What is a psychopath? Let me start off by saying the terms psychopathy and sociopathy are non-clinical terms that are not defined within the DSM-IV. Without medically defined meanings, there really isn’t any ability to define differences in between the terms. In the UK, the tendency is away from the use of the term psychopathy to avoid confusion with ‘psychosis’ (symptom or feature of mental illness).[1] In the United States the move to replacing the term psychopathy with sociopathy was driven by change of thought on caused the condition (internal vs. External).[2] The term psychopath comes to us via way of German researchers who in the 1880s used it to imply that the condition is from an “internal sickness.” In the mid-twentieth century came the new liberal social thought which sought to find external causes for social deviancy. The psychologist G. Partridge coined the term “sociopath,” in 1930 to reflect this change of view.[2] The recent use of fMRIs has swung views on the underlying cause of psychopathy back to an internal origin.

Thus the terms psychopathy and sociopathy describe the same condition but from different viewpoints. The American Psychiatric Association’s 'DSM-IV' refers to psychopathy, sociopathy, and dissocial personality disorder as synonyms for 301.7 Antisocial Personality Disorder. [3, page 702] Again, without any primary medical definitions for these terms, it is the author’s call on how to use the terms to express his ideas. Shortest Definition of a Psychopath The shortest, simplest definition of a psychopath is A psychopath is a person who is sane but amoral.

96 hour chick embryo serial section. It is a character defect not a mental illness. Hare’s Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) isn’t available for public sale. Researchers do however use the term psychopathy. Clinically psychopathy doesn’t fall neatly into any particular DSM-IV disorder but could be considered, in this author’s opinion, as a ‘super disorder’ in that it contains components of multiple orders.

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Sponsored Links The Hare Psychopathy Checklist which has been recently revised and is quickly being used much more worldwide, as the standard diagnostic with it’s high level of reliability for researchers, psychiatrist and psychologists. The PCL-R and PCL:SV are valid predictors of violence and response to any therapeutic intervention decided for the patient respectively. These play a very important role in most of the recent risk-for-violence situations presented. The PCL-R is now considered “state of the art” and one of the most comprehensive check lists available after being reviewed for both clinical situations and for the purpose of research, in Buros Mental Measurements Yearbook of 1995.

The links above are meant for personal use only. **Please be advised that the information provided here is not meant to provide any psychological or psychiatric diagnosis of any kind whatsoever. If you feel after examining the links above that you may be in need of psychiatric or psychological assistance, please contact a mental health facility in your area and speak with a professional with regards to your concerns.

The Robert Hare Psychopathy Checklist - Revised is considered by clinicians and researchers worldwide to be the 'gold standard' in assessing psychopathy.