Who Are Psychopaths

Crime shows show interest in narrating stories of serial killers and psychopaths on loose. They use them as a way to attract viewers and increase their TRP ratings. But how many of us know who psychopaths are? What makes them psychopaths? Why do they kill? Just for fun?

Psychopath is a person suffering from chronic mental disorder with abnormal or violent social behavior.

Born a psychopath

Researches suggest that the areas of the brain that are involved in emotion processing, empathy and decision making like amygdala, insula and ventromedial prefrontal cortex are less active in humans showing psychopathic behavior.

“The case against specific alleles has been accumulating, notably for the low-expression variant of MAOA, known as MAOA-L, which has been linked in various studies with increased risk of violent and aggressive behavior. The gene MAOA encodes monoamine oxidase A, an enzyme that degrades amine neurotransmitters, such as dopamine, noradrenalin and serotonin. A rare genetic disorder caused by an MAOA mutation leads to MAOA deficiency and in turn an excess of monoamine transmitters, causing excessive impulsive behavior including hyper sexuality, sleep disorder and extreme mood swings as well as a tendency to violence, which is known as Brunner syndrome”, states researcher Philip Hunter in one of his researches.

This shows genetics could also contribute to someone being a psychopath.

Development into a psychopath

Genetic causes are not one of the main problems but do add up to main one. Environmental factors also play a very important role in making a normal child turn into a psychopath.

Abusive parents, alcohol or drug abuse at young age, bullying, ill-treatment and continuous physical abuse like sexual assaults could be on of the many reasons for development of a psychopathic behavior. Human tendencies lead us to evolve ourselves for surviving the harshest environment.

A few researchers determine how environmental factors, such as peer pressure, parenting, negligence or abuse, affected two specific traits of psychopathy—fearless dominance (FD) and impulsive antisociality (IA).

Can psychopathic behavior be controlled

No pill can induce empathy, no vaccine can prevent murder in cold blood, and no therapy can change a non-empathizing mind.

According to Dr. Kent Kiehl, a psychologist at the University of Mexico, psychopaths have reduced gray matter in the paralimbic system of the brain. He states that, psychopaths who are unremorseful and antisocial have fundamentally different brains than the rest of us.

In 2012 staff at the Mendota Juvenile Treatment Center (MJTC) developed a Decompression Model that operates without the strict deterrence and punishment commonplace at a normal juvenile facility. MJTC youth were 50% less likely to commit a violent crime, and, while non-MJTC youth killed 16 people after their release, MJTC youth didn’t commit a single homicide.

Psychopathic behavior doesn’t have any cure in later stages but with strict therapy it can be controlled at initial stages.