When Are Mass Shooters Psychopaths and When Are They Mentally Ill and What’s the Difference?

After the Washington Navy Yard shooting rampage by Aaron Alexis I had planned to write a post entitled: “What? Another Psychopath?” I’d planned to tie in some well known media psychopaths, e.g., for the nearly 18 million of you who watched the summer CBS science fiction drama “Under the Dome” that Stephen King and Steven Spielberg produced – that would be “Big Jim” Rennie and Maxine Seagrave. (The jury is still out on Junior.)

Then we got the news that Alexis thought he was being followed from hotel to hotel, being kept awake, and was being talked to through the walls, floor and ceiling of his hotel, using some sort of “microwave machine.”  His writings stated he was being subjected to a mind-control technique called extremely low frequency (ELF) electromagnetic waves. (See conspiracy theories.)

So it turns out this mass shooter is NOT a psychopath – he is probably a seriously mentally ill person who is psychotic, i.e., having abnormal thinking and perceptions. People who are psychotic lose touch with reality and have hallucinations and delusions.

Hallucinations are seeing, hearing, or feeling things that aren’t there and delusions are false beliefs (e.g., the tv is sending you secret messages). Ruling out substance abuse problems or a brain tumor, Alexis would most likely have been diagnosed with some type of psychotic disorder.

It is important to note that the vast majority of seriously mentally ill people, even the psychotic ones, do not become violent. The only treatment we have for this disorder, at this time, is anti-psychotic medications.

So now you understand a serious mental illness–the psychotic disorder.

Before we discuss psychopaths, I have to digress and explain that psychopath is not technically a mental health term. It was coined by Hervey Cleckley in “The Mask of Sanity.” Also sociopath is not in current usage.

According to the DSM IV-TR (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, aka, the psychiatric bible), the current term is anti-social personality disorder (ASPD). It means, against the norms of our society.

But ASPD doesn’t have quite the ring or the social context that both sociopath and psychopath have. So I will use all the terms interchangeably. Just know that they all mean essentially the same thing.  Also note that all three terms describe a disorder of the personality, or a personality disorder. This is technically not a mental illness, hence our first difference between psychopath and a person who has a psychotic disorder.

Psychopaths have a profound lack of empathy and remorse, (aka, a conscience). They don’t show alot of emotion (except to create an impression) or feel what other people feel. At the same time they can be charming and manipulative. They are motivated by power and control, greed, sex, or misplaced loyalty (think Mafia, repressive regimes) but they are not mentally ill or out of touch with reality.  This is a key.

We could argue about whether or not they tend toward the delusional – but only in their world view –but they are not psychotic as in “the tv and the walls are talking to me.” These are the people we tend to just think of as evil.

Approximately twenty-five percent of the prison population, by the way, meets the criteria for ASPD. They are more often males than females. We therapists have almost no success with them – as they just tell us what we want to hear: see above, charming and manipulative.

The traits tend to be inherited. Recent studies also show a brain abnormality. At this time, there is no medication for a psychopath, except perhaps to treat an underlying anxiety disorder. But it still wouldn’t help the personality disorder.

They will suggest taking precautionary procedures like sleeping in viagra on a separate bedroom with a locked door. sildenafil price in india They should pack the product in a new form: gel form for oral intake, which is consumed directly from a sachet, or dissolving it in drinks Non-alcoholic. Patient who are suffering from some cruel disease like cancer, HIV/AIDS, etc. must consult the doctor before having these pills, since your doctor knows your pdxcommercial.com generic viagra rx medical history diagnostically prescribes this medicine. Insufficient or improper blood does not discount levitra pdxcommercial.com make the organ become erect. And now you know the difference between the personality disordered psychopath (aka ASPD, sociopath), and the seriously mentally ill psychotic. And you also know that the Navy Yard mass shooter was more than likely mentally ill, not a psychopath.

If you think someone you love suffers from a serious mental illness, do your best to get them to a doctor and on medication. If you have any inkling that they are in that small category of people who could be a danger to themselves or others, report them to the authorities at once. “If you see something, say something!”

If you think someone you love is a psychopath, RUN! for your life. But on your way out, tell everyone you know, including the authorities, if you think they are in the murderous category of psychopaths.

Before we close this topic of the criminally psychopathic, let’s talk about the successful psychopath.  That’s right, according to industrial psychologist Paul Babiak, and psychopathy expert Robert Hare in their 2006 book, “Snakes in Suits: When Psychopaths Go to Work” they are living among us in the corporate world.

They describe millions of psychopaths who will probably never become murderers but will manipulate their way to the top, and once there, will try to kill you psychologically, by “screwing you out of your raise,” or getting your wife to cheat on you with him, with little or no remorse. He may steal your life savings, or create worldwide financial upheaval. Just think of corporate psychopaths such as  Bernie Madoff and the guys at Enron.

Now this all sounds like some good light fare that would interest me, so I’m putting “Snakes in Suits” on my Amazon wish list right now. I’ll let you know what I think.

In the meantime, I’m watching my back at the office and I think you should too!

Sanity now!

 

 

 

 

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>