What to do if your kid is a psychopath?

Great Debates
21

I don’t think anybody does know. Sociopaths come from all kinds of families and generally have normal parents and siblings. Certainly some of them come from horribly abusive and unloving situations, but many wonderfully empathic people do as well.

Then there are those children who are simply abandoned and never touched as infants as small children (such as those from Romanian orphanages, remember that?). Growing up without any love whatsoever does stunt the sense of love, and result in children who are unable to attach to a loving caregiver. They are easily frustrated, violent, and have difficult (possibly unsolvable) emotional problems, but that’s not the same as being a sociopath AFAIK. Sociopaths don’t want love, and these children have developed abnormally because they wanted it and didn’t get it. They are incapable of ‘passing’ in society, while sociopaths are very good at it.

22

I’m pretty sure it’s tradition.

23

Fought it, but in the end had to pay $5k (the amount set aside for a downpayment on a house I had been going to buy). The county is set up as a profit center. Therefore, they had to collect something. If they did not get a check from my for some amount they deemed acceptable, they would have simply filed with the state as unpaid child support, believe it or not! Our tax dollars in action here!

24

BTW, “sociopath” and “psychopath” are synonyms, right?

25

Wikipedia on Antisocial Personality Disorder (as officially classified in DSM-IV, the standard diagnostic manual of the psychiatric profession)
and the (not DSM-IV classified) “psychopathy checklist”.

26

This is a trick question, isn’t it? Just because someone’s a psychopath doesn’t mean that they’re going to commit a crime.

27

I have two nephews that display poor emapthic skills. They both have a development disorders on the autism spectrum.

If I was meeting the older of the two for the first time without any knowledge of his problems I would probably consider his behavior somewhat like a psychopath.

The distinction between an austistic reaction and a true psychopath would be the ability of the individual to accurately predict the reaction of another due to his or her behavior. A psychopath would know what kind reaction his behavior would bring from others and not care. Someone with a high functioning autism would have difficulty predicting the feelings/reactions of others.

In a child I would think this distinction might be difficult to discern, depending on the age.

IANA(expert/child psychologist ect.) Just a parent tryin to learn.

I realize the original OP assumes a 100% accurate diagnosis. In that case I’d research true expert opinions on treatment via child psychologists.

28

Which might or might not be effective, depending on whether you’re living in stageworld or screenworld.

29

I’m seeing the words “psychopath” and “sociopath” used pretty interchangably here. My impression was always that the difference between a psychopath and a sociopath was that a psychopath is physically violent, while a sociopath is rarely violent, merely manipulative. What is the difference, exactly?

30

I have heard it explained in layman’s terms that a psychopath does not know the difference between right and wrong. A sociopath, on the other hand, knows the difference but does not care.

31

Not really. It’s been stated that if a person doesn’t develop a conscience and some empathy towards other creatures by age four, it’s very hard if not impossible to get one later in life. Whatever the factors are, they are around very early in life.

Jeffrey Dahmer, sociopath extraordinare, had a very normal early life. So what’s involved is anyone’s guess.

32

I’d train the child in all the tricks and dodges hir old man had to learn to live among the sheep.

33

The diagnosis of “Antisocial personality disorder” that we seem to be shorthanding “psychopath” does require at least three of the following to be true:

  1. failure to conform to social norms with respect to lawful behaviors as indicated by repeatedly performing acts that are grounds for arrest
  2. deceitfulness, as indicated by repeated lying, use of aliases, or conning others for personal profit or pleasure
  3. impulsivity or failure to plan ahead
  4. irritability and aggressiveness, as indicated by repeated physical fights or assaults
  5. reckless disregard for safety of self or others
  6. consistent irresponsibility, as indicated by repeated failure to sustain steady work or honor financial obligations
  7. lack of remorse, as indicated by being indifferent to or rationalizing having hurt, mistreated, or stolen from another

1,2,4,5 and 7 all contain criminal activities. So if we need three or more to make the diagnosis, then criminal activity is sort of inherent in the dianosis, isn’t it? I can stretch my brain and imagine someone only guilty of 3 and 6 and never criminally conning someone, only lying, but I find it hard to believe that my lazy, lying brother in law is going to get an actual dianosis of APD. There is room for professional opinion on how severe these things are.

The DSM-IV criteria are controversial, and lots of medical professionals think they should be changed - that the diagnostic criteria for APD are too wordy, and that they focus too much on the behavior, and not enough on the personality. For example, one could perform most of the above and later be very, very sorry that it happened. Most of us (and most doctors) would consider a lack of remorse and guilt essential in labeling someone APD or “psychopathic”, but it’s not a required criterion.

Neither term is a DSM-IV one. Both would be covered by a diagnosis of APD. “Psychopath” is a legal term in some states, and different states have different definitions.

Most mental health professionals seem to consider the two synonomous (and outdated). Even pages which claim to illuminate the difference soon begin to use the terms interchangably.

Wikipedia’s entries for “Sociopathy” and “Psychopathy” both go to this page.

34

This sort of reminds me of that Law and Order SVU episode dealing with a shrink whose son is killed by another boy.

[spoiler]Doctor: “I agree, sociopathy cannot be diagnosed in a child. Everyone knows that. I know that.”

…

Doctor shoots kid in cold blood.

…

Doctor: "Well, I had to kill him, he was a sociopath. And I got away with to! I even get to the tell the DA straight to her face directly after the trial that I am in fact guilty of the crime I was just aquitted of, including lying under oath! And for some reason, there’s nothing she can do about it because apparently neither perjury charges nor civil cases consistently exist in the Law and Order universe!
[/spoiler]

Here’s the thing, though. You CAN’T diagnose sociopathy in children in most cases because there are too many other things that can cause the apparent symptoms at that point. Children NATURALLY have somewhat shallow understandings of social norms compared to adults (that’s why we treat their bad acts differently in the first place), and they naturally have a much less developed sense of themselves and other people. They are more reactive and less reflective. And there are also any number of personality disorders that can for a time confuse the issue.

Of course, once a child who otherwise seems to have many of the major signs of sociopathy actually kills or tortures a human being, all that uncertainty begins to drop away.

There is also a big big difference between people that are lazy and lying and people that are sociopaths. Lazy lying brother in laws are often just that: selfish and lazy. But in their heart of hearts, they still care about other people, they just don’t put much effort into doing anything about it. They often even know that they are cads, and hate themselves for it, but still also lack the ability to change. Autistic people, likewise, may seem to lack the ability to make emotional connection or intuit the feelings of others, but their focus is often at worse only anti-social in the sense that they don’t want to socialize because its too troubling and difficult, not because they lack the ability to respect or appreciate the existence of others.

Sociopaths are different. They can be functional, they often have no problem engaging in the social world, and you can befriend them. But they truly are “empty” in the sense that most of them feel the world is shallow and empty, paper-thin. They certainly have no shame other than “I was stupid and got found out.”

35

We adopted a child two years ago who has now been diagnosed as a sociopath with homicidal ideations. he has threatened to kill us numerous times. we have tried to no avail to have him committed. he has served 30 days in ydc. the last time he was arrested for terroristic threats against his family they found two knives in his room, that he did not get from our home. we keep all things locked away. they sentenced the child to house arrest. seriously. he is locked in the house with the very people he is planning to harm.

36

No they are not, and that has made this thread very confused.

37

AFAIK, from a clinical standpoint, they are in fact synonymous. (No cite available, SBT.)

The syndrome is known as Reactive Attachment Disorder – which isn’t related to psychopathy at all, but can manifest similar symptoms.

As with any psychiatric condition, a cure is only possible if they wish to be cured – and nearly all psychopaths do not wish to be cured. Their lack of empathy and innate charm (coughDick Cheney*cough) is a major survival trait, from their point of view.

Think of it this way – from the psychopath’s point of view, there is nothing wrong with them or act they commit upon others. Simple as that.

38

I’m finding conflicting information about this. Sociopathic PD and Psychopathic PD are somtimes being classified as the same, other times as different aspects of Antisocial PD, while others are disagreeing and calling them completely different. So I don’t know and can’t tell at the moment.

Still makes the thread confused though because we don’t know what kind of behavior each poster is referring to.

39

Huh, I guess Eve’s not back.

40

Well, that’s not quite right. The distinction between psychopathy and sociopathy simply isn’t codified, and in practice their use involves personal idiosyncrasy. Psychopathy isn’t a diagnosis in the DSM; whether sociopathy is a subclass of antisocial personal disorder isn’t agreed upon.

Psychiatry is … fuzzy.

Edit: Which isn’t to demean it in any way. I owe a lot to modern psychiatry.