Dark Side: What You are?

 

There are some of the baddest dudes you can imagine—they’d done some heinous things over the years, things that would make you cringe.  But their pasts weren’t the only things that separated them from the rest of us. When looked at a lot of brain scans over the years, and these had been different. The brains belonging to these killers shared a rare and alarming pattern of low brain function in certain parts of the frontal and temporal lobes—areas commonly associated with self-control and empathy. This makes sense for those with a history of inhuman violence, since the reduction of activity in these regions suggests a lack of a normal sense of moral reasoning and of the ability to inhibit their impulses. As part of the research that had been run - genetic tests and taken brain scans of several Alzheimer’s patients as well as several members who were serving as the normal control group.

 

But depending on who this person is, the second fifteen minutes can be dramatically more telling. For instance, if he is in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease, he might repeat the same exact interesting little story, with the same exact facial and body movements and punch line as before. If he is schizophrenic, he might start to shift in his seat or lean in a little too close as he talks to you. You might start to feel uncomfortable and will get up and leave, glancing back to make sure he isn’t following you.

 

What is a psychopath?”

 

Several dismissed the question, saying psychopaths didn’t exist at all and that asking them to define psychopath was like asking them to define a nervous breakdown. It’s a phrase people throw around, but it doesn’t bear any scientific or professional meaning. The DSM classifies a wide range of disorders from anorexia to schizophrenia, but psychopathy is not one of them. The definition for antisocial personality disorder is described as “a pervasive pattern of disregard for and violation of the rights of others that has been occurring in the person since the age of 15 years, as indicated by three (or more) of seven criteria, namely: a failure to conform to social norms; irresponsibility; deceitfulness; indifference to the welfare of others; recklessness; a failure to plan ahead; and irritability and aggressiveness.”

 

If one considers conventional medical standards of diagnosis, it’s actually no wonder there is so much controversy surrounding psychopathy. For conditions like obesity, diabetes, and high blood pressure, it’s easy to figure out whether a patient is afflicted, since the symptoms of these diseases are well-known and easy to test for. Do you have low levels of insulin, inhibiting your body’s ability to metabolize sugar? You have diabetes. The same cannot be said for diseases of the mind.

 

For one thing, psychiatric diseases are not considered diseases at all. Diseases are based on knowledge of the cause (or etiology) of a particular disorder and the effects (or pathophysiology) they have on the body. Unlike for many true diseases of other organ systems, we don’t have this luxury with diseases of the mind since so little is known of the underlying pathological biological mechanisms at work. Despite advances in our understanding of how the brain works, the organ is still largely a mystery to us. Therefore, most psychiatric problems are called disorders or syndromes. Psychopathy stands on the lowest rung of this disease-disorder ladder, since no one agrees on what defines it—or if it exists at all—and so there is no professional agreement as to the underlying causes. Trying to identify or define psychopathy with just a checklist of traits and no cause is like using a field taxonomy guide. If it flies and eats and makes noises it could be a bird, but it could also be a bat or an insect; you haven’t nailed down what the thing really is.

 

Since psychiatric disorders are often characterized by more than one symptom, a patient will be diagnosed based on the number and severity of various symptoms. For most disorders, a diagnosis is also classified on a sliding scale—more often called a spectrum—that indicates whether the patient’s case is mild, moderate, or severe. The most common spectrum associated with such disorders is the autism spectrum. At the low end are delayed language learning and narrow interests, and at the high end are strongly repetitive behaviors and an inability to communicate.

 

The traits can be sorted into four different categories, or “factors.” The interpersonal factor includes the traits of superficiality, grandiosity, and deceitfulness. The affective factor includes lack of remorse, lack of empathy, and refusal to accept responsibility for one’s actions. The behavioral factor includes impulsivity, lack of goals, and unreliability. And the antisocial factor includes hotheadedness, a history of juvenile delinquency, and a criminal record. Antisocial personality disorder is related to psychopathy but is much more common and is a measure of outward disruptive behavior rather than an underlying personality problem. Psychopathy scores are actually a better predictor of criminal recidivism, severity, and premeditation.

 

Psychopathy is not something one can just casually assess, although there are versions of the test that can be self-administered and are not “officially” diagnostic. A typical statement on a self-administered checklist might be, “I can be shrewd, crafty, sly, and clever—if needed, I can also be deceptive, unscrupulous, underhanded, manipulative, and dishonest.”

 

One question people often ask is if there is a difference between a sociopath and a psychopath. Barring the fact that many psychologists deny the existence of either, in a clinical setting the difference is purely semantic.  The sociologists are more likely to focus on the environmental or socially modifiable facets of the disorder, so prefer the term sociopathy, whereas psychologists and psychiatrists prefer to include the genetic, cognitive, and emotional factors as well as the social factors when making a diagnosis, and therefore would opt for psychopathy.

 

 

 

www.politie.nl  and a Chief Inspector – Mr. Henk van Essen©

www.aivd.nl       AIVD – Mr. Erik Akerboom ©

 

 

Bibliography:

 

1.    Criminal Investigations – Crime Scene Investigation.2000

 

2.    Forensic Science.2006

 

3.    Techniques of Crime Scene Investigation.2012

 

4.    Forensics Pathology.2001

 

5.    Pathology.2005

 

6.    Forensic DNA Technology (Lewis Publishers,New York, 1991).

 

7.    The Examination and Typing of Bloodstains in the Crime Laboratory (U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, D.C., 1971).

 

8.    „A Short History of the Polymerase Chain Reaction". PCR Protocols. Methods in Molecular Biology.

 

9.    Molecular Cloning: A Laboratory Manual (3rd ed.). Cold Spring Harbor,N.Y.: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press.2001

 

10.   "Antibodies as Thermolabile Switches: High Temperature Triggering for the Polymerase Chain Reaction". Bio/Technology.1994

 

11.   Forensic Science Handbook, vol. III (Regents/Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1993).

 

12.   "Thermostable DNA Polymerases for a Wide Spectrum of Applications: Comparison of a Robust Hybrid TopoTaq to other enzymes". In Kieleczawa J. DNA Sequencing II: Optimizing Preparation and Cleanup. Jones and Bartlett. 2006

 

13.   Nielsen B, et al., Acute and adaptive responses in humans to exercise in a warm, humid environment, Eur J Physiol 1997

 

14.   Molnar GW, Survival of hypothermia by men immersed in the ocean. JAMA 1946

 

15.   Paton BC, Accidental hypothermia. Pharmacol Ther 1983

 

16.   Simpson K, Exposure to cold-starvation and neglect, in Simpson K (Ed): Modem Trends in Forensic Medicine. St Louis, MO, Mosby Co, 1953.

 

17.   Fitzgerald FT, Hypoglycemia and accidental hypothermia in an alcoholic population. West J Med 1980

 

18.   Stoner HB et al., Metabolic aspects of hypothermia in the elderly. Clin Sci 1980

 

19.   MacGregor DC et al., The effects of ether, ethanol, propanol and butanol on tolerance to deep hypothermia. Dis Chest 1966

 

20.   Cooper KE, Hunter AR, and Keatinge WR, Accidental hypothermia. Int Anesthesia Clin 1964

 

21.   Keatinge WR. The effects of subcutaneous fat and of previous exposure to cold on the body temperature, peripheral blood flow and metabolic rate of men in cold water. J Physiol 1960

 

22.   Sloan REG and Keatinge WR, Cooling rates of young people swimming in cold water. J Appl Physiol 1973

 

23.   Keatinge WR, Role of cold and immersion accidents. In Adam JM (Ed) Hypothermia – Ashore and Afloat. 1981, Chapter 4, Aberdeen Univ. Press, GB.

 

24.   Keatinge WR and Evans M, The respiratory and cardiovascular responses to immersion in cold and warm water. QJ Exp Physiol 1961

 

25.   Keatinge WR and Nadel JA, Immediate respiratory response to sudden cooling of the skin. J Appl Physiol 1965

 

26.   Golden F. St C. and Hurvey GR, The “After Drop” and death after rescue from immersion in cold water. In Adam JM (Ed). Hypothermia – Ashore and Afloat, Chapter 5, Aberdeen Univ. Press, GB 1981.

 

27.   Burton AC and Bazett HC, Study of average temperature of tissue, of exchange of heat and vasomotor responses in man by means of bath coloremeter. Am J Physiol 1936

 

28.   Adam JM, Cold Weather: Its characteristics, dangers and assessment, In Adam JM (Ed).Hypothermia – Ashore and Afloat, Aberdeen Univ. Press, GB1981.

 

29.   Modell JH and Davis JH, Electrolyte changes in human drowning victims.Anesthesiology 1969

 

30.   Bolte RG, et al., The use of extracorporeal rewarming in a child submerged for 66 minutes. JAMA 1988

 

31.   Ornato JP, The resuscitation of near-drowning victims. JAMA 1986

 

32.   Conn AW and Barker CA: Fresh water drowning and near-drowning — An update.1984;

 

33.   Reh H, On the early postmortem course of “washerwoman’s skin at the fingertips.” Z Rechtsmed 1984;

 

34.   Gonzales TA, Vance M, Helpern M, Legal Medicine and Toxicology. New York, Appleton-Century Co, 1937.

 

35.   Peabody AJ, Diatoms and drowning – A review, Med Sci Law 1980

 

36.   Foged N, Diatoms and drowning — Once more.Forens Sci Int 1983

 

37.   "Microscale chaotic advection enables robust convective DNA replication.". Analytical Chemistry. 2013

 

38.   Sourcebook in Forensic Serology, Immunology, and Biochemistry (U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice, Washington, D.C.,1983).

 

39.   C. A. Villee et al., Biology (Saunders College Publishing, Philadelphia, 2nd ed.,1989).

 

40.   Molecular Biology of the Gene (Benjamin/Cummings Publishing Company, Menlo Park, CA, 4th ed., 1987).

 

41.   Molecular Evolutionary Genetics (Plenum Press, New York,1985).

 

42.   Human Physiology. An Integrate. 2016

 

43.   Dumas JL and Walker N, Bilateral scapular fractures secondary to electrical shock. Arch. Orthopaed & Trauma Surg, 1992; 111(5)

 

44.   Stueland DT, et al., Bilateral humeral fractures from electrically induced muscular spasm. J. of Emerg. Med. 1989

 

45.   Shaheen MA and Sabet NA, Bilateral simultaneous fracture of the femoral neck following electrical shock. Injury. 1984

 

46.   Rajam KH, et al., Fracture of vertebral bodies caused by accidental electric shock. J. Indian Med Assoc. 1976

 

47.   Wright RK, Broisz HG, and Shuman M, The investigation of electrical injuries and deaths. Presented at the meeting of the American Academy of Forensic Science, Reno, NV, February 2000.