Summary: The Abused Child Psychopath

Amanda Gould

Holland Prior

ENGL 401

5 November 2014

The Abused Child Psychopath is Reborn into a Killer If someone were to ask you to close your eyes and were to ask you to think about psychopaths, what would you imagine? Often times, when the word psychopath is mentioned, it sends chills through peoples bodies. More often than not, a majority of people associate psychopaths with the image of Hannibal Lecter ripping someone's face off, or serial killers, serial rapists or sex offenders. Psychopaths have been given this image of a dangerous monster because that’s usually what they’re portrayed as in the news, in movies and in mystery books. The thought that all psychopaths are dangerous, is a very popular belief, but a large misconception.

Psychopaths are manipulators, they are self-serving and egotistic,and a majority of the time they are impeccably smart, but this does not make them dangerous (Psychopathy 154). In order to act as a normal person with emotions, psychopaths must be agile and wise, so they go undetected, much like someone who suffers with anxiety. On the outside they look just like everyone else, but on the inside they are dealing with a disorder. Performing this act takes an immense amount of knowledge and observation. A majority of the time, psychopaths don’t even realize that they are one. When it comes to killer psychopaths, all of these characteristics are heightened, except they are most likely aware of their condition. These types of psychopaths realize that murder is wrong, but the need to control and dominate another, to suppress their childhood, overcomes everything that society pays as right

Overall, the study found through intensive testing that psychopaths committed the violent crimes for their own self right gain, to make them seem powerful and advance their ego. While criminals killed for the emotional arousal (424). Serin states, “They were more likely than other inmates to behave aggressively, to have committed more serious past offenses, to have used weapons, threats and instrumental aggression, and to have suffered physical abuse as a child.” The fact that these psychopaths who are criminal have committed more violent crimes and were likely to have suffered physical abuse as a child is worrisome and saddening. What about criminals who had childhood issues? Were they not dealing with childhood abuse? These psychopath’s as children have been physically abused. They were more likely to commit a crime