The Psychopath Test The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry is a book by Jon Ronson, where he investigates the idea of psychopathy and the many individuals involved. Psychopathy is defined as “a person who is mentally ill, who does not care about other people, and who is usually dangerous or violent.” Ronson visited mental health professionals and psychopaths in order to determine the right way to control the diagnosis of mental health disorders. Throughout the novel, Ronson focuses on three main themes, which are the definition of madness, unnecessary mental diagnoses and the problem with confirmation bias. The first individual Ronson met with was a Neurologist named Deborah Talmi. Deborah received a strange package with a 42 page book called Being or Nothingness, 21 pages were blank and the other 21 were filled with text. She first went to the Internet and found that she was not the only one to receive this mysterious package, so she explored different reasons of why these particular people received same package. Then after many suspicions, she accepted defeat and sought out help from Ronson. Ronson looked into the other people that received the package and found that many of them were neurologists, but not all. He noticed though the business address of Petter Nordlund, who is the English translator of the book. After investigating him, Ronson came to the conclusion that Nordlund is the perpetrator behind the mysterious package. This investigation caused Ronson to explore the impact madness has on society. Ronson discovers the DSM textbook, which consists of all of the listed mental disorders. He then went through the list and wondered if he has any of the 374 disorders and if there was any org... ... middle of paper ... ...s that the DSM can also falsely determine ones specific mental health, showing the struggle between diagnosing someone with genuine disorders and excessively diagnosing individuals. Through Ronson’s interviews and observations he came to the conclusion that one cannot only use the PCL-R checklist or the DSM to determine whether someone is a psychopath. Many individuals can contain certain aspects of those lists, but are not necessarily psychopaths. There are a vast amount of false accusations regarding mental health disorders, and professionals need to determine a more precise way to sort out these individuals. After reading this book, I am disappointed because I think Ronson does some valuable research but does little to expand on his findings. He covers a lot of different aspects of the “madness industry”, but does not dive deeper into his specific interviews.
...de for others to follow. The book is easy to read and follow for someone that's not in the psychology community. Even, the use of technical jargon is limited with quotes that correlate with each chapter. Some limitations of the book is dealing with psychopaths in general and really understanding the personality disorder. Dr. Hares (1993), “We have to learn how to socialized them, not resocialize them....”. Psychopathy is a area in psychology that needs more attention to help socialized and lessen the collusion.
The DSM-5 lists approximately 400 mental disorders, each one explains the criteria for diagnosing the disorder and key clinical features, and sometimes describes features that are often times not related to the disorder. The classification is further explained by the background information such as: research findings, age, culture, gender trends, and each disorder’s prevalence, risk, course, complications, predisposing factors, and family patterns (Comer, 2013, pp.100).... ... middle of paper ... ...
Haglin, R. P. & Whitbourne, S. K. (2010). Abnormal psychology: clinical perspectives on psychological disorders. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
The work of, Hervey Cleckley provided an exhaustive amount of clinical reports regarding Psychopathy. Cleckely published The Mask of Sanity, in which he provided a framework of what he thought to be the significant qualities a psychopath possesses. From his research, 16 principles for the diagnosis of a psychopath were derived,
This not only affects the lives of the patients, but also the lives of therapists. A simple mistake can ruin an individual’s life, as well as the therapist, doctor, or any health practitioners, and depending on the severity of the misdiagnosis, it may last a lifetime. With so many negative impacts of misdiagnosis, many might ask what are University and professionals doing to put an end to it. There’s so many ways Universities can help prevent misdiagnosis “Teaching medical students in a way that doesn’t always center on looking for the quickest, easiest diagnosis could mean better diagnoses for millions of people every year. Medical students are trained that ‘when you hear hoof beats, think horses, not zebras.’ This cognitive shortcut generally works well, but combined with the pressured reality of modern medical practice, it impacts a doctor’s capacity for critical thinking” as reported by Seattle times from an article named Millions of Patients are Being Treated for the Wrong Condition. First, Universities should teach future therapists and other health practitioners how to appropriately use the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders before diagnosing a client. Additionally, universities need to make sure studies are ready to work with a patient before trusting them to diagnose a client. Universities are not the only ones to blame when it comes to
The book “The Wisdom of Psychopaths” is the opposite of a book that I would choose to read for fun. The quote that got my attention the most was: “I think the main thing about psychopaths,” says Rossi, “is the fact that on the one hand they’re so normal, so much like the rest of us-but on the other, so different, Gacy used to dress up as a clown and perform at children’s parties…. That’s the thing about psychopaths. On the outside, they seem so ordinary, yet scratch beneath the surface, peek inside the crawl space, as it were, and you never know what you might find.” Sounds scary, is interesting how we know so many people but not know if they are psychopaths. Is scary to think that a psychopath can be working as a child care provider or a teacher.
Are psychopaths like Alice, “mad or bad?” (page 21). The question whether psychopaths are mentally ill or just a bad seed has caused much debate. Dr. Hare explains that the problem is not only labeling them mad or bad, but who deals with them. “Does the treatment or control of the psychopath rightly fall to mental health professionals or to the correctional system?” (page 21). Not only are professionals confused on how to classify psychopaths, but the media also creates confusion. Psychopath means mental illness and the media uses the word to classify someone as, “insane or crazy”, (page 22). Dr. Hare explains that even though psychopaths, “cannot be understood in terms of traditional views of mental illness”, they, “are not disoriented or out of touch with reality, nor do they experience the delusions, hallucinations, or intense subjective distress that characterize most other mental disorders…psychopaths are rational and aware of what they are doing and why.” (page 22). Most professionals use the term psychopath and sociopath as one in the same. Since DSM-III, antisocial personality disorder has been used in place of psychopath and sociopath. Philippe Pinel was the first psychiatrist describe a psychopath and Harvey Cleckley was one of the first successful publish a book describing a psychopath to the general public . Pinel used the term, “insanity without delirium”, (page 25). Cleckley wrote The Mask of Sanity, which influenced researchers in North America. Dr. Robert Hare explained that WWII was the first time clinicians felt a need to diagnosis people with psychopathy. Due to the draft, there was a need to weed out the people could disrupt or harm the military structure. Dr. Robert Hare realized how hard it was to identify a true psychopaths from rule breakers and developed the Psychopathy Checklist. This checklist is used world wide to help clinicians identify true
...res of the psychopaths and gives the reader various examples of these individuals playing out these characteristics in everyday life. A widely used checklist is provided so the reader can get a wide spanning view of what is accounted for when scoring a psychopath. This form of research is very important within the deceitfulness of this population; it allows the professional to ignore their words and examine their actions. Hare made it clear that it is not uncommon for there to be an emotional and verbal disconnect from their actions. With virtually no emotional functioning psychopaths feel no remorse for the offenses that they commit and it is very important that we work towards using the opportunities we have to study and assist these populations; not only for them but for ourselves.
The DSM has been found to be somewhat bias. There are some pros and cons to the DSM as well. Some have found that it leads to uniform and improved diagnosis, improves informed professional communication through uniformity, and provides the basis for a comprehensive educational tool. While others believe it can lead to diagnostic labels, by providing limited information on the relationship between environmental considerations and aspects of the mental health condition. Lastly, it does not describe intervention strategies (Wakefield,
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) is the comprehensive guide to diagnosing psychological disorders. This manual is published by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) and is currently in its fifth revision. Moreover, the manual is utilized by a multitude of mental health care professionals around the world in the process of identifying individuals with disorders and provides a comprehensive list of the various disorders that have been identified. The DSM serves as the essential resource for diagnosis of mental disorders based off of the various signs and symptoms displayed by individuals while also providing a basic reference point for the treatment of the different disorders. The manual attempts to remain scientific in its approach to identifying the underlying symptoms of each disorder while meeting the needs of the different psychological perspectives and the various mental health fields. The DSM has recently gone through a major revision from the DSM-IV-TR to the DSM-5 and contains many significant changes in both the diagnosis of mental disorders and their classifications.
The sickness of insanity stems from external forces and stimuli, ever-present in our world, weighing heavily on the psychological, neurological, and cognitive parts of our mind. It can drive one to madness through its relentless, biased, and poisoned view of the world, creating a dichotomy between what is real and imagined. It is a defense mechanism that allows one to suffer the harms of injustice, prejudice, and discrimination, all at the expense of one’s physical and mental faculties.
Saving Normal by Allen Frances is an exploration of the major diagnostic inflation currently occurring in the field of psychiatry. Frances, a prominent and accomplished psychiatrist, is best known for being chair on the task force in the production of the fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), often considered the “bible of psychiatry”. Being an insider, Frances has extensive knowledge of the causes of diagnostic inflation and exactly how the psychiatry field has faced difficulties. In Saving Normal, Frances delves into the history of diagnosis, presents the negative effects of its increase, and considers solutions to this rapid rise. Asserting that the the increase in diagnosis is out of control,
Fifty years ago, a person breaking the law would either be called crazy or a criminal. Today, the mental health community has much more specific diagnoses. However, the explanation of certain behaviors may be difficult because there is much overlap among mental conditions. In Bret Easton Ellis’ American Psycho, the protagonist, Patrick Bateman, is apparently simply a psychopath. However, Bateman can be diagnosed with other mental illnesses such as Asperger’s syndrome, obsessive-compulsive disorder, schizophrenia, narcissism, and antisocial personality disorder. In both the book and film adaptation, Bateman’s actions can be understood more accurately when analyzed in light of modern psychology.
Caplan, P. (2012), Psychiatry’s bible, the DSM, is doing more harm than good, The Washington Post, 27 April.
Schouten, Ronald. "Almost a Psychopath." The Insanity Defense. N.p., 16 Aug. 2012. Web. 13 Apr. 2014.