When people hear the words Psychopathy and Sociopathy, they normally think of serial killers like Ted Bundy or Jeffrey Dahmer, but these mental occurrences are much bigger than just serial killers. Both of these mental disorders Psychopathy and Sociopathy are mental disorders that most people have heard of, but do not know much about either disorder. There are many misconceptions of both of these disorders, because these are portrayed as dangerous in everyday life. They are seen as evil and violent, but that is not always the case. They tend to just be different but we think of them is bad because that is what we hear about on the news and from Hollywood. We see these people as serial killers and violent people, but that is not always the case. People tend to confuse these two disorders or use them interchangeably, but there is a difference between the two even though they share a great number of qualities.
Psychopathy is defined as a mental disorder in which an
…show more content…
Dahmer was an American serial killer who killed 17 boys and men over the course of 13 years and he suffered from Sociopathy/ ASPD after a medical procedure to correct a double hernia. “He was described as an energetic and happy child until the age of 4, when surgery to correct a double hernia seemed to effect a change in the boy. Noticeably subdued, he became increasingly withdrawn following the birth of his younger brother and the family's frequent moves. By his early teens, he was disengaged, tense and largely friendless.” (“Biography of Jeffrey Dahmer,” 2017) Before the procedure Dahmer was a normal and happy kid. He was social and enjoyed life, but something happened and the surgery and he was a new child and was not the same happy kid. He was antisocial and did not have many friends if any. These are signs of Sociopathy. The interesting part is that Dahmer was not born with this condition, but it was brought on by a mistake in a
Lionel and Joyce Dahmer gave birth to their first born, Jeffrey Dahmer, on May 21, 1960 in Milwaukee. Despite Joyce experiencing a difficult pregnancy, Dahmer was a healthy child who was wanted and adored by both his parents. However, his mother did start to become distant to him as she refused to breast feed him and started demonstrating unstable behavior along with substance abuse. Meanwhile, his father was pursuing his doctoral for chemistry in Iowa which limited the time Lionel had with his family. At age five, Dahmer’s little brother was born and that was when the feeling of neglect set in him. For the first time, the little attention provided from his parents had to be shared with his brother David. Dahmer began displaying extreme shyness but also severe tantrums. During the ages of six and seven, Dahmer “was regarded by other children as odd and bizarre (Martens, 2005).” Even though he did not show any interest in developing genuine social relations, Dahmer did demonstrate a fascination with bug and animal dissections. When Dahmer was six he had “undergone hernia surgery, when he woke up from the anesthesia he was worried someone could have cut his genitals, the pain lasted for one week and after a long recovery period his parents remember he turned to be very loner (Giannetakis, n.d.).” It is believed that at age eight Dahmer had been sexually abused by a boy in his neighborhood (Hickey, 2013). If this event did occur, it could explain why he developed destructive sexual fantasies at the young age of twelve. Despite him being aloof, it has been reported that he would seek attention by faking epileptic seizures at school and local shops. By his adolescent years, he developed compulsive masturbation which would eventually lead to legal trouble (Silva, 2002). At the age of fourteen, Dahmer turned to alcohol abuse in order to overcome his feeling of despair and compulsive thoughts of sexual violent acts.
Sociopaths are prevalent among society, and some researchers, like Martha Stout, claim that one out of every twenty-five people is a sociopath. However, this statistic is incorrect. This statistic is based on the assumption that sociopaths and psychopaths are the same people—which is untrue. While the sociopathic and psychopathic traits overlap, sociopaths differ in that they are obviously nervous and agitated, unable to create the illusions that psychopaths are so proud of. They live on the fringes of society, uneducated and unable to keep a steady job. Psychopaths, unlike sociopaths, are suave and able to maintain an illusion of conformity and maintain relationships on a superficial level. Both, however, are dominantly male, tend to disregard the rights and social mores of others, and have a tendency display violent and disruptive outbursts without remorse. Unlike psychopaths, who completely lack remorse and the ability to love, sociopaths may attach themselves to certain people, though they still remain contemptuous of the rest of humanity (7).
Jeffrey Dahmer was born in Milwaukee on May 21, 1960, to Lionel and Joyce Dahmer. Despite the difficulties of Joyce's pregnancy, he was wanted and adored as a child. By all accounts, Dahmer displayed traits of a happy, bubbly youngster. However, several events from his childhood indicated that the young boy was becoming more and more disturbed. When Jeff was four, his father swept out the remains of some small animals from under the house. As his father gathered the tiny animal bones, Jeff seemed strangely entertained by the sound they made (Bardsley Ch. 13). At the young age of six, Dahmer suffered a double hernia and needed surgery to correct the problem. After the operation, he was never the same socially. Adding insult to injury, the family then moved from Iowa to Ohio where it became apparent Dahmer had grown distant, shy, and nearly uncommunicative (Bardsley Ch. 13).
Jeffrey Dahmer was an American serial killer who raped, murdered, and cannibalized 17 men before he died in 1994 (n/a. 2016). According to most accounts, Dahmer had a normal childhood but as he got older, he became withdrawn and uncommunicative (n/a. 2016). He started to show very little interest in hobbies and social interactions between age 10 and 15 (n/a.
Moreover, the differences and similarities of the two are limited. “Both are antisocial, both lack empathy. The difference is that sociopaths might have the ability to feel weak empathy for what their actions are doing to people. They just don't care enough to stop. Psychopaths have no regard for others, and feel no empathy for what they’re doing “ (Stagner). The question that people disagree over happens to be whether killers are born or made; notwithstanding, this opens up the Nature vs Nurture argument in psychology. Nature vs Nurture is exactly what it sounds like. It’s basically the assumption that either our development is already established in our DNA or it’s the environment that changes how we
Experts believe that these two share similar traits, such as incapable of feeling or understand the emotions of others and lack of sense to determine what is right or wrong. But the key difference between a sociopath and a psychopath is the ability to have a conscience.
Data has been collecting reporting that “31% of people who had both a substance abuse disorder and a psychiatric disorder (a "dual diagnosis") committed at least one act of violence in a year, compared with 18% of people with a psychiatric disorder alone. This confirmed other research that substance abuse is a key contributor to violent behavior” (Harvard Health Publishing). This can be applied to Dahmer’s case. It is said that after getting hernia surgery when he was four, Dahmer was never the same. He went from a regular playful child to a distant anxious one. When becoming an adolescent, one will develop an interest in concepts and hobbies. For Dahmer it animal carcasses. He would find roadkill, “dissect and dismember them. He explained that he wanted to know how each animal "fitted together"(Cahill). This could come off as creepy and off-putting, but he was not hurting anyone. It is believed that his parents’ constant fighting and moving was the catalyst in making his obsession with carcasses into a dangerous one. “Children from broken homes are nine times more likely to commit crimes than those from stable families” (Bloxham). His drive to kill could quite possibly be linked to the fact that he simply linked to his familial issues. These problems in the family are definitely linked to his drinking problems as well. Dahmer’s
During Dahmer’s psychiatric evaluation, Dr. Wahlstrom concluded, “Jeffrey was suffering from a mental illness never cured for” (FBI 1992). This leads me to perceive that Dahmer must have been displaying psychotic traits that went unnoticed and undocumented during his early lifetime. I can only speculate that this uncured mental illness lead Dahmer to develop and refine his inability to empathize with society; which in turn, lead him to engage in cruelty without mentally comprehending the victim’s suffering. Although the causes for psychopathy are unclear, some suggest that psychogenic aspects can outline abnormalities which may be present in psychopaths (Schmalleger 2014). When looking at Dahmer’s distant relationship with his parents early on in his childhood, I became conscious of the fact the lack of affection from his parents which may have lead him to develop twisted views on how one should display affection to others, thus prompting him to show psychotic behavior later on in life (The profile of Jeffrey Dahmer 1996). Even though the letter of the law fails to describe Dahmer and even if he was not fit to stand trial, I believe the court would have declared him fit for trial due to the brutality of the
Those two, psychopath and sociopath, have many differences but have some similarities too. A sociopath is a person with a personality disorder with severe antisocial attitudes and drastic behavior. Basically a sociopath is just a person who has a rough time connecting with others and has plenty of insecurities about themselves. A psychopath is a person suffering from a mental disorder with extremely violent behavior. Basically, a psychopath is just an unstable and aggressive person. They are kind of the same but a psychopath is just more extreme. Everyone has a conscience but when a person becomes mentally mad their conscience slowly goes away. A psychopath typically does not have a conscience, they don’t know what they are doing most of
Even today, these disorders are still incredibly shrouded in mystery. One reason for that is because these two diseases are almost always accompanied with the ability to masterly manipulate and lie. You can't tell the difference between a sociopath and a stranger. As far as medical facts on psychopaths and sociopaths, there are very little. According to Psychologist Martha Stout, an estimate of 4% of the people in the world are psychopaths and "free of conscienceness." In the United States of America alone, that's 12 million people. That means that there are 12 million people in the U.S. that lack empathy, and have keen skills of manipulation, deceit, and selfishness who have an almost God-like complex. Despite many upon many theorized sociopathic
...e to murder over a period of time frequently show sociopath tendencies. Serial killer's have little self-esteem and a sociopath's inability to feel other people's pain or sorrow for any wrongful acts that they have committed (Casey, p. 80).
Jeffrey Dahmer is not typical serial killer, because he didn’t have physical or sexual abuse in childhood and lower socioeconomic background which represent conventional serial killers. Professionals can not signify reasons enough to explain his several murders, since he was associated with all the elements of serial killer. Not like other serial killers who murder victims and move on to search new victim, his fantasies led him to commit a series of crimes against the dead body. He also liked to keep all the part of victims’ body including brains and skulls in freezer. He sometimes ate them and took advantages of them. The most interesting was he didn’t look like an assaulter or a violator, even he said he didn’t like violence. However, he couldn’t have any kind of relationships with person who was alive.
Sociopaths will lie and act as though they have mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety so that the people around them will feel sorry for them. (Stout, 2005) By doing this, it tugs at the heart strings of someone who feels the moral duty to take care of the less fortunate. Humans who don’t lack a conscience will immediately feel the need to do whatever they can to help the person and a sociopath will take advantage of it whether it be by receiving donated money or being welcomed into the home without having to put any real effort into anything.(Stout, 2014) This can not only make a sociopath realize that they can get what they want by just making up a sob story, but it also can create a danger for those who are associated with them if they don’t get what they want and they have a tendency to be violent. Many people don’t even realize that they are being used and when it comes down to it they can be stripped of almost everything, but then there are also those who absolutely despise the people who aren’t considerate. They often reprimand the sociopath and often times will get on the bad side of the sociopath which can end not very pleasantly. (Stout, 2014) Tommy Sells is a good example of this. By making it seem like he was helpless, an ignorant family tried to help him out and in return he murdered their daughter. (Carson,
Psychopaths and sociopaths may have a charming personality and can make a person believe they are good people. Both of these types of individuals have a strong ability to manipulate human-beings and the pain they cause to one’s life is beyond words. Having knowledge of how sociopaths and psychopaths engage in relationships is the key when contemplating on adding a new person to one’s life. For example, psychopaths do not have the normal ability to build relationships and display no empathy or guilt with anyone. On the other hand, sociopaths have the ability to express empathy and guilt, especially to close friends and family. Psychopaths only build relationships with people that will benefit them, even family. While sociopaths can maintain a relationship with close friends and family. Psychopaths can be very manipulative and malicious to the people they have enter their lives. A sociopath can be overly organized and portray themselves as a normal person, they still can be very destructive in any relationship they
Questions lik this has been answered by scientists and doctors. Scientists have some theories. One is that the brain of a sociopath matures at a slower rate than the brain of a non-sociopath. Further, early brain damage could lead to the development of this disorder. We have doctors like psychology