this post was submitted on 16 Mar 2026
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[–] commie@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 5 days ago (2 children)

how does the dsm define psychopathy

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8374040/

This study puts it at 4.5% , which is way more than is listed in Wikipedia.

[–] ScoffingLizard@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

I think it's just "antisocial" traits. I also think it might have been updated to exclude sociopathy, but I read books about this a long time ago, so not sure. Psychopaths are Machiavellian, have no empathy, and are narcissistic, iirc. It's called the dark triad. Narcissists still experience anxiety, so they are different that way. Borderline folks often feel bad about themselves rather than having a grandiose sense of self, and I think they only have periods of lack of empathy during episodes. Really, I'm not sure borderline folks count in the 4%. I'm also not sure sociopaths and psychopaths are still classified separately in DSM.

[–] commie@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

i have to admit i was baiting you because i knew psychopathy isn't a diagnosable condition in (ok, now just as far as i know) any version of the DSM. but then i read the wikipedia entry on psychopathy.

it turns out, even though it's not diagnosable as such, there are evaluation criteria for it so it sort of sits in this weird middleground.

anyway, i think we should just treat people as people and not like a diagnosis. i don't want people to treat me like "depressed commie" or "anxious commie" (not conditions i have diagnosed, just using examples). i want to be treated as a whole person. writing off people who hit certain evaluation criteria as "just a psychopath" is pretty shitty.

[–] ScoffingLizard@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago)

I think they usually do not attempt diagnosis before people are around 21. Maybe has to do with prefrontal lobe development. The reason is that kids are just stupid and do things that might be considered antisocial but are just growing up. Since there is a great stigma attached to those personality disorders, even in the mental health industry, they typically don't want to risk the mistake of incorrectly diagnosing it.

Some psychopaths are highly functional and seem to be useful at times. I'd rather have a psychopath trauma surgeon for example. But I do think they will make the planet uninhabitable with all the wars and data centers. I've toyed with the idea of eliminating the genetic component through DNA tech, but then it opens Pandora's box for eliminating depression and all other sorts of things that can be natural adaptations or responses to environments, so the next thing you know we would just have perfect people without the imperfections that make us human.

It's a fascinating topic. After being the target of a malignant psychopath I read some books (after I moved away). I found myself wondering which one of us was really flawed. Is it us for having empathy and vulnerability, or them for the damage they do? After deciding that they are creating barricades for climate change efforts (oil companies repressing clean energy tech, Trump killing wind farm efforts, bombing things constantly), I have come to the conclusion that they will contribute so much to the destruction of our species that it must be them that is flawed. We'll say rather, the condition is flawed since you're right about recognizing individuals as people and not their mental diagnoses.