Psychopathy is a psychological disorder characterized by antisocial and impulsive behavior, as well as contempt and lack of empathy with others. The psychopathic person tends to be very manipulative and centralizing, thus presenting extremely narcissistic behaviors and not taking responsibility for any of his attitudes.
The diagnosis of psychopathy is made by a psychiatrist based on the Robert Hare scale, in which the physician evaluates and punctuates the person from 0 to 2 according to the behavioral characteristics analyzed. At the end, the doctor compares the value obtained with the scale to check the degree of psychopathy.
Although psychopaths are often portrayed in films and series as extremely aggressive people, and even serial killers, this behavior is not characteristic of psychopaths. Psychopaths do not always develop this type of aggression, the most characteristic of which is the power of manipulation, egocentricity, and lack of empathy.
Psychopathy can occur in both men and women, with the most obvious features in men aged 15 and over, while in women the diagnosis is more difficult because they do not have so many impulsive behaviors. This psychological disorder can occur due to several situations, such as brain alterations, due to genetic factors and, mainly, childhood traumas, such as sexual and emotional abuse, violence and conflicts in the home, for example.
Main features
Psychopaths are incapable of forming any emotional bond, often possessing superficial and non-durable relationships. In addition, they are manipulators and lie in a natural way, and can even pretend emotions even if you can not feel them.
The main features that help identify a psychopath are:
1. Lack of empathy
Lack of empathy is one of the most important characteristics to identify the psychopath. This is because people who have psychopathic traits are indifferent and insensitive to the feelings of others, not showing any reaction, whether happy or sad.
But because they can lie very well, they can feign emotions or sympathize with a person, even without caring, so it is difficult to identify the lack of empathy.
2. Impulsive Behavior
Because they do not care about others only to themselves, psychopaths try to take impulsive actions, without regard to other people and without thinking about the pros and cons of certain actions. In addition, they do not usually deal well with rejection and frustration, and may exhibit aggressive behavior.
3. Do not assume guilt
Psychopaths usually do not take responsibility for their attitudes, they always feel they are right and therefore always blame others. Since you never recognize your mistake, you also do not feel remorse for anything you have done.
4. Egocentrism
People with psychopathic traits usually feel that they should be the center of attention, since they are considered super important, and this behavior can be described as narcissism. Find out what are the characteristics of a narcissistic person.
5. Lies in excess
Psychopaths often lie too much, even without realizing they're telling lies. Usually these lies are spoken with the purpose of deceiving people and even manipulating them to gain their trust.
How is the treatment done?
The treatment of psychopathy is done by a psychiatrist, and it is usually recommended sessions of psychotherapy and use of medications that may improve the clinical picture.
The difficulty in treating psychopaths is that they do not identify with the characteristics, often judging that their behavior is normal and not admitting that they have traces of psychopathy, which causes them not to seek psychiatric help.
