Psychobabble

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Or conservative P-B. And I don't drink coffee any more.

Apocryphal: When Ted Bundy was finally put on death row and a time set to light him up like a Christmas Tree a restaurant in Florida advertised "free fries if Bundy fries."

Own it. Read it. Like it.

The late and much unlamented Ted Bundy is only one of a number of psychopath killers which were finally caught and met with justice. Others may remain at large, probably are still loose in fact and others yet are in jail and hopefully will remain there until it is their time to push up some daisies.

Why the field and practice of psychiatry is only better than the field of phrenology because the shrinks have a license to dispense drugs (through which they can cover up their inability to actually do anything helpful because it's damn near impossible to determine ANYTHING useful from a drooling heap), they do have something to talk about where psychopaths are concerned.

Consider the Hare Psychopathy test. http://www.minddisorders.com/Flu-Inv/Hare-Psychopathy-Checklist.html

This test purports to tell whether or not a person actually is a psycho.

But, according to a series of news reports including some extensive investigative journalism, getting a "false positive" on the test is easy.

In other words, it's nothing to fake test results so you can appear to be a psycho.

It works for shrinks.

No surprise there. Shrinks are pretty much a clueless lot from what I can see and are only interested in supporting their own preconceived notions. The above book and a detailed study Brutal Antipathy pointed me to (I have lost the link. He may post a comment with the link if you're lucky) illustrate exactly why I link the field of psychiatry to phrenology.

The author of the test is even on the record that his test is being misused and is condemning people who are not psychos.

Everything I have learned about the test includes this warning in a varying amount of verbiage: "When properly completed by a qualified professional..."

I could not find a copy of the test to share with you and I'm not forking out $300+ to get a copy. I can tell you the test considers these 20 items:

• glib and superficial charm
• grandiose (exaggeratedly high) estimation of self
• need for stimulation
• pathological lying
• cunning and manipulativeness
• lack of remorse or guilt
• shallow affect (superficial emotional responsiveness)



Hi! He's Ted Bundy and he's compost.

• callousness and lack of empathy
• parasitic lifestyle
• poor behavioral controls
• sexual promiscuity
• early behavior problems
• lack of realistic long-term goals
• impulsivity
• irresponsibility
• failure to accept responsibility for own actions
• many short-term marital relationships
• juvenile delinquency
• revocation of conditional release
• criminal versatility

20 items to tell if a person is a psychopath.

 

If you just look at the above items I'm sure you can point to a huge number of people who could be psychopaths. Aside from the issue of marriages, the items in the list can describe a lot of teenagers. Many of the items also describe excessively stupid people.

Must get bumper sticker...

The actual test contains a lot more than 20 questions. Regardless, here's a simplified version of the t20 items and a brief, if sarcastic, explanation of each. http://www.psychforums.com/antisocial-personality/topic50384.html

The answers come on a sliding scale. The higher the score the more likely the person is a psychopath, at least according to the test.

You probably now get an idea of why it is so easy to fake the test and come out a psycho. Some criminals do fake the test in order to NOT be sent to prison but instead be sent to shrink wards. They believe the shrink ward will be easier than prison and easier to get out of.

A psychiatrist grasps absolute proof his science is correct.

The down side of this is once branded a psycho, shaking that label is just this side of impossible,

something the criminals don't bother thinking about. A shrink will point to this as further proof of psychopathy because the person is not willing to change to avoid future consequences.

Psycho or world leader?

Most like you are now wondering how you would rank on the Psychopath test. I'm certainly wondering how I'd come out and who among us would rank high. Some folks probably think I rank very high. I withhold my own opinion of myself as it would be considered unreliable.

OKcupid.com has some sample psychopath tests. They are probably just as reliable as a test given by a shrink. Maybe moreso.

Here's a surprise for you. In the investigative research on this test, some people who scored high on it are also leaders of industry and business. What the shrinks see as unhealthy behavior, the very successful people see as the drive that allows them to succeed.

So how about it? How do you think you'd rank? How about the people around you? How would they rank?

You’re readin’ my mind you won’t look in my eyes

You say I do things that I don’t realise

But I don’t care it’s all psychobabble rap to me

Psychobabble all psychobabble

Psychobabble all psychobabble

You’re lighting a scene that’s faded to black

I threw it away cause I don’t want it back

But I don’t care it’s all psychbabble rap 

The Alan Parson's Project