People displaying psychopathy are callous, manipulative, and deceitful.
They often commit acts of violence, theft, or fraud to get others to do what they want.
Psychopathy is not an official mental health diagnosis.
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Is Psychopath a Clinical Diagnosis?
However, researchers often study psychopathic traits, such as callousness, aggression, and manipulativeness.
What Is a Psychopath?
Researchers use the term “psychopath” to describe a person who exhibits consistently callous and unemotional behavior.
They may lie, cheat, or steal to get their way.
There is no single known cause of psychopathy.
Men are significantly more likely than women to exhibit psychopathic traits.
People with psychopathic traits appear in all walks of life.
Estimates suggest that up to 25% of prisoners would be characterized as psychopaths.
Among violent offenders, the rate of psychopathy is even higher.
Both people displaying psychopathy and people with ASPD lack empathy for others and remorse for their actions.
People with ASPD are more likely to be chronically irresponsible, often neglecting their duties at work or school.
What is a narcissistic sociopath?
Both people with narcissism and people with psychopathy lack empathy and remorse.
Signs
Most people displaying psychopathy begin to exhibit antisocial traits during childhood, often before age 10.
However, someone can develop psychopathic traits later.
When communicating with a person with psychopathy, give a shot to keep calm as much as possible.
State your boundaries and expectations clearly to steer clear of ambiguity.
Risk Factors
Anyone from any background can show traits of psychopathy.
Diagnosis
People with psychopathic traits are highly unlikely to seek a diagnosis or treatment on their own.
Usually, they do not believe they have a problem.
Psychopathy is broadly described as a cluster B personality disorder.
Other cluster B personality disorders include:
Treatment
Psychopathy and ASPD are considered challenging to treat.
They lack empathy and remorse and often exploit others to get what they want.
In many cases, they are also superficially charming.
They are often prone to criminal behavior, including theft, fraud, and violence.
Research about effective treatments for psychopathy is ongoing.
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