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Excerpted from the book The Art of Urban Survival
by Stefan H. Verstappen Psychopathy infects the full spectrum of humanity
irrespective of race, culture, geography, economic class or personality
type. It is distributed in the population in a similar
way that left handedness is. One would not notice a person is left handed
until you see him right or catch a ball.
Similarly one may not notice a psychopath until you see him do something that requires
them to have a conscience.
Most people think of a psychopath as a rare creature found only in the lowest
levels of society however the reverse is true...
They are not rare but are actually quite common and you are more likely to find psychopaths
in the boardroom then on the wrong side of the tracks.
The reason is that the more competitive a particular environment is the more
ruthless the use of the cheating strategy becomes.
Within the highest circles of power and wealth a lack of pity and remorse is practically
a prerequisite to success and only the psychopathic mentality can thrive.
Because of the tremendous destruction psychopaths reap on society
it is vital for everyone to be aware of their existence
and to recognize their behaviour traits. Understanding them is the first step to defending
against them. Key characteristics
Lack of empathy. Empathy is the ability to experience within
oneself the feelings and emotions expressed by others.
It is what allows us to feel what others are feeling,
it is why we are inspired by works of art, music and poetry.
Empathy allows us to experience the grandeur of life
to be truly alive and is one of the defining characteristics
of what makes us human. Psychopaths have no empathy and as a result
they are neither truly human nor truly alive.
When they see ''normals'' admiring a piece of art or playing with their
children, caring for a pet or any number of human emotional interactions
they cannot understand what all the fuss is about.
Psychopaths realize at an early age that they are different
and that they should act as everyone else does in order to be accepted into
society. They learn to mimic what they see others do
but they can never understand why they should act this way.
Although they are consummate actors, careful observation will reveal
tell-tale cracks in their facade. They know enough to fake concern when someone
is sick or to pretend happiness when some good fortune
befalls a friend but in situations where the psychopath has
no pre-rehearsed act there ad lib often reveals a stunning lack
of empathy. For example
if attending a funeral a psychopath would correctly mimic
the same expressions of sadness as the other mourners,
but, then makes *** advances towards the grieving widow
clueless to the gross inappropriateness of such an action.
People with empathy would instinctively understand such behaviour as
inappropriate, however the psychopath
cannot. Lack of Remorse
Remorse is an emotional expression of personal regret felt by a person after
he or she has committed an act which they deem to be shameful, hurtful or
violent. This very definition precludes a psychopath
from experiencing such a feeling. With not empathy
there can be no emotional expression, nor can a psychopath feel shame,
nor comprehend that anything they do can be harmful to others.
Psychopaths understand when people are angry with them for their behaviour and
as a last resort they may pretend they are sorry
but unlike most people they are not the least bit disturbed by feelings
of guilt. Remorse
Is a powerful negative emotion that causes turmoil in those that feel it.
Turmoil often results in self-destructive or self-deprecating behaviours.
The psychopath may pretend remorse but there real behaviour is not changed.
They still go shopping, they still go to parties,
they have no problems sleeping at night. Superficiality
Passion drives someone to go further then needed to explore, learn and master a
subject. Most people enjoy listening to music but it
is someone passionate about music that goes on to learn how to play an instrument.
Similarly many people are interested in new technology
but only a passionate person goes on to become an engineer.
Lacking passion for anything other than themselves psychopaths can never penetrate beyond the
surface of most knowledge. As a result they exhibit a superficial comprehension
of some or many subjects
but are often seen by true experts as being shallow.
Their superficiality extends to their attempts at acting normal
by exhibiting false emotions through an exaggerated effect.
Grandiosity Despite being shallow and superficial
psychopaths show no self esteem issues. Psychopaths live in a falsely constructed
worldview in which they are both literally and figuratively
god. Often seen as megalomaniacs
they also have an equally overblown sense of entitlement.
Irresponsibility Psychopaths are irresponsible because nothing
is ever their fault. Someone else or the world at large is always
to blame for all of their problems.
This makes sense if you understand that Psychopaths think of themselves as perfect.
Nothing wrong can ever originate with them and so logic,
the psychopaths logic, dictates that everything bad is always
someone else's fault. Impulsive Behaviour
The psychopaths impulsive behaviour makes sense in light of their megalomania.
In their world whatever they want now is good and whatever they do not want
is bad. If a psychopath wants sex and his date will
not provide it then *** is good and the date is bad.
If someone has money in his or her pocket and the psychopath wants it.
Then robbery is good and the victim is bad for possessing something the psychopath wanted.
If this strikes the reader as insane. It is.
One of the earliest writers on the subject of psychopathy J.C Prichard
coined the now defunct term ''moral insanity''
as a way to describe psychopathy in 1835.
Compulsive Lying Living at the expense of the rest of humanity
would be an impossible situation in a rational society.
Psychopaths have solved this dilemma through their premium weapon.
Lies. Lies hold together their view of themselves,
their own private universe and
facilitate there need to live parasitically off the rest of society.
Without empathy, shame and remorse they are free to lie as often
and as outrageously as they please. Normal people would blush or sweat or tremble
if they dared stretch the truth to the same degree.
However for the psychopath lying is as easy and natural as breathing.
This is why they often pass polygraphs, they register the physiological reactions
that non psychopaths would have when lying.
They are so good at lying they can fool trained psychiatrists and even other
psychopaths. What is important to know is that given the
right circumstances they can fool anyone.
Manipulative Hand-in-hand with the psychopaths extraordinary
ability to lie comes the ability to manipulate others for their own
benefit. Having spent their life time studying us
psychopaths are masters of manipulation and experts on knowing how to push our
buttons to use our emotions against us.
They use this ability to keep those around them confused,
unable to think clearly and off balance. Psychopaths also learn very early how their
personalities can have traumatizing effects
on the personalities of known psychopaths and how to take advantage of this for the
purpose of achieving their goals. Like an electric eel that stuns its pray with
an electric shock the psychopaths inhuman personality and uncanny
ability to manipulate can psychologically stun their intended victims.
Anti-Social Behaviour The very essence of the psychopath is antisocial
their lack of empathy for other people extends onto society and the environment.
Vandalism, pollution, graffiti animal abuse, environmental destruction, building
code violations, reckless driving
and a host of morally and socially unacceptable activities
are of no concern to the psychopath. These then are the basic characteristics that
psychopaths exhibit. Bear in mind that few psychopaths will express
all of the characteristics and that non psychopaths can have many
of these characteristics as well. Part 2
Common Types of Psychopaths Well there are as many variations in the personalities
of psychopaths as there are among the normal people,
the following lists some general stereotypes. Narcissists,
the most benign form of psychopathology is pathological narcissism.
Narcissists like the mythological Greek namesake Narcissus
are so overcome with self-love that nothing else in the world matters to
them. They need a constant source of narcissistic
supply which is attention,
adoration, recognition, awards and praise.
There are two basic types of narcissist the somatic and the cerebral.
Somatic narcissists take pride in their looks and appearance.
They will flaunt there *** exploits, brag of their accomplishments,
show off their muscles and display there toys. They are often health nuts,
hypochondriacs and sex addicts. Because of their barren inner lives they continually
need new thrills simply for the rush of adrenaline.
These thrills range from criminal activity and substance abuse
to increasingly bizarre *** acts. Cerebral narcissists love their own minds,
they are arrogant, condescending and know it alls that pride themselves on being
smarter then everyone else.
Their narcissistic supply comes from fame, notoriety, awards and displays of
wealth to create envy in others.
The danger to the public from narcissists is from the drain on energy, time,
resources and emotional well-being. A narcissist is interested in a person only
for what narcissistic supply that person can provide.
They will gladly accept love, attention, affection, adoration, praise, emotional and
financial support but being without empathy
they cannot reciprocate any of it.
Any partnership they enter into will always be one-sided.
Once a person ceases to be the source of narcissistic supply
or a better source comes along they are discarded without hesitation or consideration.
Thus do narcissists leave behind them a trail of broken hearts,
broken dreams, empty wallets
and abandoned children. The Victim
Commonly used by female psychopaths but by no means unheard of among males
is the professional victim stereotype. Praying on what psychopaths see as weakness
in others, sympathy. The female psychopath appears helpless,
pitiful, emotionally fragile, persecuted and
sexually vulnerable. She pretends heartfelt gratitude for whatever
small kindness strangers provide her
but behind the mask is a cunning, ruthless
and loveless predator. Often using sex as the hook, they can juggle
several victims at a time, draining them of life and money
until there is nothing left and then skipping town to avoid the repercussions.
Con Artists Not all con artists are
psychopaths but psychopaths make convincing con artists,
being excellent liars they put that talent to use by cheating others.
Without a conscience or remorse to stand in the way
they are free to cheat old women out of their life savings,
sell quack cures to terminally ill patients or
short-change the blind. They are usually charming, articulate and
convincing and make successful sales persons.
Unlike the narcissist, the con artist is not as concerned about love or attention
as money. There are two types of cons, psychopaths engage
in. The short con and the big store con.
The short con is probably the one that most often comes
to mind when thinking about con artists.
These are the tricks and cheats that require no great intelligence to pull
off such as short-changing, bait-and-switch, and
three-card Monte ' to name a few. Psychopaths that have a higher intelligence
level and or come from a more respectable background
are more likely to establish the big store con
these are large-scale frauds that all rely on a basic strategy.
Take something of little to no value, artificially inflate that perceived value,
sell to gullible investors, take the money and run.
Traditional big store cons use real estate stocks and bonds as the lure.
Even reputable multinational corporations, accounting firms and banks
are all capable of being nothing more than a large-scale con.
While the short con can deprive a victim of a few to a few thousand dollars,
the big store cons are especially destructive,
capable of destroying an entire nations economy. Malevolent Psychopaths
More popularly known as antisocial personality disorder
or sociopaths, the malevolent psychopath is the real life
monster of our nightmares.
These are the wife beaters, murderers, serial killers, stalkers, rapists, sadists,
paedophiles, gangsters, interrogators and terrorists.
They are usually career criminals and can amass an extensive criminal record
while still in their early teens. Often showing their contempt with a sneer
or smirk and with a vacant stare through
cold predatory eyes, they are dangerous, unpredictable
and easily triggered into violence. Cowardly and sadistic they tend to target
the most vulnerable in society. Women, children and
the elderly and disabled. Often impulsive and opportunistic,
sociopaths will not hesitate to commit any type of crime and will use
manipulation, intimidation and violence to get what they
want. The Professional Psychopath
The malevolent psychopath is the most dangerous however it is the professional
psychopath that is the most destructive. While the victims of the former can arrange
into the dozens, the victims of the professional psychopath
can run into the tens of millions. These psychopaths litter history with genocides
and the destruction of the entire nations and empires.
Historical examples include such monsters as Stalin,
Pol Pot, Ivan the terrible and
Caligula. While there are many that make it to the pinnacle
of the political stage there are also such historical figures as
J.P Morgan, Randolph Hearst and Mayer Rothschild,
professional psychopaths that reached the pinnacle of the financial stage
where they cause no less misery and destruction as their political counterparts.
The professional psychopath is just as malevolent narcissistic and remorseless
as the other stereotypes, they're just much smarter.
They can be found in any profession but usually governments, corporations and
religions will be thick with them. In a corporation
the professional psychopaths are ideally suited for advancement.
They can masterfully fake their abilities and credentials,
use their intellect and charm to manipulate and exploit others
and generally back stab their way to a high position.
Once in power their masks slip
and they abuse their power and bully and sabotage their co-workers and
subordinates. In politics the professional psychopaths ruthlessness
and cunning gives them a distinct advantage
over any non psychopath rival. They make charismatic leaders manipulating
and brainwashing the naive vulnerable, uneducated or
mentally weak. Mastery of lying
allows them to make whatever outrageous campaign promises straight faced
with of course no intention of keeping any of them.
A life spent faking being human gives them the ability to assume the role
of virtuess public servant, the perfect father, husband,
advisor, mentor and everyman.
In addition when things get rough they have no inhibitions of playing dirty
and readily resort to ***, assassination, persecution, war
and genocide. The third sphere of power that has traditionally
attracted more than its fair share of psychopaths is
Religion. A quick glance at the history of religion
from the bloody sacrifices of the Aztec priests
to the tortures of the Spanish inquisitions and through seemingly endless religious
wars waged in the name of peace and love makes their influence plainly visible to all
willing to look. Since most if not all great religions are
constructed on falsehoods, compulsive liars make the perfect proselytizers.
And a look at recently created religions such as Mormonism and Scientology
show their founders Joseph Smith and L. Ron Hubbard respectively
where at least compulsive liars and more likely full-blown psychopaths.
Charismatic cult leaders such as Jim Jones and Sun Myung Moon were indeed psychopaths,
while televangelist preachers that rake in millions from their gullible flocks
are at best con artists of the highest calibre. When psychopaths dominate and seize control
of the major cultural institutions that influence a society
a final type of psychopath is created. Secondary Psychopaths
While the classic genetic psychopath is one who was born
with whatever genetic trait that caused this pathology
there is another group of people that behaves just like the classic
psychopath who where not born that way but where
created. Secondary psychopaths are created
in two ways. Through trauma and through
groups, trauma from an accident,
drug addiction or severe physical and psychological abuse
can destroy that part of the frontal cortex of the brain
where empathy and conscience
are processed while such individuals are a tragic reality
in our society they are in most cases just as incurable as
their genetic counterparts are. The second way in which psychopaths are created
is through groups. There are certain groups that will attract
psychopaths because of the opportunities of power and influence
membership provides. Usually such groups will quickly be lead and
dominated by psychopaths, other non psychopathic members of these groups
would have to become psychopaths in order to survive.
For example in a street gang
sociopaths make the best leaders and therefore most gangs have a sociopath at its head.
Other psychopaths are also attracted to the violence and power of a street
gang and so together they create
a psychopathic value system. The gang becomes a psychopathic entity,
the non psychopathic youth who must live within the territory of such a gang is
given two choices. Become a victim of the gang or join them.
By joining the gang the new recruit must also adopt the group's twisted value
system and behave accordingly thus becoming a secondary
psychopath. Conversely at the other end of the scale we
can see the same principle at work in corporations.
The money and power of a corporation attracts the cerebral
and narcissistic psychopaths. In a corporate environment
they have many advantages over their non psychopathic competitors for their promotion.
Not surprisingly most corporations end up being run by psychopaths.
As with a criminal gang, a corporation's culture adopts the twisted
values of its leaders. Those who would seek employment must likewise
adopt or at least appear to adopt the corporations essentially psychopathic
mindset. What is important to understand is that a
mob has no conscience. Individual members may or may not have a conscience
but when they are a part of a mob
they will have none. Most organizations from street gangs to corporations
are mobs. It would be a mistake to place your trust
in them since they can turn predatory in a moment
and deprive you of time, money, sanity and livelihood.
Part Three The Psychopaths Modus Operandi
One weakness psychopaths have is that once one studies them and begins to
understand them they become predictable.
While tactics vary from one to another, most psychopaths follow a similar strategy
when conning either an individual or an organization.
Their strategy is as follows. The Interview.
Psychopaths are experts at cold reading.
First used by psychologists to describe what phoney fortune tellers do,
cold reading is the ability to guess a person's personality type quickly
through verbal and nonverbal communication. The technique is simple
ask questions and watch for the responses. Psychopaths will cold read you
as part of what is called the interview stage. The whole purpose of the interview is for
the psychopath to size you up as a potential victim.
They make mental notes of different ways they could possibly manipulate you.
The Seduction Should you or your organization be seen as
a suitable victim, the next stage is the seduction.
Based on the results of their interview the psychopath will tailor the seduction
to your personality. If concerned about your appearance they will
flatter your good looks. If insecure about your education they'll flatter
you about your intelligence. If greedy they will have insider information
on a get-rich-quick scheme and if cowardly then only the psychopath can
protect you from your fears.
On a personal level they will shower you with praise and attention in a whirlwind
romance. They make sure that being around them is fun
and exciting so that you've become addicted to the adrenaline
rush they create. On the organizational level
they pretend to be the perfect employee, the most devout follower
and the most dedicated public servant. They work to ingratiate themselves
first to the door keepers and finally the power holders
often by being shameless sycophants and boot lickers.
Divide and Conquer Just as a pride of lions will seek to separate
a targeted wildebeest from the rest of the herd,
so psychopaths seek to isolate their victims from the rest of humanity.
They accomplish this through the tactic of divide and conquer.
In a personal relationship the psychopath will sabotage and undermine
his or her victims relationships
with family and friends. Exasperated by the negative drama and costs
associated with the victim their friends and family drop out of contact
leaving the victim without the support and guidance of their social group.
In an organizational setting psychopaths are the consummate office politicians,
they seek to create factions within the organization and then turn those
factions against each other to create as much chaos as possible.
Psychopaths swim in chaos and the more the better.
Secretly they start to draw the gullible, weak minded and fellow psychopaths to
their side while intensifying there efforts to have the
most talented, honest and incorruptible members
ones that could have the strength of character to expose them
expelled. They poison the environment in a variety of
ways so that everyone feels irritable,
edgy and unable to perform their jobs. Control of the organization slips into the
hands of the source behind the dysfunction.
The psychopath who created it all. Fear and Tyranny
The final stage of the psychopaths strategy is tyranny,
the absolute and sadistic control over his victims.
In a relationship the honeymoon is over and the mask comes off.
The psychopath suddenly becomes controlling abusive and violent.
Instead of flattery and attention the tactics are now fear, intimidation, extortion
and emotional blackmail. On the organizational level one sees benefits
being cut while time cards and production quotas and surveillance increases.
Employees become slaves, powerless and disposable cogs in a machine
run for the sole benefit of the psychopaths in charge.
On the national level countries ruled by psychopaths become corrupt
and brutish police states, constantly at war with created and imaginary
enemies. The population becomes paranoid, neurotic
and ultimately secondary psychopaths.
In a psychopathic culture everyone must adopt a ruthless attitude
as a survival strategy. Defence Against a Psychopath
Facing Evil One of the greatest advantages psychopaths
have is that average decent people cannot believe that such monsters truly
exist. This inability to comprehend that predator
mentality is partly due to popular morality.
All societies promote a simplistic and idealistic morality
through schools and churches that teach such platitudes as
''everyone has some good in them'' ''everyone is special'' and so forth.
Such ideals more often serve as a cover behind which the true machinations of society
can operate without evoking the suspicion of the mob.
Another reason that people cannot face evil is fear.
The true nature of psychopaths the stuff of childhood nightmares.
Many people simply cannot deal with the fear this realization causes
and so to soothe their nerves they revert to an infantile strategy of denial
and magical thinking... If they do not
acknowledge the existence of monsters then the monsters cannot hurt them.
The first line of defence against psychopaths is acknowledging there existence.
By doing so one develops a psychological advantage. Forewarned is
for armed and having braised oneself
with knowledge of predatory individuals one is better able to think clearly and thus
spot the predator before he can spot you.
Once you accept the reality that human predators populate our society,
the next line of defence is in identifying them.
Because of their abilities at camouflage and deception psychopaths are
difficult to spot. They can fool even mental health professionals.
It is important to understand that everyone can be conned,
if you feel that you are the exception you only make yourself more susceptible.
Recognition A psychopath
is like a smoking amber the sooner you can spot the smoke and douse
the ember the better since after the house is on fire
it is too late to contain the damage and destruction. Learn to spot the typical psychopathic
character traits and
recognise there mottos operandi. Where possible
do background checks and or speak with the suspected psychopaths family
and friends. Most psychopaths
leave a long trail of destruction and heartbreak and will try to cover their tracks.
A lack of background information is therefore as suspicious as a history of
betrayals. Another of their fundamental flaws is a lack
of patients and the incredible energy they use to maintain
their facade. Over time
they drop their masks. Thus one of the best methods of detecting
psychopaths is to wait them out.
Once you identify someone as being a psychopath you have only
two options. Attack
or evade. What Not To Do
What is vital to understand is that empathy cannot defeat the psychopath.
You cannot change them. You cannot reform them.
You cannot find the goodness inside them. You cannot show them the way to God and you
cannot teach them about love. All of these approaches are doomed to failure
since psychopaths can never understand
nor can they care about these concepts. While they may lead you to believe
that you are getting through to them in reality
your empathy infuriates them and far from admiring your compassion
they despise you even more. One must develop a cold exterior to them and
view them from a distance. Do not pity them, feel sorry for them or sympathize
with them. Attack
As a rule the only thing that can defeat a psychopath is a
bigger psychopath. However, should you feel no other recourse
but to confront a psychopath, your one advantage is there fear of being
exposed for what they are. They have known since childhood that they
are different from most people. Their whole advantage lies in the fact that
they know what they are and no one else does.
Exposing a psychopath takes away his or her advantage and reveals their inner
corruption for all to see. However few people have the strength and intelligence
to do this successfully. While the statistical distribution of genius
and idiot psychopaths mirrors the general population,
even a moronic psychopath can elude and outwit an educated accuser.
Before you attempt to expose and expunge a psychopath you must be in a position
of power and you must choose the time and place.
You also need to have your people briefed and ready to support you.
This means creating a family and friends support group
and or joining a support group.
In an organizational setting you need to have co-workers, managers of the legal
department and human resources on your side before making your move.
The Chinese strategist Sun Tzu warned against attacking an enemy who has
no escape and likewise it is best not to corner a psychopath since the fight
will likely be more vicious than most people can bear.
Instead use the threat of exposure to drive the psychopath away.
The fact that they could be exposed at anytime is unnerving and most
psychopaths will give up the current game and go in search of more ignorant
and vulnerable pray. Evade
The safer and easier strategy is to evade. Once you have identified someone as a psychopath
you must cut him or her off and out of your life completely.
In a relationship you may need to change your locks, change your phone numbers and
block your email account. Close bank accounts, get a restraining order or move.
Take self-defence and firearms training. In conclusion the study of psychopathy is
an important new tool, not only in crime prevention but in understanding the
source behind many social ills. The more informed and aware you are of the
subject the safer you and your family will be.