Psychos Need a Little Sympathy
By Suzanne Leigh
02:00 AM Sep, 27, 2006
It's difficult to empathize with, let alone have sympathy for, a psychopath. But one scientist believes psychopaths, despite their sometimes terrifying behavior, deserve compassion.
At its core, he argues, psychopathy is a learning disability that makes it difficult for psychopaths to stop themselves from pursuing harmful behavior.
Many psychopaths end up in jail, where they comprise up to 25 percent of the incarcerated population. Outside of prison, just 1 percent is diagnosed with the disorder.
The incidence of psychopathy is about the same as schizophrenia, but a clear differential exists when it comes to studying the former, says
Joseph Newman, chairman of the psychology department at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.
"If the incidence of psychopathy is comparable to schizophrenia and the personal costs are as great," he says, citing failure in school, absence of real friendships, marital and job dysfunction, accidents and even death related to recklessness, "then aside from the terrific costs to family and society, the case for understanding and treating (and) preventing this disorder, based on the affected individual alone, are as great for psychopathy as for schizophrenia."
The public's morbid fascination with Scott Peterson and JonBenet Ramsey's killer obfuscates the "very serious mental health issues" that the psychopath presents, he says. Newman describes his theories in a chapter of
The Psychopath: Theory, Research and Practice, published earlier this month...
