But what about women? Are there female psychopaths?
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The answer is yes. And the chances of meeting at least one of them in your life are quite high. She could be your boss, your girlfriend, your colleague, your sister. And, perhaps, even your mother-in-law (admit it, you at least once assumed this possibility).
We don't hear much about psychopaths. Their images are rarely found in films or books. They are also rarely studied in the scientific literature. But the few studies that have looked at female psychopaths confirm that they exist. In fact, approximately 17% of female prisoners meet the criteria for a psychopath (compare this to 30% of male prisoners).
But what about people outside the prison system, in everyday life? After all, such percentages suggest that your chances of encountering a man with psychopathic personality traits are higher than with psychopaths, right?
How to communicate with a psychopath?
If it so happens that you are forced to communicate with a person who has been diagnosed with a mental disorder, adhere to the following rules:
- Don't show emotion. When the opportunity arises, the psychopath will certainly use them for his own purposes. There is no need to be afraid of such people, because a person with this pathology is not always a maniac. Of course, there is some truth in this, since among serial killers the largest percentage are psychopaths. But, according to experts, most of these individuals try not to reveal themselves. However, always be on guard.
- Avoid conflicts. To do this, you will need to reduce the level of your own aggression. If the situation escalates, do not get into a fight.
- Stay confident. Most likely, the psychopath will want to piss you off and will begin to counterattack. Do not give in to provocations, but look calmly and directly. The voice should be firm, but not loud. If such a person sees that you are irritated or afraid, he will begin to manipulate you. This way your weakness will be used against you. It is possible that a psychopath will offer his help. It should not be accepted under any circumstances. Otherwise, this will give the psychopath a reason to go on the offensive again.
- Eliminate contacts. It will be much easier to do this if you only encounter a psychopathic personality at work. It’s worse if a person close to you belongs to this category. It's easier to end a fleeting romance. You can refer to high employment. Deciding to leave a relationship with a psychopath is only the first step. It will not bring results unless you take a tough stand. To do this, you will need to resort to a more effective measure, namely, to virtually completely eliminate even the slightest interaction with a psychopathic person. It would be better to put an end to the relationship remotely. This can be done via telephone or the Internet. This way the unpleasant situation will be depersonalized. If you decide to break the news privately, there is no guarantee that the psychopath will take the news in stride. It may be that he will start a scandal or a fight. In addition, you may perceive what is happening as a drama. For a psychopath, this will become an impetus for action. It is difficult to predict which ones exactly. It all depends on the situation and inclinations of the person with the pathology.
- Keep everything secret. It may be that you decide to involve a group of people as support for yourself. Experts do not recommend doing this, since any confrontation, especially a collective one, will be assessed by a psychopath as a challenge. As a result, this will only encourage a person with a mental disorder, and the separation process will drag on for an indefinite period of time with unpleasant consequences for you. The fact is that a psychopath knows how to deftly manipulate facts. Possessing unconventional thinking, such a person will twist everything, and you will appear in an unpleasant light to the people around you.
- Before leaving a relationship with a psychopath, consult a professional, such as a psychologist, lawyer, or doctor. These people have experience working with psychopaths, and therefore can advise you on something. Otherwise, you may lose your mental and physical health. Some resort to the help of their friends. However, according to experts, they can harm you. It is possible that the psychopath has already worked with them and told many false stories about you. When you turn to them for support, they will think that you are the bad one.
Not so.
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Psychopathy is a personality disorder—an illness. It is known that the manifestations of the same disease often differ in men and women. Let's take heart attacks as an example. Symptoms commonly associated with a heart attack—chest pain, tingling in the left arm, sweating—are common in men. Women who are having a heart attack are much less likely to experience these symptoms and are more likely to experience shortness of breath and nausea.
It turns out that psychopathy also manifests itself differently in men and women. The stereotypical symptoms depicted in films such as American Psycho and The Silence of the Lambs - physical violence and superficial charm - are much more indicative of male psychopaths. Female psychopaths exhibit other, often less noticeable symptoms. As a result, they are much more difficult to detect compared to their male counterparts.
So, how exactly are female psychopaths different from male psychopaths?
Alcoholism and psychopathy
It is generally accepted that psychopathic individuals, due to emotional and volitional deviations, become alcoholics faster and more often. This point of view is based on the pathology of drives in psychopaths, the violation of their volitional inhibitions, and the desire to obtain pleasure in the shortest way.
Although this point of view is confirmed by statistical analysis, clinical observation of patients with chronic alcoholism
with a psychopathic personality structure does not always allow for an unambiguous interpretation of this statement.
Alcoholic psychopath in a relationship
In these patients, desires are truly disturbed and addiction to alcohol develops more quickly, atypical forms of intoxication are more severe, and variants of social adaptation
.
At the same time, analysis of specific cases of the course of alcohol pathology in psychopathic individuals often makes it possible to find opportunities for correcting their behavior, when the psychopathic structure itself contributes to the formation of an attitude towards sobriety and social rehabilitation
of such patients.
In this regard, in our opinion, of particular importance is the fact that social maladjustment in a drinking psychopath is detected much earlier than in healthy individuals. Therefore, awareness of the disease and the harmful consequences of alcoholism arises at a time when the somatic and other consequences of alcoholism are still poorly expressed.
Correct and timely organization of preventive measures for such patients prevents the development of symptoms of alcoholic pathology, and sometimes contributes to their “depsychopathy” and social adaptation
. In this regard, the variant of psychopathy is of significant importance, since the formation of alcoholism in psychopaths depends on it.
Psychopaths from the unstable group are distinguished by mental immaturity (G. E. Sukhareva, 1963). Mental infantilism, expressed in the inability to deeply analyze the situation, superficiality of judgment, hasty conclusions, leads these individuals to frivolous actions and difficult everyday situations. At the same time, these individuals are distinguished by emotional gentleness, an enthusiastic attitude towards others, and a readiness at any moment to share the sadness and grief of a friend and acquaintance. They love praise and take any comments with offense.
Being often subtle natures, they are fond of music, fine arts, fiction, and often build projects without thinking about the reality of their implementation, which sometimes leads to micro-social conflicts.
drinking alcohol from adolescence and adolescence
. At the same time, they quickly become convinced of the “usefulness” of intoxication, since it causes a feeling of emotional comfort. Alcohol soon becomes a means of “forgetting failures”, fantasizing about happiness, “crying over an unrecognized genius” in a narrow company. However, usually the stereotype of their behavior causes satiety, they look for new friends, and sometimes do not disdain the company of degraded alcoholics.
Unstable psychopaths with early onset of alcoholism usually become juvenile alcoholics, in whom signs of social degradation are detected after 1-2 years of alcohol abuse
.
They often lose their jobs, steal things from home and drink them away, become completely dependent on family and friends, towards whom they show honesty, rudeness, coldness and even cruelty. Intoxicated _
they forcibly take money from relatives or steal, make frivolous acquaintances, and sometimes get married in order to obtain a source for drunkenness.
Aggression
Even more distinctive is the way female psychopaths express aggression. Male psychopaths tend to exhibit behavioral aggression. They physically attack, abuse animals, or commit violent crimes.
Female psychopaths prefer relative aggression. They hurt you at work by spreading gossip. They harass you to the point where you question your sanity. They, like a leech, drink blood from you and cunningly force you to follow their lead. And if you refuse to do this, they respond by threatening to harm themselves.
Female psychopaths are master puppeteers, adept at pushing all the buttons and pulling all the people's strings to get what they want.
Simply put: male psychopaths throw punches, female psychopaths throw shade.
This difference in aggressive styles likely explains why the percentage of psychopaths in men's prisons is twice as high as in women's prisons. Because male psychopaths are more likely to engage in violent behavior, they are more likely to be arrested and sent to prison. And female psychopaths are better at remaining unnoticed.
He does not end the painful relationship for a long time
It would seem that if you don’t suit him to such an extent, why doesn’t he just leave you? The point is not in pity for you, but in the fact that he enjoys other people’s experiences. And the main thing that psychologists say is that you cannot “re-educate” a psychopath. You can only leave him and never return. Listen to the experts. Unwind, go to a Speed Dating evening. It’s better to have short, non-binding, but at the same time pleasant meetings than an endless and painful pseudo-romance with a psychopath.
So what should you do if you suspect there is a psychopathic woman in your life?
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The first step is to identify them. And it's harder than you think. Contrary to what movies tell us, most psychopaths are not psychotic, violent killers. In fact, the majority are what psychologists call “successful psychopaths”—they are your CEO, doctor, lawyer, or favorite celebrity (all of these professions have a high percentage of psychopaths).
So the good news is that if you have a psychopath in your life, he or she is unlikely to kill you. The bad news is that they will likely make your life miserable and hurt you in less obvious ways, so spotting them is key.
But before you start feeling paranoid, know this: not every woman who gossips or threatens self-harm is a psychopath. Psychopathy is a narrowly defined disorder consisting of a combination of traits rather than just one.
Treatment of psychopathy
Often the situation develops in such a way that the psychopath is sent for treatment by court decision. Because, basically, psychopathic men do not consider their behavior immoral or illegal, and even more so, they are sure that they are absolutely mentally healthy people. Signs of psychopathy in men require adequate therapy, but the main problem is that there is no specific treatment aimed directly at ridding the patient of psychopathy. Here only symptomatic treatment can be carried out, when concomitant diseases that significantly complicate psychopathy are eliminated.
Basically, such men require psychotherapeutic sessions. Group psychotherapy has a good effect, which improves communication skills with others. Through the use of behavioral therapy, the patient's thinking problems are identified, and in the future it is possible to stimulate a line of behavior that is positive. In some cases, the doctor may prescribe medications to reduce irritability and aggressiveness, usually small doses of antipsychotics.
But still, what should you do if you realize that there really is a psychopath in your life?
The truth is, there is little that can be done to change a psychopath. In many ways, their disorder is related to their brain. For example, when viewing distressing images or engaging in immoral behavior, psychopaths (both men and women) show decreased activity in the amygdala, the part of our brain that controls and processes emotions.
This approach explains why psychopaths are not susceptible to the suffering of others: their lack of empathy lies deep within their neural architecture. In many ways, psychopathy is truly a disease of the brain's emotional circuitry, especially that relating to interpersonal emotions.
So what then? In many cases, the best way to beat a psychopath at their own game is to simply quit playing. Don't interfere in their petty gossip. Don't grab the bait when they press your buttons. Hang in there and don't let them intimidate you.
How to recognize a psychopath?
Lacking networking skills, such individuals are not friends with anyone. It is considered normal for a psychopath to ignore generally accepted norms of behavior. This is how they alienate people. Of course, they can masterfully imitate feelings, but there are the following signs of a psychopath that can be identified:
- The duration of sleep for such a person is very short.
- A psychopath does not feel a sense of recognition or gratitude.
- They are vindictive.
- Inconsistent. They often have a lot of started and unfinished tasks.
- They lie constantly.
- Psychopaths do not have long-term love relationships.
- Prone to sexual perversions.
- Thinking outside the box.
Among the various signs of a psychopath, one should note his penchant for extreme activities. The fact is that such a person does not have a danger reflex. As a result, he may expose both himself and others to unnecessary risks. How to recognize a psychopath? According to experts, a person with this pathology is a good actor. Depending on the situation and personal needs, he will change masks and skillfully dissemble. A similar pathology is characteristic of the fair sex. Men find such women interesting at first. Later they don’t know how to live with a psychopath. It turns out that the chosen one is very selfish, cold and neglects the best feelings. Men who do not know how to communicate with a psychopath in the family should understand the classification of this pathology.
