Do psychopaths rule the world?

 

Jon Ronson “So the wars, the injustices, the exploitation, all of these things occur because of that tiny percent of the population up there who are mad in this certain way?” I asked. It sounded like the ripple effect of Petter Nordlund’s book, but on a giant scale.

“I think a lot of these things are initiated by them,” she said. “It’s a frightening and huge thought,” I said, “that the ninety-nine percent of us wandering around down here are having our lives pushed and pulled around by that psychopathic fraction up there.” “It is a large thought,” she said. “It is a thought people don’t have very often. Because we’re raised to believe that deep down everyone has a conscience.” (pp. 113-114, The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson)

• The Psychopath Test (shelflove.wordpress.com)
• Casual Reader – The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson (mrschristine.com)
• Imperialist Psychiatrists, Psychopathic Corporatists—But I Repeat Myself (madinamerica.com)
• Psychopaths are manipulators. (psychopathresistance.wordpress.com)
• Psychopaths (whsgossipgirl.wordpress.com)
• TED Weekends thinks you should rethink your sanity (ted.com)
• The complexities of the psychopath test: A Q&A with Jon Ronson (ted.com)

Don’t be a victim!

As if it’s a choice. No one chooses to be a victim. It’s the psychopath who calls the shots. It’s the predator who chooses its prey. However, we can reduce the risk of becoming victims. By learning about psychopathic traits, we become better equipped to recognize abusive people so that we can keep a distance from them, if not stay away completely.

• Related articles on Psychopath Resistance:
• Bullies get a kick out of seeing others in pain.
• Why is there so little psychopathy awareness?
• A game of destroying people
• Identifying different psychopaths
• Predator or prey?
• Hunting grounds
• Some people really are that hostile

Liars

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Related posts on Psychopath Resistance:

• The Skilled Liar
  
• It’s so easy to be fooled
• They seem completely normal
• Why is it so hard to hold abusers accountable?
  

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Psychopaths: Nature or Nurture?

Clinical psychopaths have physiological markers that can be seen in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and in lower resting heart rate, for example. It has not been determined with certainty if these aberrations are present at birth or if they are due to childhood environment or trauma. It does seem plausible that the outcome for a “born psychopath” is closely tied to “external” influences. In other words; the characteristics of each individual, and his path in life, are the result of an interaction between nature and nurture. If that truly is the case, isn’t it plausible that it is the childhood setting that determines if a child born with a psychopathic brain abnormality will become a high functioning ‘controlled’ psychopath or not? Perhaps psychopaths from ‘good’ homes are more likely to become politicians, corporate executives, lawyers, psychiatrists, and Wall Street operatives, while the psychopaths from ‘bad’ homes are more likely to take the positions as con artists, rapists, murderers, serial killers, and other criminals that have a high representation rate in prisons.

Sociopaths: Controlled and Uncontrolled (RobertLindsay.wordpress.com) Psychopaths are manipulators. (psychopathresistance.wordpress.com) The Invisible Psychopath—By The Time You Recognize Them It’s Too Late (totallyteas.wordpress.com) The Great Debate Over Nature Vs. Nurture in Psychology (psych.answers.com) Scandal After Scandal, Lie Upon Lie … What’s Going On? (ritholtz.com) What Does The Mind Of A Killer Look Like? (wnyc.org) Nature vs. Nurture (theotherwesmoorereader.wordpress.com) Psychopaths Caused the Financial Crisis (ritholtz.com)

Psychopaths are manipulators.

Psychopaths are manipulators.

A psychopath knows how to get people to sympathize with him and turn them against his victim. Manipulating people is an entertaining game for a psychopath. He enjoys feeling powerful and superior as he watches his unsuspecting ‘pawns’ subject his victim to criticism, blame, abuse, and rejection.

See also: A Game of Destroying People

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Do your research!

Are You Trustworthy?

Trustworthy?
You’re an honest, forthright person. You take your obligations seriously. You would never dream of taking advantage of someone—so when a sociopath takes advantage of you, you won’t see it coming. If you play by the rules, know this:
Sociopaths don’t.

Read more at LoveFraud.com.

…………………………………………………………………………………….

Treating Antisocial Personality Disorder

Author Jack Pemment writes: “I feel sorry for any therapist who diagnoses a patient with Antisocial Personality Disorder…” Read the article

Related articles

• Understanding the Sociopath: Cause, Intention, Relationships (psychologytoday.com)
• Antisocial personality disorder: the hidden epidemic (oup.com)

The Psychopath’s Sleep of Death

By Thomas Sheridan – thomassheridanarts.com

When a psychopath goes to sleep they literally close their eyes and they are out. While the psychopath sleeps, they may as well be dead. However, if even gently approached during their Death Sleep, they instantly wake up — similar to a feral animal in the wild might do when they sense danger. When they wake up, it is instantaneous and they step out of their bed with no sign of fatigue or a sense of easing into the day — as a normal person would. It is akin to a machine literally switching on and off. Did you personally experience this?

Stray dog – asleep (Photo: Wikipedia)

Target A: “Switched off! Not a care in the world. Which I could not understand how someone did not even toss and turn when there were so many problems.”

Target B: “Used to talk in his sleep, often, but not all the time. Couldn’t really understand what he was saying. Didn’t think of it being another language, but anything possible with these things. I didn’t listen closely. Oh and if I woke him up, he would awaken as if he was in the middle of a tornado or something. Never woke up peacefully unless on his own. No matter how gentle I did it, either. I mean, jumping out of bed freaking out kind of shit. Like he was ready for a battle.”

Target C: “This is interesting. He would fall asleep in an instant, at anytime of the day. However, when he did go to sleep at night, it was intermittently broken up by his urge to smoke every 2-3 hours.”

Target D: “Death sleep. He would fall asleep instantly. Guess with having no conscience there are the benefits too!”

Target E: “It could fall asleep so easily, and I remember how it could jump up out of bed and be wide awake! I too found myself quite envious of this ‘ability’ as I struggle to fall asleep.”

What’s your experience?
Leave a comment!

No conscience = more options

Cloak of Conscience

“Truth and reason are of no value to narcissists and psychopaths. Their aim is to defeat, exploit, and dominate—and not get caught. Lacking a conscience, they are free to use any method that will give them the upper hand without any ethical inhibitions standing in their way. Abusive people don’t feel that they owe their victims, or anyone else, a reason for their behavior. By ignoring requests for an explanation, they enjoy the sense of power they get from denying their victim the most basic respect.”

Other articles

• The Invisible Psychopath—By The Time You Recognize Them It’s Too Late (scott-williams.ca)
  
• When a psychopath, narcissist, cluster-b, ASPD won’t leave. (lifebegins45.wordpress.com)
• Why psychopaths like to wear badges and uniforms (everydayredflags.wordpress.com)

What is Synesthesia?

Jack Pemment (Author)

Publication Date: February 21, 2013

Harris is an insurance coordinator at the local hospital with synesthesia, a neurological condition that takes the outlines of other humans and generates a colored glow around their bodies. He has gone his whole life with this harmless and apparently meaningless condition, tagging people with their own unique colored halo.

However, Daniel had never seen the halos in the color red before.

Now in his late twenties, Daniel’s synesthesia has developed to the point where the outlines of people are also causing a taste sensation. This disgusts Daniel, because everyone he comes into contact with suddenly has their own flavor as well as their own color. Troubled by these sensations, Daniel goes to visit a psychiatrist for help, but things start to get a lot worse when he finally discovers that some people do have red outlines and they all generate the same taste in his mouth – road tar.

Daniel quickly realizes that the red outline and road tar taste are caused by the presence of innately violent individuals. After a run-in with a dangerous criminal, Daniel befriends Detective Connors of the local police department, who gives him a chance to identify offenders in a series of line-up tests. Daniel performs so well that the police psychologist takes him to a prison for a larger test, and it is soon confirmed that Daniel can identify psychopaths – just by looking at them.

Daniel catches the attention of the police department at just the right moment because a serial killer has become active again, and Daniel’s new found talent becomes pivotal, yet awkward, as the case unfolds.

Show more

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Why is it so hard to hold psychopathic abusers accountable?

Because they play dirty. They don’t follow any rules of civil interaction. Lacking a conscience, they have no moral constraints on their behavior, and when confronted, they simply deny their evil deeds. They couldn’t care less about civility, decency, morality, or honor as long as their actions pay out and their unethical behavior is kept under the public radar. They are free to lie, con, deceive, manipulate, intimidate, incriminate, or use any other trick in the book. We may not recognize the disingenuous conniving techniques they use to control and manipulate. An experienced abuser is extraordinarily devious and almost impossible to pin down. Primed with denial strategies, he’s always ahead of the game. Psychopaths use numerous deception tactics to create and maintain a respectable, virtuous, likable—maybe even admirable—public persona that deceives the best of us. They take advantage of our tendency to not recognize evidence that contradicts our beliefs, such as dishonesty and other lowly character traits in an individual who has ‘won’ our trust, respect, and appreciation. The persona provides a cover for devious schemes, exploitation, and abuse.  A psychopathic individual may believe that all of us play the same game—only he is smarter and superior while most other people are weak, inferior pushovers. Until understanding of psychopathy becomes widespread public knowledge, the predator’s hunting grounds will remain saturated with easy prey.  Persona: the aspect of someone’s character that is presented to or perceived by others.

Related articles

• Morality and dispassionate analysis (marginalrevolution.com)
• One of the main tactics a psychopath uses to win the trust of even the most intelligent and intuitive people is what I have come to term the Ice Breaking Technique. (inquiringminds.cc)

Psychopathy, that’s why.

When seeking justification for the behavior of a psychopath, we attempt to apply reason. But, when dealing with a psychopath, we must understand that psychopathy is the reason.

• The Criminal Culpability of Psychopaths (kolber.typepad.com)
• The Jobs With The Most Psychopaths (jobs.aol.com)

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Ted Bundy video montage

Handsome, cultured, intelligent, educated, republican…
Ted Bundy raped and killed more than 100 young women.

Related articles

• Ted Bundy (maleviolence.wordpress.com)
• Watch: Confessions of a Serial Killer (abcnews.go.com)
• Alaska killer Israel Keyes researched Ted Bundy (cbc.ca)

“Make it your priority to spread the word.”

“Not only do psychopaths live among us, but also through our ignorance we have allowed them to rise to positions of almost absolute power over us. Widespread knowledge of the reality of psychopathy on this planet is the essential first step to securing our future and that of our children. Make it your priority to spread the word.”

 Harrison Koehli of Red Pill Press

The Psychopath—emotion and the brain

The shortest, simplest definition of “psychopath”

A psychopath is a person who is sane but amoral.
It is a character defect—not a mental illness.

The Evil Mind
(nancyjcohen.wordpress.com)

The Invisible Psychopath
(psychologytoday.com)

You Might be a Psychopath; Psychological Catch 22
(wondergressive.wordpress.com)

The ‘Almost Psychopaths’ Among Us

The ‘Almost Psychopaths’ Among Us

By Deborah Becker and Kathleen McNerney July 13, 2012 Most people think of psychopaths as those who commit horrible acts: brutal murders or enormous fraud. But maybe they’re not. Maybe they’re our neighbors, co-workers or family members who — while not exactly serial killers — might be what some are calling the “almost psychopath.”

Death By Psychopath

Harvard Medical School associate professor of psychiatry Ronald Schouten and former federal prosecutor and current criminal defense attorney James Silver spoke with WBUR’s Deborah Becker about their latest book “Almost a Psychopath: Do I (or Does Someone I Know) Have a Problem with Manipulation and Lack of Empathy?”

Read the article.

• Wonder What Psychopathic Killers and Politicians Have In Common? A Lot! (dvorak.org)
• Bosses urged to watch for workplace psychopaths (abc.net.au)
• Are You or Someone You Love An ‘Almost Psychopath’? (maureenabivinsphd.com)
• Eric Barker: Which Professions Have The Most Psychopaths? (huffingtonpost.com)

Wolf in sheep’s clothing

The ‘Almost Psychopaths’ Among Us
(wbur.org)

Identifying Different Psychopaths

Stonewalling or The Silent Treatment

Stonewallers, whether sociopaths or not, are seriously disturbed communicators. Their indifference to the stonewalled party’s experience, as noted, can be chilling. Their stonewalling often reflects character pathology, in which case they won’t change—they will always be stonewallers.

Read the article by Steve Becker, LCSW •Lovefraud.com

The skilled liar

Abusers tend to be comfortable lying, having years of practice (and no qualms,) and so can sound believable when making baseless statements. The abuser benefits when people feel too uncomfortable to ask a seemingly sincere, respectable person to substantiate a claim, or fail to look closely at evidence—if not ignore it—because of his charm or perceived authority. He also benefits when people believe that they can “just tell” who is lying and who is telling the truth, and so fail to adequately investigate.

Responsibility? Never.

Pacific Northwest and Serial Killers

Reblogged from Blame the Amygdala:

I just stumbled across this article from the Seattle Times, published in 2003, and written by Alex Tizon. When reading about serial killers, you can't help wondering if there is just something special about the Pacific Northwest. This article puts those thoughts into some context.

Does Northwest draw out serial killers?

Ted Bundy: a really nice guy…

	“Nice and friendly” is the persona of many con artists, abusers, paedophiles, and killers. Ted Bundy was handsome and educated. The number of young women he raped and killed has not been determined, but it may have been more than 200.
Ted Bundy was intelligent and charming.	Ted Bundy’s 1968 VW Beetle. This was the car he used for most of his murders. Now on display at the National Museum of Crime & Punishment in Washington, DC (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Missing 8-Year-Old Was Bundy’s First Victim? (prweb.com)
Imagining Ted Bundy (psychologytoday.com)
The Ted Bundy Stats on Facebook – Unbelievable! (bonjupatten.com)

What is the single most powerful signifier of sociopathy?

 

by Steve Becker
http://powercommunicating.com/

The Single Most Powerful Signifier of Sociopathy/Psychopathy

How about, lack of empathy?
I don’t think so.
As an isolated factor, I don’t think lack of empathy best nails the sociopath.

Many millions of people, after all, lack empathy and aren’t sociopaths. Also, exactly what constitutes empathy is a subject of some disagreement. Some LoveFraud members, in fact, question whether sociopaths even lack empathy (some asserting, to the contrary, that the sociopaths they’ve known have used their capacity for empathy to exploit them).
But the biggest problem with lack of empathy is its weakness in explaining the single, truly best signifier of sociopathy—the characterological exploitiveness of the sociopath.
It is a high level of exploitiveness that most singularly exposes the sociopath.

Read the article!

…no matter the consequences

Victims of Psychopaths: True Stories

From DailyStrength.org: 

“Is he beyond a narcissist? Is he a sociopath or psychopath? Think we’re only talking about serial killers here? Psychopaths, sociopaths, and even narcissists come in every walk of life, every career level, and every socio-economic category. They are doctors, attorneys, ministers, students, and truck drivers. They are realtors, construction workers, and professors. They are your boss, your neighbor, your family member, and your lover or husband. You might even be with one now and not know.”

Victims of Psychopaths/Sociopaths

Read the victims’ personal accounts and notice the similarities between the psychopathic abusers that they describe!

Wall Street Psychopaths

Power, money and psychopaths

A well-respected Wall Street money manager posts an article explaining how pathological predators are ripping apart the economy and society.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

• In the mind of the psychopath (sciencedaily.com)
• Corporate Psychopaths Bad for Business (sott.net)
• Psychopaths Caused the Financial Crisis…
  And They Will Do It Again and Again Unless They Are Removed From Power
  (investmentwatchblog.com)
• The ‘Almost Psychopaths’ Among Us (wbur.org)
• Study: The odds are high that your boss really is a psychopath (holykaw.alltop.com)
• In the mind of the psychopath (talesfromthelou.wordpress.com)
• Almost Psychopaths in the Workplace (abookofhealing.com)

Harrison Koehli: Spread information!

 

“Not only do psychopaths live among us, but also through our ignorance we have allowed them to rise to positions of almost absolute power over us. Widespread knowledge of the reality of psychopathy on this planet is the essential first step to securing our future and that of our children. Make it your priority to spread the word.”

Red Pill Press editor Harrison Koehli discusses the book Political Ponerology by Andrew Lobacewski. It is an audio file with descriptive titles added.

“This is an extraordinary book.”
Ilan Pappe, author of The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine

“Political Ponerology is fascinating, essential reading.”
Philip Zimbardo, author of The Lucifer Effect

The book is a look at psychopaths in political power. Political Ponerology is a study of the founders and supporters of oppressive political regimes. Lobaczewski’s approach analyzes the common factors that lead to the propagation of man’s inhumanity to man. Morality and humanism cannot long withstand the predations of this evil. Knowledge of its nature—and its insidious effect on both individuals and groups—is the only antidote.

 

Hunting grounds

“Since religious communities tend to assume bonds of affinity amongst members, they are the perfect hunting grounds for psychopaths.” Naturally, the same applies to other types of groups and communities where trust develops between members. Some psychopaths show marked predatory behavior patterns.

Some people really are that hostile.

“These people are at war with you. Don’t ever tell them your secrets or your insecurities. They will just use it against you to inflict more pain. It’s a harsh reality to accept, but some people really are that hostile towards the world that they really are out to emotionally hurt everyone and anyone. The people they are closest to are just their easiest victims.”

In Sheep’s Clothing:

Understanding and Dealing with Manipulative People

by George K. Simon

On Amazon: In Sheep’s Clothing: Understanding and Dealing with Manipulative People, by George K. Simon

“…bear in mind you are dealing with highly skilled manipulators. They’ve had years and years of experience being covertly aggressive–do not underestimate their power. It happens so quickly, so subtly, you must arm yourself with tools to fight such monsters.”

“I have met a lot of people who have said something rude, did something in total disregard to my feelings and then gave lame excuses, no excuses or even tried to accuse me of being the bad guy afterwards. These manipulative people know what they’re doing, they don’t care, and they get a kick out of manipulating you.”

“These people are at war with you. Don’t ever tell them your secrets or your insecurities. They will just use it against you to inflict more pain.”

“For the first time in my life, I understand why I perceive people are “always taking advantage of me”. I’ve let them. Since I’ve been speaking up, I feel empowered and alive. This book saved my perspective, if not my life…”

“They look like us, but they are extremely smooth at decieving and come in many forms!”

Kill the messenger

Rosa says:

Isn’t it amazing how sociopaths can run around smearing people, telling insidious lies with impunity….THEN……when WE try to warn others (with the TRUTH) about possible danger of the socio, it’s “Kill the Messenger” time….and we are the “Messenger”.

What’s up with that?

*   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *

Dear Rosa,

What you are describing is the standard abuser protocol called DARVO, an acronym for Deny, Attack, Reverse roles of Victim and Offender.

Your question and your righteous outrage are about psycho/sociopaths’ ability to harm others easily and repeatedly—with impunity—sometimes with devastating consequences for their victim. As if that wasn’t bad enough, the victim’s friends and family may withhold support or reject him/her at the worst of times because the abuser had the evil foresight to secure their sympathy and support, and at the same time, destroy the victim’s reputation and credibility.

The reason why pathological aggressors are so successful with this cunning scheme is quite simple: they are exceptionally skilled actors with a lifetime of practice in lying, manipulating, persuading, and deceiving. The psycho/sociopath will callously aim to crush his victim, unperturbed by ethical concerns. The victim’s options will be limited by his moral standards, and without the persuasive power of a psychopath, he may be unable to convince others of the truth of the matter.

Another reason why many of us are conned again and again is because we cannot fathom that an outwardly nice, intelligent, respectable person whom we may have expended exceptional kindness, trust, and generosity; would be capable of acting so atrociously. We find it hard to believe that there really are human beings who don’t have a conscience and we fail to see the patterns in our experiences that verify any ‘unpleasant’ facts that contradict or challenge our long held beliefs and attitudes.

Read about Denial and DARVO…

 

Public safety