In reply to Stephen.

You are very welcome Stephen and thank you for your feedback! 🙂

In reply to Alejandro Adrian LeMon, Ph.D., LMHC.

Thank you for the info. I often tell people that the ‘psycho’ in psychopath doesn’t mean crazy. They just have a twisted way of thinking. The minute you dismiss them as crazy, you let your guard down, allowing the psychopath to use their cunning and charm to reel you in. And you are right, most are extremely intelligent. I always use the case of Ted Bundy. He was highly educated, extremely intelligent and very charming. I think that most people mistaken a psychopath’s actions, especially if they are extremely violent, as craziness. I don’t think I have ever actually ‘talked’ to a true psychopath, but I probably wouldn’t know if I did. Again, thank you for the information. I’ll read that book.

In reply to Stephen.

Stephen, you hit it right on the nail! yes, they are not crazy. They are often very smart and fully aware of what they are doing. Serial killers are psychopaths. They are the extremely violent type.

I recommend you read about the case of Phineas Gage. Normal person with normal emotions who developed sociopathic tendencies after a brain injury. Fascinating story.

I recommend the book “Almost a Psychopath” by Ronald Schouten, MD, JD. http://www.health.harvard.edu/books/almost-a-psychopath

In reply to Stephen.

Exactly! When they do attend therapy they are often the stellar patient. They say the right things and seem to make tremendous progress, but it’s all a front to get you to do something for them (e.g., letter to the judge, etc).

Bring me a schizophrenic anyday.

In reply to Alejandro Adrian LeMon, Ph.D., LMHC.

Wow, this is a serious disorder. I guess it makes sense, though. Since a psychopath only thinks and cares about him(her)self, then they wouldn’t genuinely seek out therapy to change. I guess I didn’t really realize how extreme this disorder is.

In reply to Stephen.

Thanks for the feedback Stephen! the problem with these people is that they never seek therapy unless it is to fulfill a legal obligation or to manipulate the system. So even if there was a great approach to change them, they would first need to genuinely want to change (but that is almost never the case, unfortunately).

However, there have been a few isolated cases where they have been genuinely interested in wanting to know more about the nature of their disorder (See the Richard “Iceman” Kuklinski interview).