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What’s the difference between a psychopath and a sociopath? Less than you might think

<div class="theconversation-article-body"><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/bruce-watt-1486350">Bruce Watt</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/bond-university-863">Bond University</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/katarina-fritzon-402205">Katarina Fritzon</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/bond-university-863">Bond University</a></em></p> <p>Articles about badly behaved people and how to spot them are common. You don’t have to Google or scroll too much to find headlines such as <a href="https://psychologyeverywhere.com/articles/7-signs-your-boss-is-a-psychopath/">7 signs your boss is a psychopath</a> or <a href="https://www.elephantjournal.com/2022/08/how-to-avoid-the-sociopath-next-door-erica-leibrandt/">How to avoid the sociopath next door</a>.</p> <p>You’ll often see the terms psychopath and sociopath used somewhat interchangeably. That applies to perhaps the most famous badly behaved fictional character of all – Hannibal Lecter, the cannibal serial killer from <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102926/">The Silence of the Lambs</a>.</p> <p>In the book on which the movie is based, Lecter is described as a “pure sociopath”. But in the movie, he’s described as a “pure psychopath”. Psychiatrists have diagnosed him with <a href="https://psychiatryonline.org/doi/pdf/10.1176/appi.psychotherapy.2002.56.1.100">something else</a> entirely.</p> <p>So what’s the difference between a psychopath and a sociopath? As we’ll see, these terms have been used at different times in history, and relate to some overlapping concepts.</p> <h2>What’s a psychopath?</h2> <p>Psychopathy has been mentioned in the psychiatric literature <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4059069/#:%7E:text=The%20term%20psychopathy%20comes%20from,which%20literally%20means%20suffering%20soul.">since the 1800s</a>. But the latest edition of the Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (known colloquially as the DSM) <a href="https://www.psychiatry.org/psychiatrists/practice/dsm">doesn’t list</a> it as a recognised clinical disorder.</p> <p><a href="https://www.psychiatry.org/psychiatrists/practice/dsm/about-dsm/history-of-the-dsm#section_5">Since the 1950s</a>, labels have changed and terms such as “sociopathic personality disturbance” have been replaced with <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK546673/">antisocial personality disorder</a>, which is what we have today.</p> <p>Someone with antisocial personality disorder has a persistent disregard for the rights of others. This includes breaking the law, repeated lying, impulsive behaviour, getting into fights, disregarding safety, irresponsible behaviours, and indifference to the consequences of their actions.</p> <p>To add to the confusion, the section in the DSM on antisocial personality disorder mentions psychopathy (and sociopathy) traits. In other words, according to the DSM the traits are part of antisocial personality disorder but are not mental disorders themselves.</p> <p>US psychiatrist <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2018-37736-001">Hervey Cleckley</a> provided the first formal description of psychopathy traits in his 1941 book <a href="https://gwern.net/doc/psychology/personality/psychopathy/1941-cleckley-maskofsanity.pdf">The Mask of Sanity</a>. He based his description on his clinical observations of nine male patients in a psychiatric hospital. He identified several key characteristics, including superficial charm, unreliability and a lack of remorse or shame.</p> <p><a href="https://psych.ubc.ca/profile/robert-hare/">Canadian psychologist</a> Professor <a href="http://www.hare.org/">Robert Hare</a> refined these characteristics by emphasising interpersonal, emotional and lifestyle characteristics, in addition to the antisocial behaviours listed in the DSM.</p> <p>When we draw together all these strands of evidence, we can say a psychopath manipulates others, shows superficial charm, is grandiose and is persistently deceptive. Emotional traits include a lack of emotion and empathy, indifference to the suffering of others, and not accepting responsibility for how their behaviour impacts others.</p> <p>Finally, a psychopath is easily bored, sponges off others, lacks goals, and is persistently irresponsible in their actions.</p> <h2>So how about a sociopath?</h2> <p>The term sociopath first appeared <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4059069/#:%7E:text=The%20term%20psychopathy%20comes%20from,which%20literally%20means%20suffering%20soul.">in the 1930s</a>, and was attributed to US psychologist George Partridge. He <a href="https://psychiatryonline.org/doi/abs/10.1176/ajp.85.6.1053?journalCode=ajp">emphasised</a> the societal consequences of behaviour that habitually violates the rights of others.</p> <p>Academics and clinicians often used the terms sociopath and psychopath interchangeably. But some <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4059069/#:%7E:text=The%20term%20psychopathy%20comes%20from,which%20literally%20means%20suffering%20soul.">preferred the term sociopath</a> because they said the public sometimes confused the word psychopath with psychosis.</p> <p>“Sociopathic personality disturbance” <a href="https://www.turkpsikiyatri.org/arsiv/dsm-1952.pdf">was the term</a> used in the first edition of the DSM in 1952. This aligned with the <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/epdf/10.1177/0306624X01453005">prevailing views</a> at the time that antisocial behaviours were largely the product of the <em>social</em> environment, and that behaviours were only judged as deviant if they broke <em>social</em>, legal, and/or cultural rules.</p> <p>Some of these early descriptions of sociopathy are more aligned with what we now call antisocial personality disorder. Others relate to emotional characteristics similar to Cleckley’s 1941 <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26618655/">definition</a> of a psychopath.</p> <p>In short, different people had different ideas about sociopathy and, even today, sociopathy is less-well defined than psychopathy. So there is no single definition of sociopathy we can give you, even today. But in general, its antisocial behaviours can be similar to ones we see with psychopathy.</p> <p>Over the decades, the term sociopathy fell out of favour. From the late 60s, psychiatrists used the term antisocial personality disorder instead.</p> <h2>Born or made?</h2> <p>Both “sociopathy” (what we now call antisocial personality disorder) and psychopathy have been associated with a wide range of developmental, biological and psychological causes.</p> <p>For example, people with psychopathic traits have <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/may/12/how-to-spot-a-murderers-brain">certain brain differences</a> especially <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2006-01001-014">in regions</a> associated with emotions, inhibition of behaviour and problem solving. They also appear to have differences associated with their <a href="https://www.psypost.org/psychopathic-women-exhibit-low-cardiac-defense-responses-study-finds/">nervous system</a>, including a <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301051123001345?via%3Dihub">reduced heart rate</a>.</p> <p>However, sociopathy and its antisocial behaviours are a product of someone’s social environment, and tends to <a href="https://www.aic.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020-05/19-1415-FinalReport.pdf">run in families</a>. These behaviours has been <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4801766/#:%7E:text=Childhood%20abuse%20is%20a%20risk,and%20psychopathic%20traits%20remain%20unclear">associated with</a> physical abuse and parental conflict.</p> <h2>What are the consequences?</h2> <p>Despite their fictional portrayals – such as Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the Lambs or Villanelle in the TV series <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7016936/">Killing Eve</a> – <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/au/blog/making-evil/201902/what-we-get-wrong-about-psychopaths#:%7E:text=Most%20psychopaths%20are%20not%20offenders,extreme%20violence%20or%20serial%20killing.">not all people</a> with psychopathy or sociopathy traits are serial killers or are physically violent.</p> <p>But psychopathy <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4059069/">predicts</a> a wide range of harmful behaviours. In the criminal justice system, psychopathy is strongly linked with re-offending, particularly of a violent nature.</p> <p>In the general population, psychopathy is <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0160252709000028?casa_token=5lSd35qRO7oAAAAA:CTu-KkDXxsoYEPvpceItex9go1Fn_YlfBQSW9O9_MwNEX6NxlZ23GRcWnS5YYV_kAig24E4Ahdj7">associated with</a> drug dependence, homelessness, and other personality disorders. Some research even showed psychopathy predicted <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8250605/">failure to follow</a> COVID restrictions.</p> <p>But sociopathy is less established as a key risk factor in identifying people at heightened risk of harm to others. And sociopathy is not a reliable indicator of future antisocial behaviour.</p> <h2>In a nutshell</h2> <p>Neither psychopathy nor sociopathy are classed as mental disorders in formal psychiatric diagnostic manuals. They are both personality traits that relate to antisocial behaviours and are associated with certain interpersonal, emotional and lifestyle characteristics.</p> <p>Psychopathy is thought to have genetic, biological and psychological bases that places someone at greater risk of violating other people’s rights. But sociopathy is less clearly defined and its antisocial behaviours are the product of someone’s social environment.</p> <p>Of the two, psychopathy has the greatest use in identifying someone who is most likely to cause damage to others.<!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/226714/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: https://theconversation.com/republishing-guidelines --></p> <p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/bruce-watt-1486350">Bruce Watt</a>, Associate Professor in Psychology, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/bond-university-863">Bond University</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/katarina-fritzon-402205">Katarina Fritzon</a>, Associate Professor of Psychology, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/bond-university-863">Bond University</a></em></p> <p><em>Image credits: Shutterstock </em></p> <p><em>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/whats-the-difference-between-a-psychopath-and-a-sociopath-less-than-you-might-think-226714">original article</a>.</em></p> </div>

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Ukrainian dwarf abandoned by adoptive parents denies claims she’s a “sociopath”

<p>The Ukranian dwarf orphan who was<span> </span><a rel="noopener" href="https://www.oversixty.com.au/lifestyle/family-pets/she-tried-to-kill-us-mother-who-adopted-9-year-old-girl-claims-her-new-daughter-is-really-a-22-year-old-sociopath" target="_blank">abandoned by her American adoptive parents</a><span> </span>who accused the dwarf of being an adult pretending to be a child has broken her silence in her first televised interview.</p> <p>Six years ago, in 2013, adoptive parents Kristine and Michael Barnett left Indiana for Canada with their other children and left Natalia Grace Barnett behind, which at the time, Natalia says she was nine.</p> <p>The Barnett family had adopted Natalia three years earlier in 2010 hastily as they were under the impression that she was a six-year-old orphan.</p> <p>However, Natalia’s former adoptive parents became convinced that after adopting her, she was actually 22 and was a sociopathic adult who tried to kill members of their family.</p> <p>“Natalia would do things like place clear thumb tacks on the stairs face up so that when we would walk up the stairs, we would be stepping on thumb tacks to pain and injure ourselves,” Kristine said.</p> <p>However, Natalia has refuted the claims and has spoken to Dr Phil about the accusations, maintaining that she is a child.</p> <p>“It's not true at all. I just want people to hear my side,” Natalia said.</p> <p>Natalia is joined by her new adoptive mother known as Cynthia Mans, who insists that a bone scan that Natalia underwent after she was abandoned proves she is the age she says she is.</p> <p>However, when the Barnett family ordered a bone scan for Natalia, the scans suggested that she had been born in 1989.</p> <p>Cynthia says that despite the first allegations from the Barnett family, herself and her husband did not worry about bringing Natalia into their home.</p> <p>“We're supposed to help. Me and my husband adopted these kids,” she said to Dr Phil.</p> <p>“It's like, who would do it if you don't?”</p> <p>The Barnett family has said that the allegations against them for child neglect have been “devastating”.</p> <p><em>Photo credit: <a rel="noopener" href="https://people.com/crime/ukrainian-adoptee-allegedly-abandoned-by-indiana-couple-opens-up-to-dr-phil/?utm_source=twitter.com&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;xid=socialflow_twitter_peoplemag&amp;utm_campaign=peoplemagazine" target="_blank">People</a>  </em></p>

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"She tried to kill us”: Mother who adopted 9-year-old girl claims her new daughter is really a 22-year-old “sociopath”

<p>It sounds far-fetched but it’s an unfortunate reality for a family in Indiana, USA as they realised that the child that they adopted was really a 22-year-old woman.</p> <p>Kristine Barnett and her husband Michael are alleged to have dumped Ukrainian-born Natalia Grace at an apartment in Indiana in 2013 before heading to Canada and having contact cut off by Natalia.</p> <p>In an exclusive interview with<span> </span><a rel="noopener" href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7479061/Mom-claims-Ukrainian-daughter-9-adopted-really-22-year-old-dwarfism.html" target="_blank">The Daily Mail</a>, Kristine has outlined the horrors of living with Natalia.</p> <p>“She would make statements and draw pictures saying she wanted to kill family members, roll them up in a blanket and put them in the backyard,” she told DailyMailTV.</p> <p>‘She was standing over people in the middle of the night. You couldn't go to sleep. We had to hide all the sharp objects.</p> <p>“I saw her putting chemicals, bleach, Windex something like that, in my coffee and I asked her, what are you doing? She said, ‘I am trying to poison you."</p> <p>“The media is painting me to be a child abuser but there is no child here,’ said Kristine through tears.</p> <p>“Natalia was a woman. She had periods. She had adult teeth. She never grew a single inch, which would happen even with a child with dwarfism.</p> <p>“The doctors all confirmed she was suffering a severe psychological illness only diagnosed in adults.”</p> <p>Natalia also had some odd behaviour issues, according to Kristine.</p> <p>“She was jumping out of moving cars. She was smearing blood on mirrors. She was doing things you could never imagine a little child doing.”</p> <p>The couple had just 24 hours to complete the emergency adoption and had no hesitation in accepting Natalia into their family of now five.</p> <p>There were few details of Natalia’s background, as she needed a home immediately, but she did have a Ukrainian birth certificate reading that she was born on September 4, 2003 and had been in the US for two years.</p> <p>Natalia also needed a home immediately as her previous adoptive parents had given her up for undisclosed reasons.</p> <p>“Out of compassion for their situation, I didn’t want to press them for information on what had gone wrong,” Kristine went on.</p> <p>As the family got closer, Kristine started to realise that something wasn’t adding up.</p> <p>“The boys rushed into the water and Natalia wanted to be carried into the ocean. Michael and I were physically exhausted, so we asked her to wait just a few minutes,” she said.</p> <p>“With that she just got up and ran into the ocean. I remember looking at Mike and thinking, what’s going on? She couldn’t walk a second ago and now she just got up and ran.”</p> <p>There were other circumstances that had the family questioning whether Natalia was who she said she was, as she didn’t have any traces of a foreign accent and when the family asked a Ukrainian friend to speak their native language, Natalia couldn’t understand a word.</p> <p>As Natalia’s mental health declined sharply, she was placed in a state-run psychiatric unit as she allegedly posed a risk to others. It was here that she confessed to being older than she appeared.</p> <p>A clinical therapist in January 2012 said that Natalia claimed to them that she was 18. The Barnett family successfully applied to Marion County Superior Court in Indianapolis to have Natalia’s age corrected so she could receive the help she needed as an adult.</p> <p>Kristine and her husband rented an apartment for Natalia and helped her get a social security number as well as apply for benefits.</p> <p>The Barnett family headed to Canada as their older son Jacob was attending the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, and left Natalia behind in the rented apartment.</p> <p>It was as they were in Canada that Natalia vanished.</p> <p>"The last time we spoke on the phone, she told me she was cooking spaghetti for her new family,” said Kristine.</p> <p>"I did not abandon anyone. I went to Canada to further my son's education. These accusations are absolutely devastating."</p> <p><em>Photo credits: Kristine Barnett and <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7479061/Mom-claims-Ukrainian-daughter-9-adopted-really-22-year-old-dwarfism.html" target="_blank">DailyMail.com</a></em></p>

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5 signs someone is a sociopath

<p>You may have heard the term sociopath used in the media, or as a way to describe characters in films. But the term is rarely used as a medical definition, with doctors preferring the term ‘antisocial personality disorder.’</p> <p>Someone who displays sociopathic tendencies appears from the outside to be a relatively normal person – but their motives are very different. In relationships or friendships the sociopath acts only for personal gain. They get what they want from you and go. That’s why one minute you’ll be fielding ten calls a day, and then you may not hear from them for days or weeks.</p> <p>Some of the best known (almost loveable) sociopaths from the big screen include Meryl Streep’s character Miranda from The Devil Wears Prada; or for a more extreme example think of Christian Bale’s character Patrick in American Psycho.</p> <p>But if you’re a regular person who wonders if you may have found yourself with a partner or friend who lives under the sociopath halo, read on to find out why this may be a tricky place to be.</p> <p><strong>1. You will find yourself blamed for a lot of things that aren’t your fault</strong></p> <p>A sociopath tends to respond to criticism or confrontation with aggression, or they may give you the silent treatment. Most of us tend to feel as though behaviours like this indicate that we have done something wrong, but to be honest it’s just how a sociopath exerts their influence on you.</p> <p><strong>2. You might find them a bit hot and cold</strong></p> <p>Most people are not one hundred per cent defined as being a sociopath. More than likely they have got tendencies towards these behaviours, so sometimes they’ll be just fine and other times – look out. This can make it tricky to have a relationship with them, as you just don’t know from day to day which side of their personality you’re going to get. To them, the friendship is manufactured in order for them to gain something from you.</p> <p><strong>3. They can put you in danger</strong></p> <p>A sociopath tends to think that the law doesn’t apply to them. They engage in risky behaviour, which can put other people at risk. It’s not always physical danger (though that plays a part) – they can also cause financial problems for others through deceit, or wear down a person through psychological bullying.</p> <p><strong>4. They may try to negatively influence you</strong></p> <p>Sociopaths can be very charming when they want to be, and use their powers of persuasion to get you to do what they want. Whether it’s deciding on who you should invite to your birthday party, or always getting you to pay the cheque at dinner is a matter of degree depending on their power over you.</p> <p><strong>5. They can fly under the radar of the law</strong></p> <p>As opposed to criminals who break clear cut laws, a sociopath is more likely to break a moral code. Meaning, they can be aggressive or act dishonestly, but they don’t always break laws, which would lead to prosecution. More than likely they find their target (kind hearted people with a positive outlook), get what they want, and move on. In most cases, once you realise what’s going on it’s best to cut all ties and distance yourself from them for good.</p> <p>Have you ever found yourself in a relationship with someone who displays sociopathic tendencies? How did you manage? We would love to hear from you in the comments.</p>

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