Cleckley: What Is A Psychopath?

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A Psychopath is usually defined as a person suffering from chronic mental disorder with abnormal or violent social behavior. According to Psychology.com; “The term “psychopath” was first applied to these people around 1900. The term was changed to “sociopath” in the 1930s to emphasize the damage they do to society.” Being a psychopath goes back more into the fact that most of them tend to be very uncaring, have shallow emotions, be irresponsible, and overconfident. Also, the simple fact that they usually go through much more from their childhood towards abuse, and neglect from parents or other sources that could have contributed to their mental hysteria. To the best of our knowledge, there’s no cure for psychopathy. There is no vaccine …show more content…

He used the term to describe “moral insanity” and lack of self control. According to, “scholarpedia.com”; it states “The causes and specific pathophysiology of psychopathy are an active area of research. Like other mental illnesses, psychopathy appears in all races and cultures. Cleckley and other authors have long noted that psychopathy may manifest in both genders, in all socioeconomic strata, and in all cultures and races.” In other words tendencies of psychopaths are usually genetic or family inherited or brought up through intellectual abuse. Morally, this supports the simple fact that becoming a psychopath typically means your mental state is severely damaged and you feel no remorse or emotion to things regular people would exaggerate usually. Such as, feeling frightened or guilty after murdering someone whether purposely or accidently. Instead, you can do awful things such as; stare in a person's eyes with no guilt or fear once so ever as you murder them or whatever the case may …show more content…

Paul R. Lees-Haley, a forensic psychologist, confides that the most apt definition for these types of criminals is “evil.” And Dr. Bruce Gage, chief of psychiatry for the Washington Department of Corrections and clinical associate professor at the University of Washington, compares psychopathy to colorblindness, explaining that, just as some individuals cannot see the color red, others are blind to human emotions such as sympathy and compassion.” Overall, most people simply believe that individuals who rape, kidnap, and murder people are in control of what they do. Their intelligent individuals with plans if they are to be consistent serial killers. However, as Dr. Bruce Gage states in the article, psychopathy is like color blindness. In their case, relating to that they can't feel certain things emotionally or connect within their own feelings. Nor can they feel any other normal human emotion, it's blocked out from their brains. More or less, their amygdala’s. Yet, most people think of psychopaths as people in society whom are usually looked down upon, people don't understand them and their usually labeled as evil or “sick” people. According to the article, “They often display callous, unemotional traits and indifference to others. Further,

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