By Lida Prypchan
More men than women: ARE YOU A PSYCHOPATH? Check the Three “I”s:
Impulsive + Instability + Intractability
The sociopath (the psychopathic or antisocial personality) is generally associated with delinquency, sometimes with sexual crimes. There will, of course, be some cases of this type, maybe quite a few, but it’s a known fact that not every delinquent is a psychopath. In general, the psychopath is not put in a psychiatric ward because of his sociopathy, but because some other type of psychiatric complication occurs in his already unbalanced psyche, as for example, a sudden outbreak of clastomania, depression, suicidal acts, alcoholism and toxicomania or an attack of delirium. Once his immediate problem is solved, it is very difficult to keep him institutionalized, since a patient of this kind, who has an easy and persuasive way of talking, is a group manipulator and troublemonger. A typical example of this can be seen in the movie One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, where Jack Nicholson plays a psychopath: he incites his companions to rebellion (plans escapes, hijacks a bus to go to the beach, etc.). Usually the psychopath is a patient whose intellectual capacity, or rather intelligence, is not affected by his disorder: he has a normal (average) or high IQ.
In my opinion the characteristics of the psychopathic personality are a matter for debate. I think an appropriate diagnosis can only be made if we observe the life history over a long period. Classic psychiatry texts define the psychopath as an individual who throughuot his life has exhibited extreme difficulty in adapting to the standards imposed by society. The basic cause of all his social blunders are the “Three I’s”: instability, impulsiveness and intractability. These “Three I’s” turn the sociopath’s life into a closed loop. Let me explain. As the sociopath is an individual who inwardly experiences a profound malaise manifesting as continual boredom, his impulsive nature comes into play to escape tedium: his drug or alcohol consumption becomes excessive and he seeks out danger. However, his instability prevents him from maintaining relationships and he becomes intractable.
More men exhibit this disorder than women, particularly those who come from dysfunctional families. Statistical data indicate that the probable causes of sociopathy are two-fold: genetic and environmental. The genetic explanation is based on the discovery of psychopathic predecessors among family members: a large number of alcoholics and sociopaths have been observed among the men and hysterics among the women. As for the environmental explanation, it has been observed that more sociopaths come from unstable environments where education is lacking (i.e., they are products of desertions, separated families, denied affection, or mistreatment).
The sociopath’s childhood is characterized by a marked lack of discipline at school and toward his parents. This behavior becomes worse during adolescence when he may even commit petty crimes. As an adult, the behavior continues, but extends into almost every sphere of his life:”he has trouble holding a stable job (instability), makes fantastic deals which always go wrong, sponges on his wife or family, or else reverts to delinquency (theft, fraud, company swindles, bouncing checks, professional con games, drug abuse, drug dealing, heterosexual and homosexual prostitution which may even include blackmail of the victim). His love life is equally unstable: separation, divorce, desertion of family, ephemeral relationships. In general, he avoids conflict and commitment with other people. He is in constant search of new adventures with which to distract himself. He does not learn from his mistakes, inexorably making the same ones again and again without feelings of pain or remorse (for placing someone else in moral danger) and takes no precautions to avoid repetition of the same. He is incapable of sustaining anything he does achieve (finding it difficult to plan for the future). He cannot endure frustration and when he experiences it, his reaction is uncontrollable and out of proportion. He deceives himself and everyone else, confusing what is imaginary with what is real. He is amoral rather than perverted. As I mentioned before, all these characteristics are a matter for debate.
I wonder what attainments in life are durable? Is there anyone who does not fall into the same error time and time again? Is every drug addict a psychopath? Since consumption of alcohol so often verges on the excessive in my country, does that mean it’s a psychopathic trait? Do divorces and separations only happen to psychopaths? – Isn’t it just that this is how we live nowadays? It is for this reason, as I explained above, that we will not be able to distinguish the psychopath from the normal unstable individual of our times unless a large number of these characteristics are exhibited
