There is a higher proportion of psychopaths among criminal population
so the US judicial system defines antisocial personality disorder in a person
over the age of 15, as having three or more of the characteristics below:
1. Failure
to conform to social norms with respect to lawful behaviors
2. Deceitfulness
(repeated lying) or use of aliases or conning others
3. Impulsivity
or failure to plan ahead
4. Reckless
disregard for safety of self or others
5. Consistent
irresponsibility, failure to sustain work and honor financial
obligations
6. Lack of
remorse
But the above definition is too sparse and does not really bring out the subtleties of psychopathic syndrome. This can be applied to many people we see around us who are not psychopaths.
So let me explore the matter from my own perspective. What makes psychopaths so destructive is that they make
extremely good first impressions. Look at them from any angle, they would seem
supernormal and ooze exactly the opposite of those qualities listed in our
definition above. They exude kindness, patience and maturity. They are
intelligent, spontaneous and win friends easily.
One thing most psychopaths are particularly good at is,
talking. They can easily dupe us into believing that they are utterly sincere,
wise and have noble aims in life. Even on psychiatric examination it is
difficult to find anything wrong with them. But after long time after living or
doing business him we find to our shock that all this was part of an
effortlessly maintained mask.
Hardened psychopaths are found among crooked salesmen, cassanovas, quacks, money-minded evangelists, gurus . . . It is such psychopaths
that I will discuss here. They are the guy-next-door-type –– those who cause a
lot of trouble and heartbreaks but stop short of violent crimes. Even at one
percent, there may be a few in your neighborhood right now, quite undetected.
The following case I personally encountered many years ago is typical of the manner in which the
friendly neighborhood psychopath operates.
Case study (first person account)
Deepak (not his real name) had migrated to the city of Delhi, India
ostensibly to prepare for chartered accountancy. A friendly, well dressed
25-year-old with a great sense of humor, courteous and decent, became the center of attention of the youngsters in that Delhi suburb where
we lived together in the large
threadbare apartment complex run by a rather money minded Punjabi lady.
While Deepak lived as frugally as any of us, we easily accepted his tales of his super-rich family, his high class education, his political connections etc. He did not want to touch his Father’s riches and even went for door to door sales to supplement his income to be independent of his Father. Very impressive indeed.
Even our wily landlady fell for him and allowed her daughter to make occasional visits to his rooms to "clear doubts" in her studies. Apparently she saw him as a potential son-in-law. We used to tease Deepak about her but he was remained so dignified that we developed a respect for both.
Deepak became our natural leader. Then things started going wrong. Money and expensive things were missing. Deepak called a meeting, and with some sharp probing from him the suspicion fell on the most unpopular resident, a small town boy from Bihar. We searched his room. Unable to stand the shame, the boy left us with tears in his eyes. His tears haunt me to this day.
As things returned to normalcy our admiration for Deepak increased. But after a few weeks money started missing again, in exactly the same pattern as before. It was also found out that when we were away at work, Deepak was in the habit of remaining there, often in the company of the cleaning lady who had keys to all rooms. As we were discussing that issue, a penny dropped in someone’s head. Could it be Deepak? It was an "Aha!" moment for the rest of us too. Is is amazing how brainstorming can help shed our mindsets.
But no one had the courage to confront him directly. Instead we spent the next few days collecting evidence. Deepak's observation skills were so acute that he would see right through pretenses. We even resorted to illegal measures like intercepting a letter from his home. It was from his Mother. She reminded her son that his father was sick and she herself would be retiring soon, so Deepak had to pass his examinations quickly and be independent. She clearly believed her son to be a bumbling child, prone to get cheated by bad boys he was living with (meaning us).
Evidently he was squeezing his family, us, and probably cheating his door-to-door customers. A visit to his accountancy firm revealed that he had been dismissed a few months previously due to unreliability.
With all this evidence piled up we confronted Deepak in his room. He propped himself up on pillows on his bed and listened magisterially to us, often confusing an angry interrogator with radically different versions of events that only he somehow seemed to recall with precise time and place. As evidence upon evidence was piled against him the more relaxed and in-control he became. Then one guy lost control and slapped him hard. Deepak instantly burst into tears and wanted his Mother. We were taken aback by this sudden regression from absolute self-composure. Even more surprisingly, within a minute receiving the slap he resumed his relaxed, judicious pose.
We told the results of our investigation to our landlady whose first question was "To Deepak amir nahin hain?" ["So Deepak is not rich?"] The next day she evicted him. Soon our group labelled Deepak an ordinary con-man and quickly forgot him. But the extremes of his personality kept haunting me and prompted me to do further research.
While Deepak lived as frugally as any of us, we easily accepted his tales of his super-rich family, his high class education, his political connections etc. He did not want to touch his Father’s riches and even went for door to door sales to supplement his income to be independent of his Father. Very impressive indeed.
Even our wily landlady fell for him and allowed her daughter to make occasional visits to his rooms to "clear doubts" in her studies. Apparently she saw him as a potential son-in-law. We used to tease Deepak about her but he was remained so dignified that we developed a respect for both.
Deepak became our natural leader. Then things started going wrong. Money and expensive things were missing. Deepak called a meeting, and with some sharp probing from him the suspicion fell on the most unpopular resident, a small town boy from Bihar. We searched his room. Unable to stand the shame, the boy left us with tears in his eyes. His tears haunt me to this day.
As things returned to normalcy our admiration for Deepak increased. But after a few weeks money started missing again, in exactly the same pattern as before. It was also found out that when we were away at work, Deepak was in the habit of remaining there, often in the company of the cleaning lady who had keys to all rooms. As we were discussing that issue, a penny dropped in someone’s head. Could it be Deepak? It was an "Aha!" moment for the rest of us too. Is is amazing how brainstorming can help shed our mindsets.
But no one had the courage to confront him directly. Instead we spent the next few days collecting evidence. Deepak's observation skills were so acute that he would see right through pretenses. We even resorted to illegal measures like intercepting a letter from his home. It was from his Mother. She reminded her son that his father was sick and she herself would be retiring soon, so Deepak had to pass his examinations quickly and be independent. She clearly believed her son to be a bumbling child, prone to get cheated by bad boys he was living with (meaning us).
Evidently he was squeezing his family, us, and probably cheating his door-to-door customers. A visit to his accountancy firm revealed that he had been dismissed a few months previously due to unreliability.
With all this evidence piled up we confronted Deepak in his room. He propped himself up on pillows on his bed and listened magisterially to us, often confusing an angry interrogator with radically different versions of events that only he somehow seemed to recall with precise time and place. As evidence upon evidence was piled against him the more relaxed and in-control he became. Then one guy lost control and slapped him hard. Deepak instantly burst into tears and wanted his Mother. We were taken aback by this sudden regression from absolute self-composure. Even more surprisingly, within a minute receiving the slap he resumed his relaxed, judicious pose.
We told the results of our investigation to our landlady whose first question was "To Deepak amir nahin hain?" ["So Deepak is not rich?"] The next day she evicted him. Soon our group labelled Deepak an ordinary con-man and quickly forgot him. But the extremes of his personality kept haunting me and prompted me to do further research.
Awareness and Spontaneity, sans Intimacy
According to Eric Berne, an autonomous human being would
have three qualities: awareness, spontaneity and capacity for intimacy. According to Berne the latter was a natural result of the first two. But here, Deepak
had the first two qualities in plenty, but not the third. His perpetual awareness,
lack of sadness or anxiety in any given situation, spontaneity of responses, lack of fear but immediate
response to actual physical hurt, his ability to form great impressions a and
manage to keep them up in difficult situations, all indicated to me that we
just had encountered an extraordinary phenomenon.
I remembered that Deepak used to hero worship the
notorious psychopath, Charles Shobraj. Could Deepak be also be a psychopath? A
weekend’s research backed up my own background in psychology showed that Deepak fitted precisely with the 1980s standard
definition of a psychopath. I also felt that Deepak was a "genetic" psychopath, that is, born that way. To make sure that his syndrome was primarily
genetic I had to find out all I could about his environment. It was a risky task because my friends wouldn't help me. They had lost interest in Deepak.
I made an unannounced visit to his parents’ home 200 miles away in Jaipur on a day I knew he would be stuck in Delhi. His family turned out to be educated, middle class, religious and cohesive. They were full of questions about their darling Deepu, their youngest and the most pampered.
I made an unannounced visit to his parents’ home 200 miles away in Jaipur on a day I knew he would be stuck in Delhi. His family turned out to be educated, middle class, religious and cohesive. They were full of questions about their darling Deepu, their youngest and the most pampered.
On the basis of this case history, and from my subsequent
understanding from modern research on psychopathic personality, I am piecing together a picture of what I call a
“genetic psychopath.”
How a psychopath differs from a common criminal
Now you may ask, why take such a big production out of this
case? We all know a lot of dishonest, heartless, and completely superficial
people. Surely they are all not psychopaths! Of course not. Considered
individually, none of Deepak’s actions are too extraordinary. But taken as a
whole, a sinister picture starts to emerge.
This young man is totally unlike a common criminal, whose
sole aim would be to make a quick clean escape with the booty. In Deepak’s case
what seems to be important for him seem to be the very acts of lying and
stealing. Also, there is an extraordinary lack of conscience and absence of
anxiety, guilt and shame. There are more, as we shall see.
Antisocial personality is not a new phenomenon. It is as old
as civilization. An accurate picture of a psychopath is drawn by Charles
Dickens in in the inimitable character of Alfred Jingle, the confidence
trickster, who wanders about changing his identity as it suits him, without any
shame even after being exposed repeatedly.
But Dickens botches it at the end. In the final chapter of Pickwick Papers, Jingle melodramatically reforms after Mr. Pickwick overwhelms him with kindness. Had the author let him continue on his happy go lucky ways, Jingle should have been celebrated as a textbook case of psychopathic syndrome.
*
But Dickens botches it at the end. In the final chapter of Pickwick Papers, Jingle melodramatically reforms after Mr. Pickwick overwhelms him with kindness. Had the author let him continue on his happy go lucky ways, Jingle should have been celebrated as a textbook case of psychopathic syndrome.
*
Why is the psychopath so? Is it possible that a human being
could entirely lack in conscience? These questions have been pondered over by
philosophers for centuries. Modern psychology and neuroscience have startling
answers –– answers that force us to look into conscience, morality and even love, from a fresh angle.
It has been found experimentally that psychopaths have
extremely low levels of arousal in parts of the brain which generate fear and
anxiety. Paradoxically, their pain tolerance is normal (or even less than normal people) but
punishments do not evoke sufficient fear in them. This happens because
unpleasant emotions that they experience at the moment of punishment are dissipated
quickly. The memory of the punishment may remain, sans fear.
This was established decades ago by a simple experiment:
Three groups of people, the first group comprising psychopathic criminals, the
second, non-psychopathic criminals, and the third, college students –– were
told that they would get a painful electric shock after ten minutes and were
allowed to watch a clock. During this period the electrical conductance of
their skin (a reliable assessment of emotional arousal) were measured. As the tenth
minute approached, the “normal” criminals and college students recorded a
steady rise in their skin conductance, indicating that they were becoming
worried about the coming shock. However, the psychopaths recorded no such
change. Another experiment revealed that once the shock was actually delivered,
psychopaths may experience more pain than normal people.
Recall Deepak’s behavior. Till the moment of physical assault he was extraordinarily relaxed. But once he felt physical pain his breakdown happened in an instant. (He could not have faked his tears.) As soon as the assault was over he rapidly sprung back to normalcy as if nothing had happened.
This is the paradox: psychopaths may have lower pain
tolerance, but the threat of future pain does not produce enough fear in them.
How do we interpret these results? The behavior of a “true” psychopath may be
due to a deep seated genetic condition. Later studies indeed bear this out.
Antisocial personalities seem constitutionally incapable of experiencing fear
and anxiety. That prevents from acquiring the “avoidance learning” skills
necessary for social adjustment.
Is amygdala the clue?
Psychopath’s amygdala might have some differences.
Either it does not assign emotional values to imagined negative events, or its
message does not get through to the rest of the limbic system to give commands
for appropriate fear hormones to be released. There is also a suggestion that
in some psychopaths, the neurological linkage may be repressed. In my view
these are probably due to childhood trauma. There is also the possibility that
in such case one of their parents might have been implicated. If the parent is
already psychopathic, he would naturally lack empathy with his children and may
bang them about. In that case a borderline psychopathic child may pick that up
and repress whatever empathy he might have otherwise felt.
Inability to experience love
Whatever be the exact neurological mechanism, for our
purposes it may be enough to understand that much of the emotional spectrum of
a psychopath is lying blank. The most unfortunate casualty is love. A
psychopath is relatively unable to experience love or to reciprocate it.
Paradoxically, human ability to experience love is rooted in our ability to
experience fear and anxiety. (Here I am going by our usual understanding of
love, not the sort of self-less love exhorted by Jesus Christ.) We won’t like
to admit that, but it is true. Psychopath’s relative inability to experience
fear and anxiety robs him of the capacity for love and attachment.
Unable to experience the healthy emotions of life, driven by
his high stimulation hunger, the psychopath remains obsessed with the only
things left –– thrill and power. Lack of internal controls enables him to go to
any extent for these. In childhood itself he learns that showing love is an
effective means to control others. But intimacy is one of the most difficult
things to imitate. How does he do it so well?
Psychopaths observe!
Here he has an edge over normal people: in the process of
socializing a toddler, some of the desirable traits also get chipped off. Most
of us carry in our heads the parental injunction “Don’t stare at others.” Many
children translate this into “Don’t experience,” which stunts our natural
ability to observe, listen and feel. Consequently we see and hear only what we
are “supposed to” and miss the hundreds of messages people send out about
themselves by means of body language. As with other parental injunctions,
psychopath tends to be unaffected by “Don’t stare” also. He peeks and finds out
what people really need. Another factor may be his constant stimulation hunger
which keeps him tuned to all outside activities in the vicinity. With
awareness, spontaneity comes naturally.
Psychopaths are aware!
Psychopath seems to be “naturally aware”. Many spiritualists consider awareness of the present as the goal of spirituality. Does that mean he is naturally spiritual too? Doesn’t that put a blot on spirituality itself? Not at all. The reason is this: as he does not feel any inner turmoil, a psychopath has never learned to observe himself. He is not self aware. He really does not understand or care what makes him tick. He is not at all interested in higher spiritual truths though he may pretend to be pious and spiritual. Lack of self awareness means his awareness tends to be predatory. He remains aware of signs of suffering in others, but only enough take technical advantage of it. As Thomas Harris says in Hannibal, “When the fox hears the rabbit screams he comes running, but not to help.”Treatment?
There is no treatment for psychopathic syndrome.
Structurally there is nothing wrong with the brain of a psychopath. It is not
an illness. Psychopaths would never want to change, in any case. They like the
way they are. Even though they face repeated failures due to their short term
thrill seeking behavior, they forget the pain of these very quickly and start
looking for the next thrill. Some chronically anxious and depressed people
would gladly switch their brains with that of a psychopath.
What about the future? It is possible that treatment may be
available for the misery of the entire human race, not only for psychopathic
personality.
Old age
As for everyone else, old age is the worst part for a
psychopath. Many start feeling the pinch of the depression they had never
experienced in their younger days, they start ruminating on their past
mistakes, they lose much of their invincible, superior bearing. As they have
seldom suffered lasting mental pain before, it is possible that they may find
it even harder than normal people to cope with it.
What to do with a psychopath?
Once you clearly identify that your partner, colleague or
team mate to be a psychopath, never attempt to reform him. Never sympathize
with him, never try to punish him. Simply stay away. Swallow your ego and let
it go. A good psychopath can easily find out when you are trying to reform him
and he may "cooperate" so that he can leverage you with that and take away everything you have.
Social Media –– Bane for psychopaths
Till recently it used to be easy for a psychopath to cheat a
group of people and re-emerge unscathed in an unknown location, especially in
big cities. But social media is making that more and more difficult. Taking a
new identity is also increasingly difficult as face recognition software gets
better and better. Perhaps the golden age for psychopaths is over.
* * *
Disturbing final questions --
* * *
Disturbing final questions --
What is morality? What is conscience? What is love?
If like me, you have had a personal encounter with a
psychopath, you will start asking some difficult questions about human nature
in general. One of the first questions that popped into my mind was, What is
the nature of morality? Then I asked myself, what is conscience? and what is love? It took me years to find viable answers. They are quite unconventional and even disturbing. I shall try to handle
them in another blog on a later date. Before that, let me discuss them in the online philosophy forum "Philosophy of Religion." Do join us there.
Note: Version 1.0. 16/02/2014. I intend to revise and update the article as I get time.
Note: Version 1.0. 16/02/2014. I intend to revise and update the article as I get time.
___________________________
This work by Sajjeev Antony (excluding the pictures which are credited elsewhere)
is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
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