Psychopathy is a set of personality characteristics that have aroused great interest in the community of psychologists due to their difficulty in understanding. It is curious and chilling at the same time to see how the psychopaths They can perform the cruelest and coldest acts without even feeling an ounce of remorse.
There is a lot of information and mystery around these types of people. Do they have a mental illness? Have you learned to be like this from your past experiences? How does a psychopath behave in love? If you want to know what is the psychological profile of a psychopath, its definition and symptomswe recommend you read this interesting article from Psychology-Online.
How to identify a psychopath: 5 main traits
Although psychopathy is one of the most talked about disorders in different media, few people really know what it is and how a person diagnosed with psychopathy behaves. As with many personality disorders, the media has interfered with the collective unconscious and most people understand that a psychopath is simply a cold-blooded killer. However, even though they can be aggressive and impulsive people, the psychological diagnosis of psychopathy It is much more elaborate.
First of all, according to the DSM-V, psychopaths suffer from a disorder known as “antisocial personality disorder“, this disorder is characterized by a pattern of attitudes far from social norms, aggressiveness, inability to plan the future, impulsivity, lack of remorse and irresponsibility. Later, we will make a list of all the symptoms of this disorder.
Psychological profile of a psychopath
If you want to know how a psychopath acts or suspect that someone in your circle may be one, pay attention to the traits we offer below:
- They have a certain level of personal charm, they seduce people and then manipulate them. However, this charm is only superficial.
- They tend to be they plan each act to obtain personal benefit and manipulate everything around them to their will.
- Despite having a cold temperament, if something does not go as they expect, psychopaths They can be very aggressive and impulsive. When something goes out of their plans, they become a time bomb, which is why they are associated with highly aggressive crimes.
- They do not care about other people even if they are loved ones, lack empathy and they are incapable of feeling whether or not they harm a person with their actions. However, they are observant people and know the limits; another issue is whether or not they decide to exceed them.
- They usually act outside the legal rules, it is possible that during their adolescence (a stage in which we are more impulsive by nature) they have committed a minor crime. They do not usually reoffend since they learn to live in society. However, as we have already mentioned, if they lose their temper, they can become potentially dangerous people.
Meaning of psychopath according to psychology
As we introduced at the beginning of this article, psychopathy It is a disorder open to debate. The psychological community has many ways of understanding the behaviors of a psychopathic person and many times, the diagnosis can be contradictory.
It is true that the label of psychopath has been used very lightly for a long time, and it is not difficult to find people who behave in a cold and calculating manner towards others. However, it is important to differentiate between a psychopathic personality style and what it really is psychopathy.
What is a psychopath?
Some authors such as Robert Hare (1991) (creator of the most famous that exists), define psychopaths as people with the following pattern of behaviors:
- Talkativeness/superficial charm
- Impulsiveness
- No realistic goals
- Cruelty, lack of empathy
- Without deep emotional ties
- pathological lie
- Poor self-control
However, other authors such as Garrido (2004) consider that an essential trait of the psychopath is the lack of affection in the interpersonal sphere. This affective dysfunction It could be related to callousness, lack of empathy and lack of remorse. So we can say that there is a consensus in the psychological community regarding these last characteristics.
Symptoms of antisocial personality disorder
Once again, we turn to the DSM-V to make a personality profile. This time, we assume that a person with psychopathy suffers from an antisocial personality disorder. This disorder can be diagnosed with the following criteria:
A. A general pattern of behavior characterized by contempt and violation of the rights of the people around him, said pattern must occur from the age of 15 and must record three or more of the following characteristics:
- Inability to follow rules social and high illegal behavior, for which on some occasion he has committed a crime (whether minor or major)
- Lies compulsive behaviors, dishonest behavior, scams and unethical behavior for personal gain or simply for pleasure.
- impulsive behaviorincapable of long-term planning.
- Lack of control about their aggressiveness, physical fights and attacks on people or animals.
- Lack of concern for their own integrity or for the safety of other people.
- irresponsible behaviorlittle consistency in their work life and inability to take care of financial obligations.
- Lack of regretslittle expression of emotions after having harmed, mistreated or robbed other people.
B. The person to whom the diagnosis is made must have at least 18 years.
C. There are records and evidence that said person has presented a conduct disorder or similar before the age of 15.
D. Antisocial behavior cannot be explained by other psychopathology or by drug and/or psychotropic drug abuse.
Profile of a psychopath in the couple
Now that we know what is the psychological profile of a psychopathwe may wonder how a psychopath acts in love.
According to many films and literary works where psychopathy is discussed, a person with psychopathy is an unscrupulous abuser who constantly hurts people and can commit murders out of anger. However, we must keep in mind that an individual with this personality style deviates slightly from the expectations proposed by the media.
What is a psychopath really like with his partner?
To understand a relationship with a psychopath, it is important to mention that many of them are people integrated into society, so we cannot detect them as soon as we meet them.
Psychopathic people consider their partners as an object that provides them with love, company, good conversations and sexual relations. By this we do not mean that they do not feel affection for their partners, but lack of strong emotional ties (characteristic of a psychopath) makes healthy couple dynamics very difficult.
This article is merely informative, at Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
If you want to read more articles similar to Psychological profile of a psychopath: definition and symptomswe recommend that you enter our category.
References
- Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders: DSM-5. Pan-American Medical Editorial, 2014.
- Hare, R. D. (2003). The psychopathy checklist–Revised. Toronto, ON.
- Garrido, V. (2004). Treatment of the psychopathic aggressor. In J. Sanmartín Espulges (Coord.), The Labyrinth of Violence: Causes, Types and Effects (pp. 321-330). Barcelona: Ariel.
Bibliography
- López Miguel, MJ, & Núñez Gaitán, MDC (2009). Psychopathy versus antisocial personality disorder. Spanish Journal of Criminological Research (REIC), (7, Article 1), 1-17.