A psychopath is defined as an individual suffering from chronic personality disorder with violent or abnormal social behavior. The term Psychopath brings to mind thought of violent acts. The study on psychopaths defines individuals who are incapable feeling fear, empathy and stress. The psychopaths are identified on the basis of their cold-heartedness, superficial charm, irresponsibility, criminality, egocentricity and parasitic life. The psychopath is termed as the most fascinating and yet distressing problem in the human experience (Adrian, 2009).
The persons suffering from psychopathy live a predatory life where the view people in terms of how they can be used. They do all this with no feeling of regret of remorse even if they are caught. Most psychopaths have a great verbal intelligence but are deficient of emotional intelligence. They are said to be at times good at manipulating others by playing or acting to their emotions. For many psychologists the lack of emotional is a tell-tale sign of a potential psychopath. The lack of emotional intelligence may be exhibited in the shallow quality of the emotional qualities of their accounts or stories (Theodore, 2003). This can be further explained by how they describe their accounts (i.e. how, why they felt or how others might have felt). They also might have a history in criminal behavior which they might seem not to learn from. They think or formulate ways of avoiding getting caught in their criminal antics.
According to the Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) produced by American Psychiatric Association Psychopathy is highly dissected. It illustrates the shared behavioral characteristics with other antisocial personality disorder (ASPD). Although there are some cited behavioral comparisons, ASPD and psychopathy are not similar as per the DSM-IV criteria. The differences are based on behavioral patterns, while measurements dwelling on psychopathy include personality characteristics. Psychopathy differs in male and female sexes. Majority of psychopaths are male.
Female psychopaths are mostly defined as the psychopaths who play the victim card to unsuspecting individuals around them. They play the professional victim stereotype. They prey on what they deem as weakness in others. The sympathy, helplessness, persecuted, emotional fragile and sexually vulnerable are what the female psychopath portrays herself to be. She pretends to have heartfelt gratitude for the little kindness any stranger extends to her but behind that entire act is a ruthless, cunning and loveless person. They often use sex as a trap at times juggling several victims at a time as they drain their victims of life and money until nothing is left. They victimize women as well as men
The biological factors in the study of psychopaths are mainly centered on the brain and genetics. Many psychopaths according to research have brain structural abnormalities. The research goes to show that there are structural differences between a psychopath’s brain and a healthy brain. The psychopath’s brain has less Grey matter. The Grey matter part of the brain is a major component in the function of emotions, muscle control, perception, hearing, vision and speaking. Many MRI scans reveal significant low levels of the grey matter in the brain areas that are responsible for feelings guilt, empathy and understanding other people’s emotions. The individuals with less grey matter who are perceived to be psychopathic are said to have unusual reactions to feelings of stress and fear, a tendency to manipulate and sense to harm others. Psychopathy has been termed by many experts as hereditary for some characteristics such as the fearlessness and impulsive anti-sociality. These traits are said to be passed on to individuals by their parents.
There is great relation between mental disorders and crime. These investigations however have been noted to have methodological weaknesses. Mental disorder among criminal defendants has an impact on the criminal justice process, from the investigating point to the justice execution point. The courts usually insist on ascertaining an individual’s mental health before subjecting him or her to an excruciating judicial process.
Mental illness, on the other hand, is defined as a medical condition that alters a person’s mood, thinking, feeling, and day-to-day functioning. Some types of this illness are depression, bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder et cetera. Mental illness in relation to criminal law has been heavily linked in ascertaining the criminal responsibility of an offender. The law stipulates clearly that a prosecutor must prove beyond reasonable doubt that an offender can be held accountable for his or her alleged criminal behavior. One of the conditions of the tenets of criminal responsibility is ascertaining whether the defendant has a mental defect or illness. The insanity standards in criminal cases are determined by healthcare professionals before any judicial process takes full course some jurisdictions though, apply different standards as they try to establish the mental health of an individual (Christopher, 2007).
Violence has continuously been linked to mental health of individuals but studies show that is not the case. A subset of individuals with psychiatric disorders has been linked to violent acts and crimes. These inaccurate beliefs have led to widespread discrimination and stigma. This makes the mentally ill feel ashamed and often result to hiding symptoms and failing to seek medical help. Studies have also extensively linked the mental illness-violence link skewed perception to the media which has popularized the notion that the mentally ill are the most dangerous individuals in the society.
References
Adrian R.(2001). Violence and psychopathy. New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum.
Christopher, J.(2007). Handbook of psychopathy. New York London: Guilford.
Theodore, M.(2003). Psychopathy : antisocial, criminal, and violent behavior. New York: Guilford
