Picture A Psychopath Essay

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Picture a psychopath. What do you see? Most of you will think of a visually unhinged person. But that’s not a completely true stereotype. You may be around a psychopath at any given time and you might not be able to tell as they often wear a “mask”. They can easily trick and deceive those around them. Psychopaths evidently cannot live normal lives. Psychopathy is a personality condition that affects one’s everyday life and personality. A psychopath's brain is quite literally built differently. This all correlates to why psychopaths can be linked to criminal activity. A substantial percentage of psychopaths are known criminals. Alongside all of this psychopathy is something that cannot be cured. Psychopaths cannot be rid of the “illness” as …show more content…

Not all criminals are psychopaths but most psychopaths are criminals. The US Department of Justice explains how around ninety percent of the lower IQ group of psychopaths have committed a violent crime (Heilbrun). Being a psychopath can be a strong indicator that one might be involved in criminal activity. It is clear that psychopaths are awfully likely to be led into a life of crime when research says they are “responsible for 30% to 40% of all violent crime in the United States.”(Facts & Figures). Around 16% of male criminals in prison are known psychopaths (Kiehl). There are many reasons why psychopathy can be linked to criminal activity. One reason is that they often act impulsively and do not think about consequences and others' feelings. Paul Bernardo, Ted Bundy, Clifford Olson, Jack the Ripper, and so much more are just a few examples of psychopaths who were led into a path of violent crime. They all are described as callous and cold. In their cases, there was a strong disregard for human life, with little to no empathy present.
Alongside being criminals, psychopaths can also find ways to become leaders in our society. In corporations, one who can manipulate and step over others to advance quicker and at a large amount can be highly successful. They often are seen as charismatic, but this can just be a form of manipulation. They typically can easily …show more content…

Being a violent criminal and a leader in society both have similar traits if you look into it deeply enough, which can lead to a psychopath being behind it all. Sure they may be successful but it is often at the expense of others, and almost solely because of the emotions they lack. They bring down others to put themselves up and will have no sympathy for those they hurt. Any successful psychopath will have more than likely cheated their way to the top. This success would have not been a product of hard work and in turn not something that is true, natural, or normal.
Psychopaths may also be seen in healthy relationships from an outsider's view, but because of how detached they can be they cannot hold normal true relationships. They cannot feel empathy or any other emotions needed for a strong true relationship, their emotional range will not extend to the requirements for a relationship. Relationships carry a big part in existence, most have at least one relationship they can rely on. That tends to be different for psychopaths. They are prone to using manipulation to their advantage; manipulating anyone will almost always lead to broken trust and