Touching Spirit Bear

According to studies led by King’s College researchers, it has been confirmed that “psychopathy is a distinct subgroup of antisocial personality disorder (ASPD)” (Gregory et. al n.p) and similarly to psychopathy, the more severe ASPD behavioral patterns are, the symptoms can be referred to as sociopathic or psychopathic. Furthermore, according to Nigel Blackwood, Ma, MD.MRCPsych, “MRI scans...found that psychopaths had structural brain abnormalities in key areas of their ‘social brains’” (Gregory et. al n.p). The areas of the brain, in which are deficient in psychopaths, are important when comprehending an individual emotions’, intentions, and moral

Cullen is an exemplary example for a person experiencing anti-social personality disorder. He possess superficial charm, a grandiose sense of self worth, pathological lying, lack of remorse, and, most of all, he believes that it is the hospital administrator’s and orders fault for not stopping or reporting him ("Serial Killer Gets Prime Time Audience." 1). Psychopaths have the ability to charm others into

Have you ever thought about how everything that goes around comes around ending up like a circle? Circles are always connected and so is everything around us. In the novel Touching Spirit Bear by Ben Mikealson, Cole is sent to an isolated island to reflect on his actions. At the island, he gets mauled by the spirit bear and almost dies. This lets him think about what he has done and allows him to change. The motif of circles that Cole encounters, changes him and influences him for the better.

Cole is a 15 year old juvenile delinquent that has been in trouble with the law many times. But this last time there was no excuse, Cole had robbed a store. The word had worked its way around school and Peter Driscoll was the one who decided to snitch on him. At the end of the day Cole cornered peter and beat him senseless smashing his face against the sidewalk. Cole beat peter so bad that Peter can no longer function regularly, he will often wake up in the middle of the night screaming. Peter can’t walk normally anymore either. Cole needs to change his out of control attitude because the next time he might kill someone.

Firstly, let us look at what exactly a sociopath is defined as. Sociopath by definition is an antisocial personality disorder (APD), it is also known as psychopathy. According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders published by the American Psychiatric Association (DSM-5), an antisocial personality disorder is “a pervasive pattern of disregard for and violation of the rights of others occurring since the age of 15.” Three of the following traits must also be identifiable in these people; failure to conform to social norms, fail

In Ben Mikaelsen’s Touching Spirit Bear, Cole Matthews is a troubled adolescent who often acts out with aggressive behavior. Cole begins the novel as a very violent teenager, however, near the end he grasp how to deal with his anger.In the first chapter of the book, cole struggles with dealing with his emotions in a healthy way. Instead of working issues out he responds murderously towards Peter. Later in the novel, he is still furious, but he is beginning to alter how he acts. Finally in the end he has transformed from being enraged all the time, to responding to the world around him, in a positive peaceful manner.

The realistic fiction novel Touching Spirit Bear, by Ben Mikaelsen, the passage indicates that anger can never be forgotten. On Cole’s second trip to the island, after his mauling by the Spirit Bear, Cole still struggles with his anger. Edwin takes him to a freezing spring and teaches him, using two sides of a stick as an symbol, that you can never get rid of your anger, but you can focus on happier times. After Cole leaves the water and soaks in Edwin’s meaning, he concludes that Edwin’s message “makes more sense than all the weird things the counselors and psychologist have told me” (Mikaelsen 146). Cole will never stop being resentful of his life, how his parents neglect and abuse him, how everyone seemingly wants to just get rid of him.

The first step in diagnosing someone as a sociopath is to create a standard of sociopathic behavior. Formally, sociopathy is referred to as Antisocial Personality Disorder or ASPD. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders defines ASPD as “A mental health condition in which a person has a long-term pattern of manipulating, exploiting, or violating the rights of others"(Sociopathic Traits 1) and lists seven identifying traits. It is important to understand that ASPD is a condition of varying degrees. To be considered a sociopath, one does not have to display all seven traits. In fact, there is much debate about what level of sociopathic behavior deserves a diagnosis of ASPD. Possibly the most widely accepted scale is the Hare PCL-R, which ranks sociopathic tendencies. Even though Hare is the most commonly accepted standard, it is still somewhat disputed. The professional agreement, it seems, is that ASPD can vary in intensity. Therefore, even though he does not display the

A common dictionary defines a sociopath to be a person with a personality disorder manifesting itself in extreme antisocial attitudes and behavior and a lack of conscience. This is merely one aspect of the subject Vasilisa Dolohov. The youngest of the Dolohov bloodline of 4, Lissa was never one to forget this. A part of her always knew that she was considered… Disparate in correlation to her siblings. Ridiculed beyond belief with horrendous names like the mistake or freak by her own blood, Lissa concealed in the shadowed sanctuary that was labeled to be her bedroom. The only form of company was when she was with herself, as she was often found conversing quietly and buried deep within a page-turning novel. When craving human interaction,

A sociopath, by definition, is a person who is extremely antisocial and lacks conscience. Eastwood’s character demonstrates these attributes with his cruel and unusual actions. However, strangely enough, he becomes the moral center as the movie progresses and gives the people of Lago to choose to use their conscience. He allows the townspeople to choose from their corrupted state to something better. Still, this character shows his sociopathic tendencies in the first fifteen minutes of the movie, when the Stranger raped a townswoman, Callie.

Antisocial personality disorders are immense, and psychopaths and sociopaths are just two of the various personality disorders. An antisocial personality disorders is defined as, “a type of chronic mental condition in which a person's ways of thinking, perceiving situations and relating to others are dysfunctional — and destructive.” (Mayo Clinic Staff). Sociopaths are a direct correlation to antisocial personality

“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

A psychopath is traditionally defined as someone with a personality disorder characterized by persistent antisocial behavior, impaired empathy and remorse, and bold, disinhibited, egotistical traits. In society, psychopaths display specific characteristics such as lack of empathy, which may identify and explain how they respond in certain situations.

The behavior of a sociopath is so close to normal it is extremely hard to diagnose. A sociopath is a person that acts against society and their sole purpose it seems is to act against the laws of the given land their end. The sociopath will in most cases become violent and abuse drugs and alcohol to facilitate the violent behavior. The violence in many cases is the result of sub-concious decisions that might lead to murdering or assaulting someone for no reason. When a sociopath is attacking someone they will inflict more pain if the victim fights back.

A sociopath is simply someone who is unable to truly conform to, relate to, or adapt to society’s ways, norms, and attitudes. They are simply unable to connect with the rest of society, and therefore act much differently compared to “normal” individuals. Not only that, but the way they think about things usually revolves around themselves, which results in choices that only benefits them. In this way