost all the traits you listed have to do with factor two traits, not one, so no. You are incorrect. You would be anyway, because the PCL-R is absolute garbage, but also because apparently reading is not your strong suit. Neither is writing, but we’ll get there.

(For those uninitiated on the problems with the PCL-R and the proprietor of it, let me know in the comments section, and I can direct you to the breakdown that I wrote on this)

As a consequence of these criteria, the image of the psychopath is that of a cold, heartless, inhuman being. But do all psychopaths show a complete lack of normal emotional capacities and empathy?

“As the consequences of our bad definitions, psychopaths are deeply misunderstood by the general public. Here, let me make that worse.”

There, fixed it. That wasn’t hard, was it? No, no it was not, and yet, we have so much further to go.

Also, again, “But do all psychopaths show a complete lack of normal emotional capacities and empathy?”, the answer is, and always will be, yes. Yes we do. It is literally what defines psychopathy. If a person can feel those things, they are, BY DEFINITION, not a psychopath. You of all people should know this.

Psychopathy has definable parameters. It is how the brain is formed and how it functions. These differences in the psychopathic brain disallows the experiences that you are now trying to ascribe to psychopathy, but instead of doing the logical and reasonable thing, which would be not applying the label to those that do not fall into the criteria, you decide to remold that criteria to find something that it never can. It seems to me that you are trying to make “psychopathy” be a term that means, bad evil person, instead of something tangible and scientific. Seems like emotional service to your ego to me.

Like healthy people…

Psychopaths are perfectly healthy. Strike one for this paragraph.

…many psychopaths love their parents, spouse, children, and pets in their own way…

Oh, good lord, *head plummeting towards desk at breakneck speed*

…but they have difficulty in loving and trusting the rest of the world.

I am going to be generous here, though I doubt you deserve it. I am guessing you are going to kick this generosity in the balls in a matter of sentences. However, psychopaths invest in people that they like having around. This is not “love” as neurotypicals define it, however, and I am guessing you are going to make the argument that it indeed is the same. I will both explain how I agree, and also debunk you prior to getting to the part that requires debunking. If I am wrong, ignore the previous sentence.

Psychopaths can cognitively love people. I think it is best explained with what I say rather habitually.

My preferred state is one of solitude. If someone comes along, and improves upon that state, I will make adjustments to my behavior in order to accommodate their needs. If they leave, I return to my preferred state.

None of this is emotional, it is intentional action, and, of course, it is self-serving.

As for the pre-debunking. Neurotypicals define love through feeling. It is based in oxytocin, which creates the feeling of chemical love, trust, bonding, among many other things. Psychopaths, actual psychopaths, not the terrible remake you’re trying in this article, do not process oxytocin, as we have a mutated oxytocin receptor. Thus, oxytocin does not bind to it, and it goes through our systems unused. That means, no love as neurotypicals define it. So no. You are wrong.

Also, there is no trust at all, for anyone, ever, so this notion of, “loving and trusting the rest of the world” is asinine on its face. It has no place in an article about psychopathy.

Furthermore, psychopaths suffer emotionally as a consequence of separation, divorce, death of a beloved person, or dissatisfaction with their own deviant behavior.

I am starting to think that you aren’t particularly connected with reality, or that your “reality” might be one of your own creation, and not one that is shared by the rest of us. It is certainly not shared by psychopaths. I have no idea where you got this idea, but no. Go back, find the brain bleach, and start over. This is a more ridiculous statement than the one about “loving and trusting the rest of the world”.

One of the things that causes us, psychopaths, again, real ones, not make-believe ones that you probably think are in the room right now as you read this, problems, is our lack of emotions regarding the situations that you list. One of the things that we have to learn to hide, pretty early on, is that these things are supposed to have some sort of emotional response, and our lack of one, and the total and complete presence of one on the other side. I also find it interesting that the first two examples used, “psychopaths suffer emotionally as a consequence of separation, divorce” are the same thing. Seems like something that bothers you for it to be mentioned twice, not us.

Then the next example, “death of a beloved person”, seriously? A “beloved” person? This is a brilliant demonstration of why neurotypicals should just leave psychopathy alone. They have no idea who we are, how we think, so they just make it up to their own satisfaction. There is no, “beloved person”.

And last, “dissatisfaction with their own deviant behavior”. If a psychopath does something, “deviant”, we aren’t going to feel bad about it. I have had my fair share of bad behavior in the past, and don’t feel a bit dissatisfied about it. I didn’t prefer the consequences, so I changed how I behaved, but I still don’t “suffer” because of it. Psychopaths don’t suffer from anything. Sorry to burst your bubble.

Sources of Sadness

Psychopaths can suffer emotional pain for a variety of reasons.

I rarely do this, and yet, I think it is going to be a reoccurring theme of this post, but:

LOL, and no. I don’t experience emotional pain about anything.

As with anyone else, psychopaths have a deep wish to be loved and cared for.

Is this an exercise in projection? Because it seems like it’s an exercise in projection. Also, no and wrong. Also, also, LOL.

This desire remains frequently unfulfilled, however, because it is obviously not easy for another person to get close to someone with such repellent personality characteristics.

Dude… dude… dude bro… You might… you might be in need of some therapy of your own. I’m not trying to be mean, but… this has nothing to do with psychopathy. We don’t have any deep wish to be anything. We don’t feel anything deeply. We certainly don’t have a deep wish to be loved and cared for. I suggest you close the computer lid, go outside, first touch grass, and then find someone to converse with. I hate to break it to you, but people want to be close to me all the time. I have very little interest in any of that nonsense. Psychopaths have no trouble whatsoever in having people flock to us. Getting them to leave us the hell alone, that is the challenge.

Psychopaths are at least periodically aware of the effects of their behavior on others and can be genuinely saddened by their inability to control it.

I don’t think you have any idea what psychopathy is like, nor do I think you have ever met one that knew about. I think, instead, what has happened here, is you have fallen into the Hare fallacy. Hare has a very bad habit of assigning psychopathy to those he doesn’t like. This started when he was a student, and a bunch of prisoners ran him around like a dog, telling them whatever they thought was interesting or funny, but nowhere near factual, because they had trained Hare to bring them treats in exchange for their wild stories. When he figured this out, he was very personally offended, and his ego couldn’t take it, so he decided that this was a perfect indication of their so-called “psychopathy”.

No, it wasn’t. It was evidence that Hare was a naive person that got played. I don’t know what your story is, but it is pretty clear that how you define psychopathy is “bad person”. Again, I hate to break it to you, but those “bad people” that you are ascribing psychopathy, are almost definitely, just. like. you. Ever heard the saying, “There’s something about that old boy that I don’t like about me”? That. That’s what this screams to me.

Psychopathy has nothing to do with bad behavior. It has to do with the brain’s form and function. Just like neurotypicals, plenty of which decide to commit horrific acts, there are psychopaths that decide to do so as well. However, like neurotypicals, this is the vast minority of psychopaths. Most of us live totally normal lives. Also, most of us will never know that they are psychopathic, because people like you write trash like this.

The lives of most psychopaths are devoid of a stable social network or warm, close bonds.

Occupations that have the highest percentage of psychopaths:

1. CEO

2. Lawyer

3. Media (Television/Radio)

4. Salesperson

5. Surgeon

6. Journalist

7. Police officer

8. Clergy person

9. Chef

10. Civil servant

Nope. You are wrong. These aren’t what I would call drifter jobs. Also, do you think that a psychopath can walk into a company out of the blue, and that company just immediately ushers them into the corner office, slapping down the CEO nameplate? That, is not how any of this works. Seriously, you study criminals, and think, that’s what psychopaths are.

How did you manage to get both a PhD and an MD? It just goes to show, the education system is a waste of time. You have no consistent, logical, critical thinking skills. Literally none. None of what you have written thus far relates to psychopathy, and actually contradicts everything known about psychopathy. I mean, none of it, and all of it, in that order. That’s not an easy accomplishment. Whatever, let’s keep going through this slog of an excuse for a “scientific article”. Seriously, whoever gave you this job should be out of one themselves.

The life histories of psychopaths are often characterized by a chaotic family life, lack of parental attention and guidance, parental substance abuse and antisocial behavior, poor relationships, divorce, and adverse neighborhoods.

No, that would be people with antisocial personality disorder. You have those credentials, you should know this. An actual researcher in psychopathy, Armon Tamatea, has stated, most psychopaths were brought up in two parent, stable households. See, now here is why you should never, and I do mean never, study anything exclusively in the prison system. This is what happens. If you decide that all the worst people in there are psychopathic, you will then stretch the definition of psychopathy to incorporate all of those criminals, no matter how ridiculous the concept that you claim to be studying becomes through this manipulation. Again, no critical thinking skills, and smug to boot. I only say that because you have the unmitigated hubris to write this article like you knew something about the subject matter at hand. This is about as reasonable and accurate as Love Fraud, so congratulations there.

Wait, do you work for that site? It would explain some things.

These persons may feel that they are prisoners of their own etiological determination and believe that they had, in comparison with normal people, fewer opportunities or advantages in life.

What in the actual hell are you talking about? Nothing about psychopathy determines how we behave. It changes how we see and experience the world, yes, but behavior is a choice, and no matter what choice one of us makes, we know that we decided. We don’t feel like prisoners. Wait… no, the people you are writing about probably do. Not because they are psychopathic, they aren’t, but because they are literally in prison.

Despite their outward arrogance, psychopaths feel inferior to others and know they are stigmatized by their own behavior.

Uhh… you seem to have us confused with narcissistic personality disorder. I would be kind and say, anyone can make mistakes, but no, I will not be. This is just inexcusable conflation and laziness. Psychopaths don’t feel anything to others. We don’t think about them at all, let along have fee fees about us compared to them. We also aren’t stigmatized by our behavior. We’re stigmatized by nonsense like this written by people like you that couldn’t tell the difference between a tomato and a suspension bridge. If you don’t know the differences between NPD and psychopathy, you are in the wrong field. Time to retire. I hear Wendy’s is hiring.

“Would you like fries with that?” That’s perfect for you. Go do that.

Some psychopaths are superficially adapted to their environment and are even popular, but they feel they must carefully hide their true nature because it will not be acceptable to others.

Yeah, we have to hide how we truly are. Neurotypicals have some bad habits when it comes to, “not like us”. Y’all get all torch and pitchforky. None of us want to deal with that noise.

Also, we are very adapted to our environment. This is, again, projection. You are assuming that because we aren’t like you, we aren’t going to be able to function. We function fine. Psychopaths are infinitely adaptable.

This leaves psychopaths with a difficult choice: adapt and participate in an empty, unreal life, or do not adapt and live a lonely life isolated from the social community.

Do you know what the “social community” is to a psychopath? An unfortunate requirement that we have to deal with. It isn’t something that we prefer doing, we know we must, and we’re great at blending in. It isn’t something we feel isolated from. Neurotypicals are open emotional circuits, requiring the emotional exchange with others. Psychopaths are closed emotional circuits, that require, and usually prefer, no one. We will fake an open emotional circuit because it is a means to an end.

They see the love and friendship others share and feel dejected knowing they will never be part of it.

My guy, it’s okay. There’s someone out there for you. Keep looking. This is just getting sad. The projection is strong in this one. We have friendships, and families. We don’t feel dejected about anything, let alone the emotional cacophony that we were graciously spared. I get it, if you don’t have someone, and I mean you, not the metaphorical you that is addressing the world, you might feel this way. You might then ascribe that feeling to others because it is how you feel, and you assume that all the humans in the world are like you, but you would be incorrect. I am very happy not being in your stew of emotional trappings. No psychopath will ever desire to be a neurotypical. We tolerate you guys, but for the most part, we see most of the limbic system nonsense to be a massive inconvenience to deal with, not something that we would envy, if we could feel envy, but we don’t.

Psychopaths are known for needing excessive stimulation…

Right, we get bored pretty often. It’s not too difficult to find something to do, however.

…but most foolhardy adventures only end in disillusionment because of conflicts with others and unrealistic expectations.

I know you think you did something here, but in reality, this is like a teenage boy’s first attempt at poetry, and he thinks he’s brilliant with his line about ice burning like fire. It’s not a good sentence, is what I’m saying. Even if you wrote this about neurotypicals, it’s not great. Try harder, try again. No, wait, don’t do that. Go back to your job at Wendy’s. There are people in the drive through that need you, and psychopaths and neurotypicals alike would be better off without you over on this side.

Furthermore, many psychopaths are disheartened by their inability to control their sensation-seeking and are repeatedly confronted with their weaknesses.

Dude, we all suck at things. The difference with psychopaths, is that we don’t care what we suck at. I suck at math. Thank God for calculators on phones, or waiters and waitresses would grow old and die while I tried to figure out their tip. When there is something that we suck at, we either get better, or just shrug and go, nuts to that, and find something more interesting to do. Also, we can control sensation-seeking. You seem to misunderstand. We don’t want to. It isn’t incapability, it’s unwillingness. Also, also, why should we? We have fun in life. Is this a jealousy thing? I think it might be…

Although they may attempt to change, low fear response…

Actually, it's no fear response, and why would we ever think changing it would, A. work, and B. be something that we would change. Do you think we want to join you, frozen to the spot, with urine dribbling down your leg while a car speeds toward you, or would we rather calmly move out of the way? I am going with the second one, and you continue to do you, but be careful, the drive through can be a dangerous place.

…and associated inability to learn from experiences lead to repeated negative, frustrating, and depressing confrontations, including trouble with the justice system.

I am going to let you in on a little secret, but first a disclaimer. I do not know if this applies to low-functioning psychopaths. I am not one, and won’t pretend to know what they are thinking. If they are thinking, which is likely up for debate. Psychopaths know what we are doing. Be it in a law-abiding life, or a criminal one. If a psychopath keeps getting arrested, they are choosing that. They know it’s possible, but think the gamble is worth it. They aren’t doing the whole, “woe is me” routine. Or, if they are, they are just lying to you. Question. Did the dudes that told you this little sob story… did they get you to bring them treats? Asking for a friend.

Sorry to break it to you, yet again, but no psychopath is incapable of learning from experiences. We learn just fine and calculate what we will do in the future based on success or failure. If we fail, and the outcome is too inconvenient, we change our behavior. Not because we’re depressed, curled up in a cell, wondering how we got there. We know how we got there. Now the negotiation is going to be about whether dealing with this interruption to our lives is worth it in the future. Those choosing yes, either have a great deal to gain, and prison time is simply a part of life that they are accepting, or they’re stupid. It’s one or the other. No in between.

As psychopaths age, they are not able to continue their energy-consuming lifestyle and become burned-out and depressed while they look back on their restless life full of interpersonal discontentment.

This… again… sounds like a ‘you’ problem. Psychopaths live in the moment. There is no ability to dwell on the past. Even if there was something that we did that was super fun and awesome, we don’t code memories with any sort of emotion. They are just things that happen. We don’t have the whole existential dread about wasting our lives. That’s not how our brain works, and you would know that if you had ever met a psychopath, but it is pretty obvious that any that you did meet, you had no idea. Psychopaths don’t fear the future, nor can we regret the past. That’s out of our wheelhouse.

Their health deteriorates as the effects of their recklessness accumulate.

Have you been to the medical wing of a prison? Since that is where you are drawing your information from, criminals, not psychopaths, I would suggest visiting one of those wing and see for yourself. That is why their health is failing. Also, because criminals don’t tend to be overly concerned with their health. I mean… wine making in the toilet cannot be good for you.

Take some you time, and we’ll get back to your dreadful article next week. Maybe pick up some overtime. I hear California and Seattle are paying twenty bucks an hour for fast food gigs. You could make some decent bank.

All right guys, I will pick this up next week. It has been a long time since I read this article, like seven years or something, and it is worse than I remember it. Of course, next week we will have to discuss serial killers that he has decided are psychopaths, though they are not, and then tell the world how psychopaths think because… serial killers are definitely psychopaths… am I right?