I am only 20 and have been in recovered for less than a year, I am aware of my psychopathic traits but I am not an absolute psychopath- do keep in mind that I was completely insane when I took that evaluation. I would probably come out with slight psychopathic tendencies today- less then 50% for sure. At the time I answered “yes” to questions like “I have been in a physical fight lately” and “I have been in trouble with the law lately”. I would answer “no” today, but I would still answer yes to questions like “I enjoy intimidating people” and “I enjoy arguing”.
I mean come on, the slogan for my powerlifting gym is “inspire some, intimidate the rest”. That’s not that psychopathic. And I enjoy arguing because if someone wants to argue, they asked for it. I never start arguments.
That is a great slogan for the gym but not for someone going into the mental health field. Could you imagine reading this sign in your pdocs office? Pretty sure a couple of my pdocs had this on a sticker on their bathroom mirror.
I feel sorry for those seeking help from someone with this attitude.
Are you sure you want to work with actual people?
You seem intelligent enough to consider working in the pharmaceutical end of this field.
Honestly I would prefer to be a professor and do my own research. Im already concentrating in Behavioral Neuroscience and not Clinical Psychology. There is a documentary out there about psychopaths and the psychologist who it follows shows a scan of his own brain and says “I am a psychopath” at the end. It doesnt mean you are a stereotypical one, it just means you have a short fuse and can be extremely aggressive and cold to others’ emotions when people offend you. I was raised by my mother who used to be a nun, and you would never guess that I have some form of psychopathy because she taught me how to behave regardless of what I think/
I could do clinical, sure, because I can control my behavior regardless of thinking that a client is a loser or just needs a kick in the nuts to check if he even has any. I am very aware of my tendencies and only my closest friends know that my evaluation said “psychopath” somewhere in it, they saw me get aggressive one night when I was drunk, on antidepressants and not on antipsychotics.
That night was a disaster, I was taken to a crisis assessment center and handcuffed after being surrounded by seven cops. That was the only time that I lost control over my tendencies, and I was not even diagnosed with schizophrenia at the time so I was incorrectly medicated, given a serotonin agonist (antidepressant) and no antipsychotic, which is not a good combo, to say the least. I had also has about 18 drinks.
I am aware of my condition and do not hurt people- in fact I attended a NAMI meeting a while back and shared my experience with the mother of a son who was having a psychotic break, I did my best to share my knowledge and experience and I enjoyed helping her. A colleague of mine is introducing me to her paranoid schizophrenia friend to give him advice, I am looking forward to helping him.
Im not void of empathy, I just have aggression and sexual issues, and my parents taught me how to behave when I was a kid. You would only know I am psychopathic if you looked at my workout playlists on my ipod, knew how often I engage in sexual behavior (two hours ago), how often I masturbate, how much I can lift, looked those drawings of skulls I made when I was psychotic (there somewhere in the creativty section, i can post them again if you are curious) ect.
I bet you would could be decent in the research field.
This part concerns me. I don’t believe anyone seeking help or reassurance from things they can’t control or understand wants be confronted with this attitude, regardless of how you believe you behave this attitude becomes transparent, For the person experiencing symptoms, this is far from helpful.
Your attitude might be better served in a “recovered” type of group where they would benefit from a challenge to their self-preserving thinking-?
Or I could be an evaluator and just tell people theyre insane and send them to a psychiatrist…
Insane people need firm talks about their diagnosis upon being diagnosed. My evaluator was no ■■■■■■■■ when he told me that I was crazy. He looked me straight in the eye, made sure I was looking back, and simply said “you are very crazy.”
that was my first moment of recovery. I knew that I could stop worrying about the delusions and that it was not my fault, that my brain was malfunctioning and that I needed to get it fixed by a professional.
Sorry to butt in, and it’s not like my 2 cents matter in this, but of the many post’s of yours that I have read; I’ve always thought you would do very well on the research side of things.
Not due to anything other then you speak more warmly and enthusiastically about the why and how of the brain instead of the why and how of the resulting action.
I can see your path heading more toward research due to the value I’ve heard you put into research and your retention of that detail and your avidity about how drug interactions work with the dopamine levels in the brain, the cross toxicology of meds, the way the synapses fire or misfire and why.
All areas of managing mental illness are very important. Lab work and research affirms good clinical practice and helps dismiss harmful practice. Just in what I have read, you seem to have more of a passion developing for the research side. Your writing becomes more open and you seem to ponder more when you write about the research side of things. You write with more joy.
In my humble opinion, your passion for research is why I would hope you follow that path.
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There are a lot of successful psychopaths in society. Not all of them are destructive.
Successful at what? If psychopaths were benevolent, they would’t have that sticky label that defines them as dangerous to the (mental) health of all living beings.
Giving a lot of “likes” may sway your vote, but I’m still waiting for your answer to my question whether you would want him for your pdoc/therapist?
I don’t think he said he was actually diagnosed as a “psychopath”. Probably just a mix of Narcissistic PD or Antisocial PD.
Honestly though, the way it seems a lot of Pdocs are, I wouldn’t be surprised if they were psychopaths. He’d fit right in.
Also, as SZ are you ALWAYS psychotic? Do YOU think ppl should tell YOU what you should be limited to because of your SZ? Same goes for his psychopathy (if it really is 100% psychopathy). If he actually manipulates ppl to do his bidding at a cost to themselves, then yes he would be doing more harm than good. Though, saying he shouldn’t be what he wants to be… that’s like saying anyone with MI can’t change their behaviors/fears and recover to become what they want in life.
What I was trying to relay was that there are many psychopaths or people with psychopathic tendencies out there in society. Some of have no self control and will completely manipulate others, many will blend in with the “regular folks” and will not try to hurt others. It is sometimes difficult to detect psychopathy in people. There are a good amount of psychopaths in our society our neighbors, lawyers, politicians, and yes even doctors.
Do I think that a psychopath would make a good doctor? If this doctor practices enough self control and discipline - why not. Psychopaths tend to hurt family members and those in intimate relations with them.
See the thing is, it is almost impossible to detect psychopaths in our society. They kind of blend into the their environment, like chameleons would
I was partners with a full blown bipolar psychopath, and shes well into med school making good grades. She is going to have people’s lives in her hands, literally. She told me all about her psychopathic behavior, most notably she threatened a colleague and was ordered by the dean of her school to check in to the local mental hospital for an evaluation, and she tortured and killed a friend’s exotic fish she was supposed to be taking care of it while her friend was on vacation.
You would never guess that she was more psychopathic than I was. I never tortured or killed anything or anyone, I just got aggressive while psychotic, on the wrong meds and extremely drunk, that’s the worst i’ve ever done. And to top it all of, yes, psychopathy is actually prominent in politicians and businessmen, they get pretty far. The stereotypical lower class working man psychopath is the kind who ends up in prison most often, theyre the ones who rob liquor stores on their first day out of prison, theyre stupid and poor as well as psychopathic. Or Bernie Madoff. He was not stupid and not poor.
Vladamir Putin seems like one.
Some historians think that Winston Churchill was a psychopath (he was narcissistic and abused substances) and he is idolized.
Hitler was a psychopath too. His right hand man, Goering was one no doubt, I wrote a paper on his psychopathy. Not saying he was good, Im saying he was good at what he did. Both of them were. Hitler was an outstanding leader and is rather unmatched in his success at coming from nothing to nearly ruling the world. Historians admit that he was an incredible leader.
Psychopathy is hard-wired, its like schizophrenia, you just have it. Telling me what I can’t do based on what I am born with is just what you hate to hear from others about your schizophrenia. I try hard and do well to overcome psychopathy, if you knew me in person you would never guess that I have it. It’s not a choice, its just how my brain works, but I catch myself before I behave violently and I have a longer temper than I used to. Basically, I am fine unless I get insulted, then I get irate in an instant. But now I control myself, I used to spit on people if they insulted me.
thank you, @Apokalypz, you made a very good point. Just because I am one doesnt mean I am controlled by it, and I will not do things like get mental patients to suck my dick, im not a raving psychopath.
Taking my sisters bent… that my 2 cents don’t matter… just a coffee pondering… I always pictured you going in a completely different direction and being a physical trainer or being on T.V. in the fitness industry. You could be a “boot camp” guy on a T.V. show. They make loads of money too.
Don’t put words in my mouth. I haven’t told you not to do anything. Obviously your trying to get empathy to divert the focus on how you admit you like to manipulate people, think less of those not on par with yourself, and if insulted, are prone to attack.
It doesn’t take a genius to figure out you should’t be around anyone seeking help. Maybe I gave you more credit than you deserve.
Society is full of psychopaths, and the most dangerous ones are the one’s that everybody else recognizes as such, but still allows them to hurt others.
Hitler was indeed a dangerous person, but it was the many that blindly obeyed what he told them to do and did nothing to stop him that were the ultimate in evil.
Intelligence used to look down on others is intelligence that is grossly misused. The real gift of intelligence is the increased ability to make things better for the poorer/weaker/and more vulnerable amongst us.
No Im not making that up, you’re telling me I can’t do what I want to do. Those three things are not grounds to say that I can’t be a shrink, and I quit verbally attacking people when insulted. I am only manipulative to people sexually, and that has nothing to do with psych patients, I wouldn’t try to get in their pants, and by the time I have a Ph.D. I will think less of other people who aren’t on par with myself, thats normal in the academic community- or else degrees would mean nothing. That’s the point of a doctorate. What kind of “Dr.” would not realize that they are better than other people? That’s why they’re called “Dr.”, because they are superior in knowledge to other people.
Anyway, a bunch of professors wont be asking you for a recommendation if I were to go and try to get a clinical license.
The fact that you see a Ph.D as an excuse to think less of others shows how little you respect the true value of having an above average possibly good intellect.
Would you like it if i looked down on you because you are merely quite clever?. Not that i would because a person’s worth is measured by much more than their intelligence
Im not saying its an excuse, its a legitimate reason to think of one’s self as superior…and i dont have “possibly good” intellect, I have a 3.96 and take honors sections and am on a full ride due to my ACT scores. Im also a compeititive athlete. That’s elite.
