'Did I inherit mental illness?' BBC News (2016)

I'm just a student studying medicine and nowhere near the realm of study that is associated with psychological disorders as complex as psychopathy, however i think the distinction between paedophilia and psychopathy must be made.

Paedophilia is an incorrect social behaviour where an adult seeks to engage sexually with someone many years their younger. It often results due to fetishisation (an environmental link) and/or coexistence of other mental illnesses where one cannot see a child as an independent human being (loss of empathy).

Psychopathy is a broad diagnosis of an individual who suffers from an inability to socialise normally and fails to see other individuals the way they view themselves (loss of empathy).

Basically what im saying is that there are a large amount of individuals who become paedophilic due to low IQ resulting from a mental illness (like autism) meaning that they cannot comprehend another persons view point or experiences. There are also individuals who lose empathy

Empathy is a key social skill. Individuals who suffer from a vast array of mental illness lose the ability to have a normal social toolkit like the rest of us. They lose a lot of the skills that come normally such as the ability to empathise, read non-verbal cues, make small talk and other such intricacies of social interaction. A few examples of this are Autism and Aspergers syndrome. Social functioning and cognitive ability are not exactly tied together but they often have an impact on each other at the higher and lower ends of IQ.

In the case of psychopathy, you can have an individual with an exceptionally high IQ who is capable of creative thinking unlike any normal person BUT they will experience social deficits of some form or another. Their loss of empathy is not what gives them a high intellect. The diagnosis of psychopathy is made based on antisocial behaviour and loss of empathy. You can have individuals who have a high IQ with a diagnosis of psychopathy but it isnt as common as popular media makes it out to be. For every hannibal lecter you have at least 100 unstable and withdrawn hermits who cannot hold down a job or even function normally without a carer. This answer is mostly rambling but the key points i wanted to make are that:

  • Psychopathy and pedophilia are not the same thing at all.
  • There are a wide array of mental illnesses that cause loss of empathy.
  • IQ is not strictly tied to emotional functioning but we discuss it as a causative factor when its on the higher and lower ends such as in the case of people with mental illnesses that exceptionally impact their ability to function, as is the case with many people with diagnoses of psychopathy, despite what media might say about genius psychopaths.
  • Loss of empathy is a causative factor for pedophilia and is also a consequence of psychopathy.

Im sorry if i couldnt be any clearer i tried haha.

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