The fanfic writer's guide to Psychology - part 1 (sorta) Psychopathy, Sociopathy and Psychoticism
After many years of studying psychology, reading fanfic and shuddering at some of the mistakes and mis-representations made by authors, especially when writing characters who themselves do have a basis in psychology, I feel the need to speak out. Now I don't blame the fanfic authors, psychology is difficult to get to grips with properly without a proper grounding in it, mostly because, unlike many sciences, a lot of it seems actually quite simple on the surface and even 'common sense', when it's not. I also blame the TV programmes themselves for their almost consistent mis-representation of the field and misuse of terminology when they really should know better. Unfortunatly psychology has long been one of those disciplines where people will read a book on Freud or Jung and believe they have become an expert, or at least have a good grounding in the knowledge and thus have no need to look further other than for a few professional sounding buzzwords to throw out.
As a PhD student in psychology, specifically forsenic psychology, which probably suffers the greatest mis-representation of them all, I consider myself to be in a relatively secure position to if not give specific advise, then certainly clear up some of the more common errors made and hopefully improve author's confidence in using psychological subjects and terms in their work and my, and other psychologists, enjoyment in reading them without having a stroke.
I was originally planning on writing these in some semblance of logical and well thoughtout order, moving from general dealings with theory to more specific areas of interest or common errors. Then I realised if I did that it would never get written. So instead I will write regular essays on particular topics I happen to have inspiration for, and hopefully collect these into something more ordered later on.
So without any more rambling, follow the cut for Part 1 - Psychopathy, Sociopathy and Psychoticism, what's in a name?
Well really the title should be Psychopathy, Sociopathy and Anti-Social Personality Disorder, but to my dismay I've found psychoticism being used in confusion far more frequently, whereas Anti-Social Personality Disorder (ASPD) is barely mentioned, despite being the only one of the three former terms that technically exists as a mental disorder.
Though there may be considerable debate as the the exact definition of all these terms, one thing they are NOT is synonymous. Though in the case of ASPD, Psychopathy and Sociopathy there has been a worrying trend until relatively recently to use them as such in text books. I shall therefore tackle the easiest distinction first, psychoticism. Psychoticism, psychocis or psychotic episode are all terms for effectively loosing touch with reality. A mental state in which perception and thoughts become disturbed, the most common example of these being delusions or hallucinations. Psychotic episodes can have many causes, particularly Schizophrenia (which is not Multiple Personality Disorder, a chapter will appear on this one later), or during manic episodes. Despite the similarities in names (on which notes Psychopathology is also nothing to do with Psychopathy and is in fact a general term for mental illness), one thing Psychopathy is not is a source of Psychocis. Indeed one distinguishing feature of the disorder is that psychopaths are entierly rationale and completly in touch with reality. This does not of course discount these disorders co-occuring, but psychopathy itself does not, either clinically or legally, make you insane.
So what is Psychopathy then and how does it differ from Sociopathy and ASPD? Though the exact definition of psychopathy has been a source of contention among researchers for many years, with no sign of rebatement, the central principals of the disorder are well accepted. Psychopathy is essentially a disorder characterised by behavioural, emotional and interpersonal symptoms. Behaviourally psychopaths are often sensation seeking, reckless, irresponsible and impulsive however they are also interpersonally charming. They are unable to form close emotional bonds and often view others merely as objects or possessions, they are also manipulative, arrogant, egocentric and narcisstic. Lacking empathy, guilt or remorse they are often cold hearted and callous. They do not experience emotions fully, displaying a lack of fear and anxiety (though evidence related to this is under debate) though they do often have a quick temper, this is more due to a low tolerance for frustration than any sort of real anger or hatred. Their emotionality is best described by the oft-used quote in this area 'they know the words but not the music' and has been characterised as a sort of Emotional Dementia. The importance of criminal behaviour to the concept is of some debate, with some seeing it as central to diagnosis whereas others see it merely as a consequence of the personality type. All however do accept that 'successful' psychopaths may exist, those who for whatever reason, despite displaying many of the personality traits do not turn to criminal behaviour and may even find considerable success in areas where ruthlessness and manipulativeness are prized (politics, business ...). The causes are similarly under debate, though most of the evidence points towards the main defects being neurological due to damage to the emotion centres of the brain, and most likley heritable, indeed the development of psychopathy has been found to be completly independant of upbringing, so the old 'it's because they were abused a child' is most likley false, though child abuse it likley to make it worse. For more information about Psychopathy, I recommend 'Without Conscience: The disturbing world of the psychopaths among us' by Robert D Hare, which despite it's slightly sensationalist title is a very good coverage of the topic by pretty much the world's leading expert on the subject. It is written to be accessible to the 'educated lay person' so it doesn't assume masses of prior knowledge whilst neither being dumbed down.
If that's psychopathy, what exactly is sociopathy and ASPD then? I'll tackle to easiest one first. Sociopathy used to be used to cover effectively any anti-social behavioural disorder, including alcholism, substance abuse and sexual deviancy as well as the more traditional facets of criminality. More recently the term has somewhat been used to refer to those displaying psychopathy like symptoms due to social causes, such as abuse, poor parenting and such, though it is rarely used as such and the term has generally fallen out of usage to be replaced by the more 'catch all' Anti-Social Personality Disorder.
Anti-Social Personality Disorder was an attempt to objectively classify psychopathy using only behavioural factors. This resulted in a disgnostic criteria consiting primarily of criminal behaviours, acting out, aggression, impulsiveness and so on. As a criteria for psychopathy it was a failure, since it diagnosed both far more individuals than actually had psychopathy, with, unsurprisingly, approximately 70% of prison inmates meeting the criteria, and underdiagnosing those psychopaths who do not necessarily engage in criminal behaviour. Despite this, it was kept in the current edition of the Diagnositic and Statistical Manual (the psychiatrists bible) and is possible the biggest source of contention in forensic psychology.
Finally, neither Psychopathy nor ASPD is sufficient to get anyone sectioned in forensic mental hospitals, indeed psychopathy will often make this less likely as all the evidence points towards it being untreatable. However diagnosis as such will often make parole unlikley and psychopaths have been shown to be one of the highest risk groups for criminality.
As you may have been able to surmise from the above, these terms and particularly psychopathy have been grosly misused in TV and film, and will no doubt remain as such untill the producers of these start doing effective research. Nonetheless, that is no longer and excuse for any of you to continue to misuse these terms in your fanfic! If you have enjoyed this or found it useful, please feel free to link to it so others may enjoy, in fact I postively encourage it. Also should there been any areas of psychology you want to know more about, I'm open to requests and will try and treat all topics to the best of my abilities.
As a PhD student in psychology, specifically forsenic psychology, which probably suffers the greatest mis-representation of them all, I consider myself to be in a relatively secure position to if not give specific advise, then certainly clear up some of the more common errors made and hopefully improve author's confidence in using psychological subjects and terms in their work and my, and other psychologists, enjoyment in reading them without having a stroke.
I was originally planning on writing these in some semblance of logical and well thoughtout order, moving from general dealings with theory to more specific areas of interest or common errors. Then I realised if I did that it would never get written. So instead I will write regular essays on particular topics I happen to have inspiration for, and hopefully collect these into something more ordered later on.
So without any more rambling, follow the cut for Part 1 - Psychopathy, Sociopathy and Psychoticism, what's in a name?
Well really the title should be Psychopathy, Sociopathy and Anti-Social Personality Disorder, but to my dismay I've found psychoticism being used in confusion far more frequently, whereas Anti-Social Personality Disorder (ASPD) is barely mentioned, despite being the only one of the three former terms that technically exists as a mental disorder.
Though there may be considerable debate as the the exact definition of all these terms, one thing they are NOT is synonymous. Though in the case of ASPD, Psychopathy and Sociopathy there has been a worrying trend until relatively recently to use them as such in text books. I shall therefore tackle the easiest distinction first, psychoticism. Psychoticism, psychocis or psychotic episode are all terms for effectively loosing touch with reality. A mental state in which perception and thoughts become disturbed, the most common example of these being delusions or hallucinations. Psychotic episodes can have many causes, particularly Schizophrenia (which is not Multiple Personality Disorder, a chapter will appear on this one later), or during manic episodes. Despite the similarities in names (on which notes Psychopathology is also nothing to do with Psychopathy and is in fact a general term for mental illness), one thing Psychopathy is not is a source of Psychocis. Indeed one distinguishing feature of the disorder is that psychopaths are entierly rationale and completly in touch with reality. This does not of course discount these disorders co-occuring, but psychopathy itself does not, either clinically or legally, make you insane.
So what is Psychopathy then and how does it differ from Sociopathy and ASPD? Though the exact definition of psychopathy has been a source of contention among researchers for many years, with no sign of rebatement, the central principals of the disorder are well accepted. Psychopathy is essentially a disorder characterised by behavioural, emotional and interpersonal symptoms. Behaviourally psychopaths are often sensation seeking, reckless, irresponsible and impulsive however they are also interpersonally charming. They are unable to form close emotional bonds and often view others merely as objects or possessions, they are also manipulative, arrogant, egocentric and narcisstic. Lacking empathy, guilt or remorse they are often cold hearted and callous. They do not experience emotions fully, displaying a lack of fear and anxiety (though evidence related to this is under debate) though they do often have a quick temper, this is more due to a low tolerance for frustration than any sort of real anger or hatred. Their emotionality is best described by the oft-used quote in this area 'they know the words but not the music' and has been characterised as a sort of Emotional Dementia. The importance of criminal behaviour to the concept is of some debate, with some seeing it as central to diagnosis whereas others see it merely as a consequence of the personality type. All however do accept that 'successful' psychopaths may exist, those who for whatever reason, despite displaying many of the personality traits do not turn to criminal behaviour and may even find considerable success in areas where ruthlessness and manipulativeness are prized (politics, business ...). The causes are similarly under debate, though most of the evidence points towards the main defects being neurological due to damage to the emotion centres of the brain, and most likley heritable, indeed the development of psychopathy has been found to be completly independant of upbringing, so the old 'it's because they were abused a child' is most likley false, though child abuse it likley to make it worse. For more information about Psychopathy, I recommend 'Without Conscience: The disturbing world of the psychopaths among us' by Robert D Hare, which despite it's slightly sensationalist title is a very good coverage of the topic by pretty much the world's leading expert on the subject. It is written to be accessible to the 'educated lay person' so it doesn't assume masses of prior knowledge whilst neither being dumbed down.
If that's psychopathy, what exactly is sociopathy and ASPD then? I'll tackle to easiest one first. Sociopathy used to be used to cover effectively any anti-social behavioural disorder, including alcholism, substance abuse and sexual deviancy as well as the more traditional facets of criminality. More recently the term has somewhat been used to refer to those displaying psychopathy like symptoms due to social causes, such as abuse, poor parenting and such, though it is rarely used as such and the term has generally fallen out of usage to be replaced by the more 'catch all' Anti-Social Personality Disorder.
Anti-Social Personality Disorder was an attempt to objectively classify psychopathy using only behavioural factors. This resulted in a disgnostic criteria consiting primarily of criminal behaviours, acting out, aggression, impulsiveness and so on. As a criteria for psychopathy it was a failure, since it diagnosed both far more individuals than actually had psychopathy, with, unsurprisingly, approximately 70% of prison inmates meeting the criteria, and underdiagnosing those psychopaths who do not necessarily engage in criminal behaviour. Despite this, it was kept in the current edition of the Diagnositic and Statistical Manual (the psychiatrists bible) and is possible the biggest source of contention in forensic psychology.
Finally, neither Psychopathy nor ASPD is sufficient to get anyone sectioned in forensic mental hospitals, indeed psychopathy will often make this less likely as all the evidence points towards it being untreatable. However diagnosis as such will often make parole unlikley and psychopaths have been shown to be one of the highest risk groups for criminality.
As you may have been able to surmise from the above, these terms and particularly psychopathy have been grosly misused in TV and film, and will no doubt remain as such untill the producers of these start doing effective research. Nonetheless, that is no longer and excuse for any of you to continue to misuse these terms in your fanfic! If you have enjoyed this or found it useful, please feel free to link to it so others may enjoy, in fact I postively encourage it. Also should there been any areas of psychology you want to know more about, I'm open to requests and will try and treat all topics to the best of my abilities.