- Joined
- Jul 24, 2019
So first off I'll say I've read his book "The Psychopath Test" and I liked it, and it's a good read. That being said it's more about Ronson's journey of discovery than a clear outline or insight into sociopathy/psychopathy/Personality Dissorders. But I would definitely recommend it.
To be clear really quick, people with personality dissorders are not by definition (or even typically) insane / psychotic (to say that they do not know where they are / who they are / or what time they are in, or they believe an untruth about one or more of these things)I'd say the Tony in the book that hes talking about is probably not what I would call an incredibly convincing psychopath (not to someone who has worked in a mental hospital for long), maybe not an obvious one but middle of the road.
I do like how the book shows the law enforcement side (psychopath is a law enforcement term primarily, you normally wouldn't use that term in american psychology.) and the psychology side (antisocial personality dissorder).
The Hare Psychopathy checklist (PCL-R) is interesting tool, but relies on history / interview. There's alot of well known criticism of PCL-R, granted I think Psychology is absolutely a psuedo-science that is exacerbated by individual skill, and I have a rather low opinion of psychologists and psychiatrists in general (I fucking swear 75% of them just imagine their patients are incapable of lieing, and certainly incapable of fooling them or any other doctor).
To be clear really quick, people with personality dissorders are not by definition (or even typically) insane / psychotic (to say that they do not know where they are / who they are / or what time they are in, or they believe an untruth about one or more of these things)I'd say the Tony in the book that hes talking about is probably not what I would call an incredibly convincing psychopath (not to someone who has worked in a mental hospital for long), maybe not an obvious one but middle of the road.
I do like how the book shows the law enforcement side (psychopath is a law enforcement term primarily, you normally wouldn't use that term in american psychology.) and the psychology side (antisocial personality dissorder).
The Hare Psychopathy checklist (PCL-R) is interesting tool, but relies on history / interview. There's alot of well known criticism of PCL-R, granted I think Psychology is absolutely a psuedo-science that is exacerbated by individual skill, and I have a rather low opinion of psychologists and psychiatrists in general (I fucking swear 75% of them just imagine their patients are incapable of lieing, and certainly incapable of fooling them or any other doctor).