The Psychopaths, Sociopaths and Narcissists amongst us

If you have ever stopped to think about just how many people out and about in society are preprogrammed to have no respect for the law and lack the ability to have empathy for others, you may be surprised at the study results. In society that number is fairly low, but for people locked up in prison, they almost make up the entire prison population.

Many people have heard the terms psychopath, sociopath and narcissist but don’t know exactly what they mean, and how dangerous they can be and how to spot them. There are a few giveaways but in all cases a proper diagnosis should be made from someone who is credentialed in the field of mental health.

Someone who has Narcissist personality disorder (NPD) is perhaps the easiest to spot. One of the easiest clues is if they have a Facebook page, there is only photos of them. Photos of other people would only tend to clutter up their self-perceived greatness. They regularly brag about themselves and their nearly superhuman accomplishments, when in reality their performance may be just mediocre. In open society they make up 6.4% of the population, so chances are you know or have met one.

As far as being dangerous, they can be backstabbers at the least and are the reason about 20% of people who are seeking therapy for mental health are in therapy. What that means is 20% of the people seeing a mental health professional are victims of a narcissist. They will degrade and abuse other people relentlessly if in some way the feel threatened by that person shining over them. Spouses and their children are often their victims.

A sociopath is much more dangerous than a narcissist. Although both have no respect for the law, a sociopath does not even consider laws and they just do what they want. If someone gets hurt as a result of them breaking the law, their attitude is ‘better luck next time’. In the Batman theme movies, the Joker is a sociopath. They are smart and cunning and often give deep thought to what they will do. In society they make up 4% of the population. Charles Manson is also a sociopath, however perhaps the most recent sociopath to make the news is Martin Shkreli.

A psychopath is even worse than a sociopath, and fortunately they only make up 1% of the population. The major difference between a sociopath and a psychopath is a psychopath looks to control people and harm people for personal pleasure. A sociopath would stab you with a knife, and a psychopath would not only stab you, they would go about twisting the knife to see you suffer. Most if not all serial killers are psychopaths.

Ironically psychopaths, sociopaths and narcissists find their way to power just because they will do whatever it takes, and eliminate people in the way by whatever means they come up with. Donald Trump is a narcissist and you can see how he clearly eliminated everyone else running for President.

In prison, sociopaths and psychopaths make up 85% of the prison population. Narcissists are included in that 85% but only make up a small percentage. The other 15% of people in jail just made a mistake that landed them there. For the 15%, chances are they would be reformed as a result of their incarceration. However for the other 85%, they are just hard wired that way and would likely spend the rest of their lives in and out of jail.

 


Comments are closed.