You have more in common with a psychopath than you realise

I am by no means an expert on the topic but i feel like the idea of psychopathy you write here is inaccurate so im gona quote an expert here to perhaps clear up some of the confusion i suspect is here;

>Now, in terms of a valid disorder versus unfavorable personality features (which is what we call traits per the DSM-5) this is open to interpretation by the individual, those around them, and the psychologist who is trusted with diagnosis. For me, when I diagnose, it comes down to does x feature occur across various functioning domains (e.g. occupational, social, romantic, etc.) AND is the individual or others negatively impacted? I would not consider a person who is a cut-throat business person who otherwise plays nicely with others when business is not involved to display antisocial features. I would not consider someone who is an actor/actress who displays a high need for attention in the public sphere to display histrionic features if they don't do so in their close circle of friends. I would not view a person who is at the top of their field, knows it, and is kind of an ass about it to display narcissistic features if they are humble in other areas outside their field. All of these may be unfavorable personality features, but they are not at the level of diagnosis for me.

He answers this in relation to some question but it fits with the first quote so ill leave it here:

>If you can 'keep it together' in the community, its likely you exhibit lower levels of psychopathy than if you are incarcerated as you probably figured out a way to engage with others in a more socially appropriate manner. I also am making the assumption that the author was interacting with individuals with high degrees of psychopathy, and not just people who displayed a trait or two indicative of psychopathology OR exhibited traits bound to a highly situational area. For example, a business person would want some degree of callousness, lack of empathy, and selfishness in order to be successful. They may otherwise not demonstrate these behaviors at home or with friends. It would be a mistake to only look at what they do in business and generalize this across all of their social domains.

What you can take from this is that the idea you write up about "high functioning psychopaths" is not the way experts think of the concept. This shows how badly all this reads from educated professionals to laymen like us. We dont really know what we talk about so we gotta be careful about the stuff we read or hear about online or in the different media so we dont spread too much misinformation around.

In psychiatry, as far as i understand regarding personality disorders, theres no either is or isnt. Its all on a spectrum which means we all fall on the scale somewhere which again makes the harmless psychopath idea redundant. A diagnosis = symptom + dysfunction, where symptom = unfavorable traits while dysfunction = negatively impacts either yourself or others. Now, having unfavorable traits is somewhat normal and if you take the Psychopathic checklist revised and score yourself a majority of people will score high on that list cus its ultimately very relate-able. Hence why self-diagnosis is advised against but it shows how similar we are to these "monsters" on some level like the thread title suggests. Its safe to say that we most likely act like psychopaths although mildly occasionally without even knowing it. Because of this the "high functioning psychopath" kinda blends together with the norm considering we all falls somewhere on that spectrum and the fact that psychopathy isnt a black and white term. Those who deserve to be branded with this label do so pervasively and to a degree where it becomes a problem or even dangerous to others. There are countless other disorders which could explain this high functioning psychopaths traits even better imo so i suspect that this idea is mainly made by authors who misinterpret what the experts say or self proclaimed people online who are either confused or out for attention.

Psychopathy is not a diagnosis either anymore so i think we will serve people with tendencies better by calling it what it is and not just branding them with a concept most associates with rapists and murderers.

/r/philosophy Thread Parent Link - aeon.co