A (female) psychopath's downfall; a cautionary tale

[Pierre]

This explains, for example, why a psychopathic child sexual predator can feel genuine hurt when his own child is injured in an accident, or bristle at the thought of sexually offending one of his own, yet be capable of the completely cold and heartless kidnapping, brutal rape, and murder of a child across town when he feels the need to satisfy his craving. In my experience, this capacity for compartmentalization is more disturbing.

I would not be surprised to learn that psychopaths can sexually abuse their own children (since they are the psychopath's property/extension that can therefore freely used) while "protecting" them for outer threats.

This kind of twisted dynamics might be more obvious in some couples where, say, the husband is very abuse but, at the same time, very protective/possessive and can't even stand when other men just look at HIS wife.

It might seem awkward because we tend to project our own usual well delimited ego (me) / non-ego (the rest of the world) boundaries onto psychopaths who don't have any notion of such a boundary.

 

[Keit]

Wow, what a story! Very educational and captivating. Thank you for sharing, griffin. And, as others said, Peters was incredibly lucky, because it could turn out very differently.

I also wonder, after reading this,

Duff, the prosecutor, thought justice had been served. But after two criminal trials, there remained an irreducible mystery at the heart of it — what had prompted the Easters to go to such astonishing lengths over a slight so small. “The story that hasn’t been told is why these people did it,” Duff said. “Everyone asks me, and I have no answer.”

if maybe it would be appropriate or possible, just for the heck of it, to send somehow (by mail or e-mail) to Christopher Duff materials or links about psychopathy? Sure, we may still be very far from the concept of non-violent-white-collar psychopathy being freely explored at the legal court, but who knows. Maybe he would dismiss it, or the info would never reach him, but then it could possibly answer his burning questions.

 

[NormaRegula]

Wow, what a story! Very educational and captivating. Thank you for sharing, griffin. And, as others said, Peters was incredibly lucky, because it could turn out very differently.

I also wonder, after reading this,

Duff, the prosecutor, thought justice had been served. But after two criminal trials, there remained an irreducible mystery at the heart of it — what had prompted the Easters to go to such astonishing lengths over a slight so small. “The story that hasn’t been told is why these people did it,” Duff said. “Everyone asks me, and I have no answer.”

if maybe it would be appropriate or possible, just for the heck of it, to send somehow (by mail or e-mail) to Christopher Duff materials or links about psychopathy? Sure, we may still be very far from the concept of non-violent-white-collar psychopathy being freely explored at the legal court, but who knows. Maybe he would dismiss it, or the info would never reach him, but then it could possibly answer his burning questions.

Might be a good idea to contact Duff with some links and quotes from Checkley and George Simon that may answer his questions. If he's receptive, he could be sent materials.

 

[Laura]

Or just put comments about Cleckley, Hare, etc on the article comments and maybe the journalist will share that info.

 

[Keit]

Or just put comments about Cleckley, Hare, etc on the article comments and maybe the journalist will share that info.

I just posted the following comment, and it awaits to be approved by the moderators.

Christopher Duff remarked that he has no answer why Easters went to such astonishing lengths over a slight so small. But, luckily, there is wealth of information that explains WHY.

Everything Easters did can be explained using a concept of psychopathy.

This personality disorder is puzzling and intractable. Its principal feature seems to be a lack of conscience. It's important to note, that contrary to popular belief, criminal or antisocial traits do not always accompany psychopathy.

The founding research on psychopathy was compiled by Hervey M. Cleckley in the 1940-50's, published as a compilation of case studies titled "The Mask of Sanity". More recent material includes books by R. Hare, such as "Without Conscience - The Disturbing World of the Psychopaths Among Us". Carl Frankenstein also made a significant contribution in his book "Psychopathy: A comparative analysis of clinical pictures". Or Martha Stout in her book "The Sociopath Next Door".

The psychopath understands reality, knows right from wrong, has apparently unimpaired intelligence. The emotional interpretations of reality and system of values of a psychopath are however radically different from normal. Psychopaths can be successful because of complete lack of restraint and not worrying about consequences. Association with a psychopath is essentially always detrimental.

A common feature of the psychopath is accusing all others of the very thing the psychopath does. Psychopaths are difficult or impossible to detect if there is no all round view of their activities. The inner landscape of a psychopath lacks any depth. The psychopath does not always derive conventional benefit from his actions and may be singularly counter-productive to his own goals.

 

[NormaRegula]

Or just put comments about Cleckley, Hare, etc on the article comments and maybe the journalist will share that info.

I just posted the following comment, and it awaits to be approved by the moderators.

Christopher Duff remarked that he has no answer why Easters went to such astonishing lengths over a slight so small. But, luckily, there is wealth of information that explains WHY.

Everything Easters did can be explained using a concept of psychopathy.

This personality disorder is puzzling and intractable. Its principal feature seems to be a lack of conscience. It's important to note, that contrary to popular belief, criminal or antisocial traits do not always accompany psychopathy.

The founding research on psychopathy was compiled by Hervey M. Cleckley in the 1940-50's, published as a compilation of case studies titled "The Mask of Sanity". More recent material includes books by R. Hare, such as "Without Conscience - The Disturbing World of the Psychopaths Among Us". Carl Frankenstein also made a significant contribution in his book "Psychopathy: A comparative analysis of clinical pictures". Or Martha Stout in her book "The Sociopath Next Door".

The psychopath understands reality, knows right from wrong, has apparently unimpaired intelligence. The emotional interpretations of reality and system of values of a psychopath are however radically different from normal. Psychopaths can be successful because of complete lack of restraint and not worrying about consequences. Association with a psychopath is essentially always detrimental.

A common feature of the psychopath is accusing all others of the very thing the psychopath does. Psychopaths are difficult or impossible to detect if there is no all round view of their activities. The inner landscape of a psychopath lacks any depth. The psychopath does not always derive conventional benefit from his actions and may be singularly counter-productive to his own goals.

That's a great post, Keit. Cleckley, Hare, Frankenstein and Stout are excellent references.

Good that you mentioned that contrary to popular belief, criminal and anti-social traits do not always accompany psychopathy. Too many people believe psychopaths are only deranged serial killers, not persons who think nothing of manipulating people - like the cops and school parents/employees in this case - to unjustly incarcerate and emotionally isolate their prey while they watch in sadistic satisfaction. Petty grievances are ripe for over-the-top scheming with a psychopath. It's even scarier to think that the more clever psychopath who wears a mask of sanity actually succeeds in carrying out his vengeance to a great degree. Just look to history and present day politics and economics to see how many powerful psychopaths have gotten what they wanted by conniving others to carry out their schemes.

 

[Hesper]

Or just put comments about Cleckley, Hare, etc on the article comments and maybe the journalist will share that info.

I just posted the following comment, and it awaits to be approved by the moderators.

Great comment. Made it to chapter 6 so far and I find this to be an this amazing case study on psychopathy. Thanks a ton for sharing this article.