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The proportion of psychopathic people in the French population is estimated at around 3%, an often misunderstood personality disorder. Could you be part of it? A 27-question test could answer that.
Do you have the traits of a psychopath without knowing it? The question is frightening, as it evokes for us the image of the bloodthirsty serial killer peddled by the series. However, it is not uninteresting when we take it from the side of the facts, a personality disorder and the solutions that we can bring to this state. Because yes, psychopaths exist, and make up between 1 and 5% of the population. Might as well know who they are.
What do you call a psychopath?
In psychology first of all, psychopathy is not a mental illness ! Nor a person endowed with a rare intelligence which she uses for the benefit of cruel acts. According to experts it is more of a personality disorder, a deviation from the norm. Psychopathy is defined by cognitive and motor impulsivity but also by a lack of empathy and compassion towards others. Affected people also have difficulty respecting social norms. Today we speak of personality organization with psychopathic expression or more simply of “antisocial personality”.
Studies have thus shown that psychopaths often exhibit diminished emotional responses to gruesome or disturbing stimuli, allowing them to engage with such content without feeling the discomfort or repulsion that most people would feel.
Furthermore, the disorder does not only affect men: if there are fewer of them, women can also share these antisocial traits, even if the signs can vary depending on gender.
Finally, studies show that people with high percentages on the proposed questionnaire are six times more likely to commit violent acts. But experts reassure: not all psychopaths end up becoming criminals, far from it.
A tool to take stock
If the subject speaks to you, know that it now exists an online tool to help you discover if you secretly have psychopathic tendencies that you don’t know about.
Based on the work of Professor Michael Levenson, a psychology expert at Oregon State University, the 27-point quiz focuses on how you approach love, your life goals and interact with others.
The questionnaire first asks to what extent you agree or disagree with the statement that success is based on the survival of the fittest. Then it assesses your reactions if you find yourself faced with the same types of problems, over and over again. Other lifestyle and wellness questions include how important money is to your goals, whether cheating is justified, and how much you enjoy manipulating other people’s feelings.
After completing the test, participants find out if they have psychopathic tendencies via a percentage score. The quiz also records how impulsive you are compared to other quiz participants. A result which does not aim to point fingers at you (especially if it is done in the privacy of your living room) but “to help people understand where they rank on a psychopathy scale”, underlines the Daily Mail who echoes it. The professor notes, however, that the results should only be used as a guide, rather than as “the only way to assess an individual’s psychopathic traits.”
Do you discover a bad score? There are solutions
For a long time, specialists thought that antisocial personality disorders were chronic illnesses. But today, some believe they can be treated or even cured. Hence the importance of being clear about yourself and taking positive actions.
According to the NHS, data suggests that behavior can improve over time with therapy, even if core characteristics such as lack of empathy persist. Talking therapies, such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), are sometimes used to treat antisocial personality disorder. Community programs can also be an effective long-term treatment method for people with antisocial personality disorder, doctors say. Social therapy addresses the person’s risk of offending and works to meet their emotional and psychological needs.
Finally, certain antipsychotic medications and antidepressants may be helpful in some cases. Although there is still little evidence on the effectiveness of these in the treatment of antisocial personality disorder. It also seems that the disorder disappears after the age of 40, without being able to explain it.
Slide: These ten signs that allow you to recognize a psychopath