Is Animal Abuse Connected To Psychopathy?

Introduction Animal cruelty is an act that can lead to serious harm or even the death of an animal. Most people see animal cruelty as running over animals on purpose or neglecting pets, The extent and variety of animal abuse is far more serious than many think. These serious incidents include puppy mills, slaughterhouses, animal hording, animal testing and vehicular abuse. Psychopaths have been known to abuse animals in many different ways listed above but the most common way is to sett fire to the animals. The question arises as to whether or not animal abuse is connected to psychopathy?

Background information Animal cruelty is when someone hurts an animal or does not care for an animal responsibly, like not giving a pet food and

Psychopaths harm animals until they are dead or close to it and they usually torture the animals but, on the other hand the “normal” people abuse animals without the intent of hurting or killing them (2). The reason for abusing the animal is also different between psychopaths and other people. Average people hurt animals because they want to feel dominant and powerful and this is why animal abuse is more common in poor places and among abused children. Poor men feel like they cannot provide for their family and so they feel powerless. Abused children also feel powerless and repressed so both of these groups take their frustrations out on helpless animals

These traits are; enuresis, arson, and most significantly animal cruelty. Enuresis is the act of bedwetting after the age of twelve and most psychologists do not know why but this trait is common among psychopaths. Arson intrigues them, its destructive qualities fascinate a psychopath and sometimes these small fires become out of control, possibly burning down a whole city block in the process (1). The last element of this triad is animal cruelty and as I have mentioned in a previous paragraph the need to abuse animals is rooted in a need for dominance but psychopaths take this one step beyond and they torture the animals for pleasure (masochism) and they inflict pain on other living things (sadism). These three characteristics together are strong characteristics of psychopathy