I've been thinking about psychopaths lately, and how it bothers me that they always get such a bad rap. I have been following the Happiness Project blog for some time now, and the author recently posted an article about how to spot a psychopath, in which she states that she is greatly relieved that she doesn't know anyone who exhibits the traits of a psychopath. Of course, everyone chimed in with their comments about how awful psychopaths are, etc etc. It just makes me a little angry. I mean, we ALL exist on the psychopath scale--it's not like there are strictly psychopaths and non-psychopaths in the world. Why perpetuate this close-minded stereotype that psychopaths can never be good people?
I stumbled upon a website that I found really interesting.
The Wisdom of Psychopaths - Lessons in Life from Saints, Spies & Serial Killers by Professor Kevin Dutton
It explores the ideas that many professions require mindsets that are somewhat psychopathic in nature: neurosurgeons, lawyers, special forces soldiers. Psychopathic people can excel in certain situations because of their ability to remove themselves from the emotional context of what they are doing.
I think about this in my job. I took the psychopath quiz on the site and scored very low, but I do recognize that I have that ability to remove myself emotionally during especially sad situations. I work tirelessly to help sick animals day in and day out, but when it comes down to deciding if an animal needs to be euthanized and actually assisting in the process, I can get into a cool, undisturbed mindset that is all business and no feeling.
I can see how psychopaths can be good people. They don't all exist as mass murders or violent criminals. They don't all belong in prisons. Some of them are doctors. Some of them dedicate their lives to helping people. Many of them are simply struggling like the rest of us. Should we shun them because they have an extreme and very stigmatized mental illness? It is easy to point to famous criminals who are labeled as psychopaths and come to the conclusion that all psychopaths are evil, but then many violent criminals are often loners, quiet and strange people who have few friends and can't figure out how to fit in to society. Does that make us all violent criminals then? Of course not.