S/O Psychopaths -- made or born?

[Rebecca VA]

I just saw this article about psychopaths, and it made me think of the thread last week about the hateful little girl. I like how the researchers distinguish between "hot-headed" and "cold-hearted."

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2141160/Born-bad-Rapists-psychopathic-murderers-physically-different-brains-normal-people.html

[DawnM]

Hmmmm.....it seems to me that abuse plays a huge roll in a sociopath's make up. I will have to do some research on that but it seems like I have typically read articles on serial killers/rapists/abusers and find that abuse was in their past somewhere. Not always, but usually.

[DawnM]

Absolutely, I am sorry if I implied that they would indeed be psychopaths.

 

Dawn

 

Then again there are many who are abused and never turn out to be psychopaths.

[clarkacademy]

I would have to say the majority are made. By abuse, neglect etc but that some are just born that way no matter what. I also think that in some things this is way over used too. The whole my daddy beat me so I am like this type thing. I am not down playing abuse because i was raised in a pretty abusive home with my bio dad so I know it does screw with your head. I also think people can make the choice and alot of people just choose that way.

[DawnM]

Now I am going to be sick. At the bottom of that article, there is a link to an article on importing baby flesh in capsules.

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2140702/South-Korea-customs-officials-thousands-pills-filled-powdered-human-baby-flesh.html?ICO=most_read_module

[clarkacademy]

I'm not going to look, but YUCK!

 

I looked Not quite sure why but I did and that is truly horrible.

[mommaduck]

Then there are those that aren't abused and are sociopaths. I know one that already had sociopathic tendencies prior to any abuse (mother was NPD, he is NPD, in jr high he suffered abuse by someone outside the family).

[KidsHappen]

There are tons of violent rapist and killers out there. Most suffered abuse as a kid but few are sociopaths. I truly believe that sociopaths are born that way.

[DawnM]

A preliminary search has some statistics given for abuse histories of serial killers. I will do more later, as I am interested in this, but I don't have a lot of time this morning.

 

http://www.springerlink.com/content/jt1545g45372111j/

 

and

 

http://www.uplink.com.au/lawlibrary/Documents/Docs/Doc5.html

[Mosaicmind]

In my studies for my master's degree in professional counseling genetics has a much larger role to play than environment does. Yes, environment does play a role but that genetic predisposition has to be there for it to play out. And yes, there can be no environmental issue and there still is the possibility.

[Denisemomof4]

Lets not forget head in juries. I have shared more than once that I have a family member who suffered a double concussion and now has conduct disorder, which is the label one receives before 18 years of age. After 18 the diagnosis would be sociopath. The head injuries forever changed him. Every single family member sees it, he does not.

 

This same person believes he was abused as a child because he was spanked maybe a handful of times, at most, and he most definitely believes he was abused.:001_huh: he had an easy life and had a good one but he will never see it that way. I often wonder what truly went on in the lives of people who claim to have had horrible childhoods. I know there are true horror stories, but I have seen first hand how the stories are not always true.

 

I have also seen the new trend with kids these days to cry out about a horrible life at home when it is totally exhaggerated or a lie. One of my best friend's kids would have one believe they live in a house of horrors.

 

Sorry for the rabbit trail.:tongue_smilie:

 

Those with a genetic weakness can bring on mental illness by a blow to the head. I have done a lot of reading on that, too.

[lilredmom]

Sociopaths and psychopaths are not the same thing. I believe that most sociopaths are made, psychopaths are born. Not that there aren't exceptions.

 

Beth

[Joanne]

Personality disorders, such as Anti-Social (Sociopath), are both made and born.

 

There is something wrong with the brain of sociopaths. They can be born with "it", and it can be a reaction to abuse. Prolonged exposure to trauma changes people's physiological make up - sometimes forever.

 

Please don't assume that it must be the family/abuse - it's just not true.

[SailorMom]

Hmmmm.....it seems to me that abuse plays a huge roll in a sociopath's make up. I will have to do some research on that but it seems like I have typically read articles on serial killers/rapists/abusers and find that abuse was in their past somewhere. Not always, but usually.

 

 

Well - perhaps she's an exception that proves the rule - but my sister was raised the same way I was, and no abuse, and she's a sociopath. My earliest memories of her (in hindsight) clearly point to a sociopath as well. We're talking when she was about 5 or 6 years old.

 

She was born that way. It's almost as if she never received a soul.

[SailorMom]

Sociopaths and psychopaths are not the same thing. I believe that most sociopaths are made, psychopaths are born. Not that there aren't exceptions.

 

Beth

 

 

I just looked this up, because I have always thought that psychopaths were sociopaths who were violent...

But - reading the definitions and differences carefully, I can easily say my sister is a non-violent psychopath, not a sociopath.

[LaxMom]

I think, traditionally, it has been an inborn lack of empathy. More and more, I think it's becoming predominantly a learned lack of empathy.

 

And, while I agree that lack of empathy can be learned in abusive situations, I don't really see that outcome happening that much. Just like I don't necessarily see a large trend of people who were victims of violence perpetrating violence. The thing that I see is self-centeredness ( with a lack of empathy) and violence being normalized, through our popular culture and parenting.

 

I find that troubling.

[WeeBeaks]

My son's psychiatrist suggests born, but more like a genetic underlying that can be switched on or off or tempered by environment. He gave me this book to read:

http://www.amazon.com/Inside-Criminal-Mind-Revised-Updated/dp/140004619X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1336498042&sr=8-1

 

And also his next book, specifically regarding children:

http://www.amazon.com/Before-Its-Too-Late-Trouble--/dp/0812930657/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1336498419&sr=1-2

[mo2]

Now I am going to be sick. At the bottom of that article, there is a link to an article on importing baby flesh in capsules.

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2140702/South-Korea-customs-officials-thousands-pills-filled-powdered-human-baby-flesh.html?ICO=most_read_module

 

Why did I read that? And I'm not even going to tell you about the article I read that was linked at the bottom of that article. :ack2:

[swellmomma]

Personality disorders, such as Anti-Social (Sociopath), are both made and born.

 

There is something wrong with the brain of sociopaths. They can be born with "it", and it can be a reaction to abuse. Prolonged exposure to trauma changes people's physiological make up - sometimes forever.

 

Please don't assume that it must be the family/abuse - it's just not true.

 

:iagree: I have 2 kids with conduct disorder. 1 I can easily see running the Mafia just as easily as I can see her as CEO. She is a master manipulator, can read people very quickly and get to their weak spots to garner sympathy for what she wants. Think of that guy on the Mentalist. Total non-violent psychopath imo in that character. She has potential for greatness with those same "skills" they could be a great boon in sales etc, but also a curse if used in other ways.

 

The other is a psychopath imo. Shrinks will not say so, but I see no improvement or glimmers of light like with my other in his conduct disorder. If nothing else there is parts of it that are getting worse. If he has a soul it was not given from heaven I can tell you that.

 

Now all that said I do not think every psychopath is doomed to be violent, or serial killers etc. I think there are many many psychopaths walking around without a shred of compassion or empathy but not out physically harming others. That does not mean they aren't harming someone in some way, particularily when it comes to manipulating others and toying with their emotions etc.

 

Do I think I am raising the next serial killer? Not at all. Do I think I am raising a psychopath? Absolutely.

 

I was told when my kids got Dx with conduct disorder that the younger they are when they are diagnosed with that the more likely they are to maintain it and be labelled anti social personality disorder at 18 (aka psychopath). DD was 6 when she was diagnosed, ds was 7. Most do not get that Dx until their teen years but their behaviour was so bad that young they were. They most certainly were not abused, yet both were Dx at a very young age. I believe it is genetic and I believe it is due to untreated mental illness screwing up their brain chemistry. Specifically with ds bipolar. With dd who knows.

[Donna]

Maybe, like with prodigies, there is an inborn tendency or potential that is then "nurtured" in either a good or bad way for them to become who they are? Maybe, like a couple posters mentioned, there are those with that inborn tendency who do not do horrid things with it because the "nurture" factor did not lead them in that direction?

 

That's the only way I can account for the fact that some people go through horrid childhoods and come out of it doing good with their lives and others have not so horrible childhoods but go the other direction.

[butterflymommy]

Growing up in a fatherless household is one of the most common factors amongst violent criminals (I think it is somewhere around 80% for rapists) and serial killers. As far as Breivik in concerned, he might be a paranoid schizophrenic-- when he was arrested he insisted he was part of a vast network of co-conspirators and he's displayed other delusional behavior.

 

It could be that growing up in a fatherless household alters the brain development of a child in some way.

[justamouse]

I think, traditionally, it has been an inborn lack of empathy. More and more, I think it's becoming predominantly a learned lack of empathy.

 

And, while I agree that lack of empathy can be learned in abusive situations, I don't really see that outcome happening that much. Just like I don't necessarily see a large trend of people who were victims of violence perpetrating violence. The thing that I see is self-centeredness ( with a lack of empathy) and violence being normalized, through our popular culture and parenting.

 

I find that troubling.

:iagree: