Psychopaths

When one thinks of psychopaths, they may think of serial killers such as Ted Bundy or Albert Fish. The reality is that psychopaths come in all forms and are much more common than one would think. A psychopath can be defined by a combination of multiple traits, such as lacking conscience, empathy and remorse, and irresponsibility and impulsiveness. This disorder is a type of antisocial personality disorder. Psychopathy is also a spectrum disorder, where psychopaths can exist anywhere on the spectrum using the 20-item Hare Psychopathy Checklist: a tool used to measure psychopathy (Kiehl & Hoffman, 2011). Psychopaths are affected in every aspect of their life due to this disorder, such as family and relationships, which causes issues as it prevents sufferers from functioning well in society. Issues with this disorder also include the fact that it is among the most difficult disorders to spot, yet psychopaths make up 1-2% of the population (Rogers, 2012), and 20-25% of the criminals in prison (Cohen, 2011).

This indicates that many people who are not psychopaths themselves may be affected by psychopaths at some point in their lives without even knowing it, and this usually proves to have very negative effects. Furthermore, adult psychopathy in particular is largely resistant to treatment, but by better understanding the causes of psychopathy it is possible that working treatment could be developed. Such treatment could help resolve these major issues related to psychopathy. It has been theorized that the disorder could be caused by genetics, the environment or brain abnormalities. This paper will explore how the brain abnormalities of a psychopath causes the disorder.

Numerous studies have been conducted to find the potential cause of this disorder, and the most important findings have been observed to lie within the anatomy of a psychopath’s brain. It has been found that the brain of a psychopath is significantly different from a brain of non-psychopath. Results of a research study done by Simone Shamay-Tsoory from the University of Haifa, using MRI scannings of the brain, proved that the pattern of impairments in the frontal lobe of a psychopath’s brain showed many similarities to the brains of individuals with frontal lobe damage (Elsevier, 2010). Another set of research showed similar findings; that impairments in the frontal lobe of the brain suggest to be part of the cause of psychopathy. This research suggested that differences in the amygdala and ventromedial prefrontal cortex, in particular, are related to psychopathy. This research proposes that the amygdala enables learning through reinforcement when one is able to associate their actions which harm others and the consequence of the victim’s distress. Such information in a healthy individual is fed forward to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex where the individual can guide themselves away from immoral actions. The findings, however, with psychopaths was that dysfunction in these brain structures also means that this moral reasoning is dysfunctional (Blair, 2007). This research strongly suggests that dysfunctions in the frontal lobes of the brain could be the cause of the behavioural disturbances which are found in psychopaths, as psychopaths are unable to feel the difference between right and wrong. Another set of new research which suggests potential causes of psychopathy explores how chemicals are released in a psychopath's brain in comparison to a normal, healthy brain. Vanderbilt University scientists hypothesized that psychopathic traits are also linked to dysfunction in the dopamine reward circuitry. The scientists found that the participants with high levels of psychopathic traits had close to four times the amount of dopamine released in reaction to the amphetamine, or speed, that they were given. As a result of these findings the researchers found that psychopaths had exaggerated dopamine responses when told they would get a reward for doing a task. This would cause a psychopath to not be able to alter their attention until they get what they are after (Nauert, 2015). These unusual brain responses help to explain the manipulative and destructive behaviours of psychopaths, as psychopaths do not stop at anything to get what they are after. This sort of research is crucial in developing treatments for psychopaths, as well as learning more about other brain abnormalities. Through understanding the underlying causes of this disorder, researchers also may be able to develop treatments which could allow psychopaths to function normally in society. Finding treatments that work would also reduce the amount of people in prison, as a significant percent of the prison population are psychopaths (Cohen, 2011). This thus would overall help psychopaths lead better and healthier lives so they could contribute positively to society. Furthermore, treatment for psychopathy would help those who are affected by the harm that psychopaths cause. Understanding the causes of the development of this disorder would also help prevent the further development of psychopathic traits in younger people. If researchers are able to identify psychopaths at young ages, it is possible that researchers would be able to help treat individuals so they can develop in a healthy way. Overall, understanding the neurological causes of psychopathy and through developing treatments due to this, there can be more healthy, contributing members to society. This can also help those individuals who are close to psychopaths be optimistic about treatment, instead of seeing this disorder as something that cannot be helped. All the causes of this disorder are still unclear, but with constant research being done to understand it, contemporary society as a whole will evidently benefit.