Psychopathy is a personality disorder characterized primarily by a lack of empathy and remorse, shallow emotions, egocentricity, and deception. Psychopaths are highly prone to antisocial behavior and abusive treatment of others, and are disproportionately responsible for violent crime when in a violent emotional state or situation [citation needed]. Though lacking empathy and emotional depth, they often manage to pass themselves off as average individuals by feigning emotions and lying about their past.
'Psychopathy' has never been the main term used in the main diagnostic manuals, which use alternative names based on partially different criteria. Psychopathy is characterized by the inability to form human attachment. And an abnormal lack of empathy, masked by an ability to appear outwardly normal. The publication of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders third edition (DSM-III) absorbed some criteria for this mental disorder into a new concept, antisocial personality disorder, and also broadened the diagnostic criteria considerably by shifting from clinical inferences to behavioral diagnostic criteria. However, the DSM-V working party is recommending a revision of antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) to include "antisocial/psychopathic type", with the diagnostic criteria having a greater emphasis on character than on behavior. The ICD-10 diagnostic criteria of the World Health Organization has a Dissocial personality disorder which it states is applicable to alternative names of amoral, antisocial, asocial, psychopathic, or sociopathic personality (disorder).
Despite being currently unused in diagnostic manuals, psychopathy and related terms such as psychopath are still used by some mental health professionals and by the general public, popular press and in fictional portrayals. In particular, NATO has funded a series of Advanced Study Institutes on psychopathy, both before and after the publication of DSM-III. Researcher Robert Hare has been a particular champion of the term; his Hare Psychopathy Checklist is the standard tool (ratings that a clinician makes based on an interview) for differentiating between those labeled with antisocial personality disorder and the subset who may be labeled as psychopaths. According to this scale the prevalence of antisocial personality disorder is two to three times that of psychopathy. Some research suggests that ratings made using this rating system depend on the personality of the person doing the rating, including how empathic and friendly they themselves are. One forensic researcher has suggested that future studies need to examine the class background, race and philosophical beliefs of those who practice this diagnosis because they may not be aware of implementing their own biased judgements of people whose section of society or individual lives they have no understanding of or empathy for.
According to a chapter about treatment in Christopher J. Patrick's Handbook of Psychopathy, there is little evidence of a cure or any effective treatment for psychopathy; no medications can instill empathy, and psychopaths who undergo traditional talk therapy might become more adept at manipulating others and more likely to commit crime. Others suggest that psychopaths may benefit as much as others from therapy, at least in terms of effect on behavior even if not on the central personality traits. According to Hare, psychopathy stems from a mixture of as yet unidentified genetic neurological predispositions and as yet unidentified social factors in upbringing. A 2008 review indicated multiple causes and variation between individuals. A study by Hare and colleague suggested that one to two percent of the US population score high enough on a scale to meet criteria for being potential psychopaths.
Despite the similarity of the names, psychopaths are rarely psychotic. Not all psychopaths are violent; they often use manipulation to gain what they want. In general, they are people who care little about what others think about them and they use others to achieve their goals or needs. They can be successful or unsuccessful. When unsuccessful, these people often resort to criminal activities to satisfy their need for a purpose in life.
