Patti, hi and your words are really kind, thank you. I watched the video. Had I not known in advance what It was about, I would have said he was a reasonable young man!!!! That's chilling in itself. I read some of Hare's papers at college, he was probably one of those who convinced me that psychopathy is a mixture of socialization and genetics, actually he could have been speaking of my mother, who was truly incapable of considering anybody elses feelings in any way, other than how they impacted on her. I'm certain she was on the psychopathic spectrum.
I was told something today which I found, at best thought provoking, at worst, chilling. I hope you don't mind if I run it by you. I was paid a visit by the person who manages the complex where I live. Still in my jarmies and on line, I explained what it was that was holding my interest-and discovered just how small the world is. She had previously worked for a mental health trust whose senior psychiatrists were required to assess prisoners deemed to have committed serious crimes. Two of their number visited Jeremy and both assessed him as a psychopath. I pointed out that he had been tested on 27(?) different occasions and the results for psychopathy were negative. She said that none of those tests were random and had all been done at Jeremy's request and he knew when they were going to happen which would have enabled him to have control of how he
presented himself. She did however, agree that there is room for doubt, she was fully aware of the cock up made by EP, and she agreed that being a psychopath doesn't necessarily make him a killer........
......Which is the one thing I would take the video to task over. I know it was sensationalism to hold the viewers attention, but I think she rather overstressed the potential danger of psychopaths, when we know the vast majority are out there, living their lives, albeit with a different mindset, like the rest of us.
At the moment, I probably put microchips in the same catagory as chemical castration, genetic engineering and embryonic research.
Hi april, we have to be very careful I suppose in our diagnosis of saying someone is a psychopath, for the definitions covers a multitude of personalities and behaviour pattens. We also have to remain bias. In the case of JB I am not 100% sure, if I can be honest it has crossed my mind, but I am not an expert, so I can't say categorically that he is or anyone that I know is.....
In the case of the two psychiatrists that you mention who made an assessment on Jeremy, I can only say that she had doubt and where there is doubt, there might not be conviction enough to diagnose that he is a psychopath, the diagnosis fails at the first hurdle, because she cannot commit herself to say she is 100% sure....Can you see where I am coming from?
