Order The Borderline Personality Disorder Workbook by Dr. Fox: https://goo.gl/LQEgy1

This video is going to discuss individuals who meet criteria for psychopathy, and particularly a subtype called successful psychopathy. This term is often misused colloquially referring to someone who commits a mean or very hateful act. When we talk about psychopathy in this video we are talking about people who have a long history of these acts and in many cases they’re extreme, but there are other factors to consider as well that we’ll discuss. We’re using the term clinically, not colloquially in this video.

Psychopaths operate at such a level that they have a high likelihood to end up incarcerated, have poor employment history, are erratic and destructive in relationships, manipulative, aggressive and violent, lack remorse or guilt, have an impaired ability to learn following punishment, take advantage of others, are promiscuous, and so on. What about those who meet criteria for psychopathy but are able to, for lack of a better word, function in society and stay out of prison? These are what we will call successful psychopaths.

What is Psychopathy and How Common Is It?

Genuine psychopathy occurs in less than 1% of all non-institutionalized males age 18 and up. This equals approximately 1.1 million adult males in the United States. Out of the approximately 6.7 million adult males who are in prison, jail, parole, or on probation, about 16%, or 1 million are psychopaths. This means that approximately 93% of adult male psychopaths in the United States are in prison, jail, parole, or on probation.

Compared to the unsuccessful psychopath, the successful psychopathic traits include higher level of autonomic responsivity, such as skin conductance, heart rate, respiration, blood pressure, as well as greater executive functioning, such as selecting and successfully monitoring behaviors that assist the achieving goals and also include attentional control, cognitive inhibition, inhibitory control, working memory, and cognitive flexibility. It has also been found that successful psychopaths have higher scores on conscientiousness – which is a personality trait where high scorers tend to be hardworking, dependable and organized, and higher levels of assertiveness and sensation-seeking but with intact cognitive empathy. Imagine you possessed a mixture of manipulativeness, aggressive and violent tendencies, lack remorse or guilt, no remorse about taking advantage of others, and promiscuous, but without the impairments that impair your ability to successfully judge the environment that would get you incarcerated for it.

Successful psychopaths are in organizations and may be working beside you. They tend to get hired because they make a strong positive impressions at interviews, by seeming eager and driven, possess good ability for the job (thought they may be lying), appear emotionally well-adjusted, friendly and easy to get along with. Psychopaths’ undesirable personality traits may be easily misperceived as their irresponsibility may be misunderstood by employers as risk-taking or entrepreneurial spirit; sensation-seeking may be seen as high energy and eagerness for the job; superficial charm as charisma. It is not uncommon for psychopaths to create fictitious work experiences or resumes, fabricate credentials such as diplomas, certifications, or awards.

Daniel J. Fox, Ph.D., is a licensed psychologist in Texas, international speaker, and award winning author. He has been specializing in the treatment and assessment of individuals with personality disorders for over 15 years in the state and federal prison system, universities, and in private practice. His specialty areas include personality disorders, ethics, burnout prevention, and emotional intelligence.

He has published several articles in these areas and is the author of:

The Borderline Personality Disorder Workbook: An Integrative Program to Understand and Manage Your BPD. Available at: https://goo.gl/LQEgy1

Antisocial, Borderline, Narcissistic and Histrionic Workbook: Treatment Strategies for Cluster B Personality Disorders (IPBA Benjamin Franklin Gold Award Winner): https://goo.gl/BLRkFy

Narcissistic Personality Disorder Toolbox: 55 Practical Treatment Techniques for Clients, Their Parents & Their Children: https://goo.gl/sZYhym

The Clinician’s Guide to Diagnosis and Treatment of Personality Disorders: https://goo.gl/ZAVe9v




YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/DrDanielFox
Dr. Fox’s website: http://www.drdfox.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/appliedpsychservices/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrDanielJFox1
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drdfox/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drdfox
Amazon Author’s Page: amazon.com/author/drfox

Thank you for your attention and I hope you enjoy my videos and find them helpful and subscribe. I always welcome topic suggestions and comments.