Psychoanalytic Summary

“Psychopathy is a personality disorder characterized by an inability to form human attachment, aggressive narcissism, and antisocial behavior defined by a constellation of affective, interpersonal and behavioral characteristics, most of which society views as pejorative” [1]. Some of these characteristics include irresponsibility, grandiosity, cunning, deceitfulness, selective impulsivity, sexual promiscuity, lack of empathy, etc. People who are psychopathic display not only antisocial behavior but also emotional impairment such as the lack of guilt. They are able to prey on others using their charm, deceit, violence or any other methods that allow them to get what they want. A strong feature of most of the behavior

The word “psychopath” may call to mind the sadistic Hollywood cannibal Hannibal Lector or the infamous serial killer from the 1970s Ted Bundy. This perception of psychopathy is accurate but incomplete. Psychopaths are significantly more likely to make contact with the criminal justice system and their crimes also tend to be more violent than those of other criminals (Carré et al., 2013). Psychopaths are found to be responsible for approximately 50% of serious crimes and make up about 20% of North American prisons (Hare, 1999).  Psychopaths are notorious for being among society’s most dangerous individuals; however, this category not only refers to the ruthless serial killers, sex-offenders, and stereotypical convicts. In reality, most psychopaths are not criminals. In fact, most psychopaths possess a superficial charm that makes them rather appealing. This paper will focus less on the extreme, criminalized psychopath and more on those whom we might unknowingly encounter in everyday life. After exploring the diagnostic criteria for psychopaths and how the qualities associated with psychopathy tend to be favored in the workplace, this paper will examine how the disorder poses ethical problems for corporations and how society is dealing with the issue.

Psychopathy is a personality disorder characterized by enduring diminished empathy, remorse, and disinhibited or bold behavioring antisocial behavior, A psychopath is a person with a psychopathic personality,which manifests as a moral and antisocial behavior. They lack the ability to love or establish meaningful relationships. Psychopaths fail to learn from experience. Psychopathy is among one of the most difficult disorders to recognize. A psychopath can appear normal or even charming. Underneath, they lack conscience and empathy. This makes them manipulative, volatile and sometimes (but by no means always) criminal. There are many symptoms associated with psychopaths.

Hirstein (2013) acknowledges that although ‘psychopaths’ may possess various dimensions of specific traits they can still be neatly coalesced into the following core set: uncaring, shallow emotions,

The researchers, based at King's College London's Institute of Psychiatry, said the differences in psychopaths' brains mark them out even from other violent criminals with anti-social personality disorders (ASPD), and from healthy non-offenders. The study showed that psychopaths, who are characterised by a lack of empathy, had less grey matter in the areas of the brain important for understanding other people's emotions.

Psychopaths, in their brains, are wired differently. This leads to almost no remorse for any crime they commit as well as never feeling guilty for their choices. A psychopath view people in their daily lives and society as pawns to be played with. Psychopaths are given the capability to “play” with their “pawns” due to the personality they portray to the outside world. Often viewed as charming and trustworthy, a psychopath gains entrance into the lives of those they wish to manipulate.

There are various physical and behavioral differences between a psychopath and an average person. In the book The Social Brain: Evolution and Pathology, doctors of psychiatry Hedda Ribbert and Wulf Schiefenhövel explain psychopath’s core features as a lack of empathy, persistent disregard for the feelings of others, reduced emotion, and have autonomic hyperresponsivity to sad and fearful

Examples of these symptoms are hallucinations, delusions, and disordered thoughts. In a particular study on psychopaths there were 21 trial subjects and they were split into 3 different subjects. They were personal data, forms of psychopathic behavior, and characteristics of the psychopath (Cason, 1946, p.1833). A few other symptoms are selfishness, irresponsibility, being uncaring to other’s plight, and shallow emotions. Psychopaths tend to have a weak connection with the emotional state of mind. They don’t realize or care about other people’s feelings and/or their thoughts. Psychopaths do not realize the fear in other people’s faces or minds. Psychopaths tend to blame other people for things that are actually their fault. For example if they have just stole something from someone or just murdered someone (as psychopaths tend to do), they are going to blame someone else for it. Everyone has their own problems with the truth, but psychopaths are far worse with this problem. These types of people do not have good responsibility for much of anything as they forget much of the time what they are responsible for. Persons afflicted with this disease lack ability to cope with others. It affects how they deal with those other people, whether it is at their job or just friends that they may know and see on a regular basis. A lot of psychopaths are undetected or not noticeable. The people that know them best sometimes don’t

Many things set psychopaths apart from normal people, but the qualities that psychopaths possess are what truly make them psychopaths. The brains' of psychopaths are always damaged in away that affects their ability to feel emotion the same way we do as well as their ability to control themselves from bringing harm to others. In "Exploring the mind of a Killer", a Ted Talk given by Jim Fallon, it is explained that all psychopaths "had damage to their orbital cortex...and also the interior part of the temporal lobe." The orbital cortex has a lot to do with emotions and decision making, so if it is damaged, the person may have trouble making desk ions skillfully and feeling accurate emotions for their situations (both traits that psychopaths

When most people hear the word psychopath their mind forms a picture of a wild-eyed, rambling, lunatic who is often restrained in a straitjacket. The media has helped this belief along the way with slasher horror films and grisly CSI episodes depict these strange humans. However, the average psychopath is much harder to spot than most people believe. In fact, most of them are extremely difficult to distinguish from ordinary humans. They outwardly appear normal and many do not find it difficult to blend into common society. They can interact with others, hold successful jobs, and effectively keep themselves out of trouble. Most are not the sadistic killers many people think they are. Psychopaths are people born with problems (Bartol 105) or

“Psychopaths, who are characterized by being completely amoral and concerned only about their own power and selfish pleasures, may be overrepresented in the business environment. Where greed is considered good and profitmaking is the most important value, psychopaths can thrive” (Svalavitz, Maia). Psychopaths are actually bad leaders: they do not get along well with others, they care only about themselves, and they manipulate, lie and cheat. All of these personality traits are the opposite of those found in true leaders, but they make up for their lack of leadership and social skills through subtle

As an Occupational Therapist there are a number of things that can be used and considered while working. One perspective that would be useful when working with a patient is the psychoanalytic perspective. This is when, “people move through a series of stages in which they confront conflicts between biological drives and social expectations. How these conflicts are resolved determines the person’s ability to learn, to get along with others, and to cope with anxiety” (Berk, 2010, p.12). In this case as an Occupational Therapist I could use this perspective to see how the patients I work with adjust and cope with learning certain activities. This perspective along with the social learning theory where people learn through imitation or observational learning

Psychopathy is a disease of the mind, in which the psychological state of someone has emotional or behavioral problems serious enough to require psychiatric evaluation. Psychopaths have no concern for the feelings of others and a complete disregard of any sense of social obligation. Psychopaths are characterized by lack of empathy, poor impulse control and manipulative behaviors. They use charm, manipulation, intimidation, and the use of severe to mild violence to satisfy their own needs.

And that’s just the easy way of saying it. In order to understand the lack of empathy, you need to know what empathy is. Empathy is just being able to understand the way other people are feeling and being able to share those emotions. Dr. Cummins in her research says that there is a neural circuit known as ACC or anterior cingulate cortex. It’s activated when we see other people being emotional, hurt, or feeling anything really, that allows us to feel that way for them (Cummins). Like when someone passes away your ACC is activated allowing you to suffer. Your suffering can trigger in other people, allowing them to feel your hurt. In some people, if that circuit is hit too frequently, it can cause a burnout. Leading to the lack of empathy that psychopaths

Human beings are unique and individual in one way or another with different personality theories. Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, and Alfred Alder psychoanalytic theories about the human mind were very similar and different at the same time. To this day, attempts to prove the theories of these men are still taking place. All three of these men agreed that human behavior, as an adult, was a direct result of the individual's childhood experiences that would paint a lasting impression on the world around them. Freud, Jung, and Adler believed parenting and childhood development was the significant impact for shaping the personality. Dreaming and daydreaming played a major role in shaping character as well.