Navarro - How to Spot a Psychopath

HOW TO SPOT APSYCHOPATH

Second Edition

Copyright 2009-2011 JoeNavarro.

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Introduction

If there is one thing you learn after 25years in the FBI, its that the world is full of predators and theyare often very difficult to spot. They come in all shapes andsizes, from every nationality, from the nicest neighborhoods to thepoorest, and from every walk of life, men and women.

They come in many forms: the seemingly niceelderly man who scams you of your lifes savings, the priest thatrepeatedly rapes the choir boy, the stalker who kills collegewomen, the neighbor who lures innocent children, the toxic boss whomakes life miserable for his employees, the nurse that wants to ridthe world of the elderly, the father who imprisons and rapes hisown daughter, or the husband who terrifies and beats his wifedaily. These are all predators; they are in every waypsychopaths.

What psychopaths have in common is aprofound sense of entitlement to do as they please, to seek rewardby any method, to deviate from rules and social norms, to violatelaws as well as the dignity of others. They feel no compassion forthose they offend or victimize. They suffer no guilt feelings andhave no remorse, they are without conscience.

Most people think of psychopaths as violentoffenders, such as serial killers Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy,Richard Ramirez, David Berkowitz, Jeffrey Dahmer, Leonard Lake, orthe BTK killer, Dennis Lynn Rader. To be sure there are many likethem, but most psychopaths operate under the radar of judicial orlaw enforcement scrutiny. They are embezzlers, white-collarcriminals, politicians, government leaders, teachers, attorneys,even members of law enforcement.

Like snakes, psychopaths are plentiful, butonly a few snakes will kill you; the others, make us uncomfortable,fearful, and ruin a good day. Psychopaths can have dreadful,long-term effects when they are leaders of countries (Stalin,Hitler, Castro, Pol Pot, to name a few) or when they live or workclose to us. Their capacity to ruin lives fills the front pages ofour newspapers and certainly constitutes the vast majority of casesthat are brought to criminal trial. In fact, it is estimated thatanywhere from 60-80% of our prison population (most of therecidivists) is composed of psychopaths as defined here. I saydefined here because not everyone can agree on what is a properdefinition of a psychopath.

Incredibly, psychopaths or psychopathy arenot recognized by the American Psychiatric Association (APA). Theyprefer the gentler euphemistic term Antisocial PersonalityDisorder (APA, 2005, 701-706). The APA says that these AntisocialPersonalities have a pervasive pattern of disregard for andviolation of the rights of others, and who do at least three ofthe following things from this short list:

1. Fail to conform to social norms withrespect to lawful behaviors they commit criminal acts.

2. Are deceitful, lie, use aliases, conothers.

3. Are impulsive or fail to plan ahead.

4. Are irritable and aggressive (like tofight, punch, kick, or assault).

5. Have reckless disregard for the safety ofself and others.

6. Are irresponsible when it comes to jobs,chores, obligations, or commitments.

7. Lack remorse and are indifferent tosuffering of others or rationalizes injuries caused to others.

This is what the Antisocial PersonalityDisorder looks like according to the APA. This list may be adequatefor clinicians but it leaves the rest of us in a lark. It doesnthelp us to properly identify these individuals until their acts areso egregious either we, or someone we know, is victimized.

You and I unfortunately must deal with themas neighbors, workmates, spouses, or leaders. And we must deal withthem in real time without the expectation that anyone else is goingto step in and identify these individuals for us. Which is why Icame up with this Psychopathic Checklist because, frankly, therehas to be a better way to identify these social predators who dosuch great harm, who violate rules, know no boundaries, steal orplunder, all without remorse.

As Robert Hare, the worlds leading experton psychopathy has stated, psychopaths are intra-speciespredators. They have the capacity to do great harm, repeatedly,without remorse. For many of us, reared perhaps in a religiousbackground, taught to see the good in all humans, we may find itdifficult to accept that there are those out there who are evil andwho will not change. That is exactly what a predator (psychopath)would like you to believe, to have you think that it was anaccident, a mistake, which wont happen again so they can act withimpunity.

Lacking a conscience or remorse, theyviolate rules, laws, norms, and human rights with no regard forthose they offend. And while they can be charismatic, charming,witty, intelligent and good looking, they can also be smelly, ugly,and creepy. They can be the nice looking older couple next door orthe good-looking guy going to the gym. What they do have in commonis a lack of lack empathy or concern for you and me.

They are cold and indifferent, almostreptilian in their attitude towards others. They suffer no guiltand are not bothered by socially restraining norms of decency. Theyhate getting caught, but not committing their offense.

Sometimes it is hard for us to understandwhy someone would kill a young child and it becomes almostimpossible to understand the killing of 30 million people, but thatis exactly what Joseph Stalin, a psychopath, did. It is verydifficult to comprehend individuals like this and others such asPol Pot with his Killing Fields in Cambodia. It is difficult tounderstand because you and I are not psychopaths. Things like thisonly make sense to them. Stalin, said it best, because he knew itbest: Kill one person and its a national tragedy, kill a millionpeople it is a statistic. And so he did because he could and thatis the nature of the psychopath. They get away with as much as theycan.

No one can match Stalin of course, yetothers will try. Between 1992 and 1999 Luis AlfredoGaravito-Cubillos, the Butcher of Colombia, killed more than 200children. Most of the children were 8-13 years old. He would lurethem with candy, gifts, or toys; sometimes by pretending to be apriest, and then he would sexually assault and kill them. I wasmade aware of this case while working in Bogota and the sheernumber of victims is just staggering.

What stands out about him (and manypsychopaths) is his callousness - he has never shown remorse aboutthe children he butchered nor the pain he caused countlessfamilies. Garavitos self-centeredness is such that when he wasarrested, facing the prospect of being confronted by televisioncameras, his question to an investigator friend of mine wasshockingly egotistical, how does my hair look? Absolutely noconcern for those children he murdered. It is incredible the levelof narcissism that these individuals have. This man has no remorsefor his acts which were so many he could only remember the locationof 180 or so places where the bodies were disposed. The rest weknow of because he kept newspaper clippings of those he hadkilled.