It Just Irks Me

[guardians_song]

“Psychopathy is probably the most pleasant-feeling of all the mental disorders,” says the journalist Jon Ronson, whose book, The Psychopath Test, explored the concept of psychopathy and the mental health industry in general. “All of the things that keep you good, morally good, are painful things: guilt, remorse, empathy.”
(source)

Well

Comments

[subieko]

The interesting thing is that, back when I took Abnormal Psych in college, I remember by professor telling us that just about the only mental illness people do not complain about/report suffering from is mania. Mania often feels good, and it's OTHER people who say that something is very wrong. Psychopaths don't necessarily feel good at all; some suffer from flat affect, which means that they require much more stimulation than other people to feel ANYTHING. This is why they can do risky things (like lying right to someone's face, or stealing something, or whatever)--whereas an average person would feel anxiety from that, the psychopath with flat affect needs a much higher risk to feel the same level of anxiety. So one could really argue that for at least some psychopaths, they DON'T feel as good (in terms of feeling pleasure and contentment) as an average person

[guardians_song]

The interesting thing is that, back when I took Abnormal Psych in college, I remember by professor telling us that just about the only mental illness people do not complain about/report suffering from is mania. Mania often feels good, and it's OTHER people who say that something is very wrong.
Yeah - I remember seeing a lot of blogs written by people who suffered from undiagnosed/unmedicated bipolar disorder for years, and they said that the one thing they really MISS is mania. Even if they understand in retrospect how badly it screwed them up, the sheer energy and creativity... :\

So one could really argue that for at least some psychopaths, they DON'T feel as good (in terms of feeling pleasure and contentment) as an average person.
Exactly. Sure, you don't feel pain, but you don't feel happiness, either. And having FELT happiness and fulfillment - one really does miss out if one doesn't have that.

I think that dude must be working from an old behaviorist perspective, really. The behaviorists felt that people acted based on

[miss_morland]

+ 1000

Cruelty is not cool. D-: Also, caring about others is painful? What??

[guardians_song]

Cruelty is not cool. D-:
+1000

Also, caring about others is painful? What??
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