Some very good advice from Dr. Simon on manipulative individuals

Dr. Simon’s site, “dealing with manipulative people”  http://www.manipulative-people.com/  offers some great advice on how to deal with manipulative individuals.  Some links of interest below,

How to Deal with a Narcissist –  http://www.manipulative-people.com/how-to-deal-with-a-narcissist/

Dr. Simon – Understanding Predatory Aggressors

Last but not least, About Covert Emotional Manipulation – http://psychopathsandlove.com/covert-emotional-manipulation/

*For some odd reason some links work and others don’t so, for now,  just copy and paste in your browser.

 

 

 

 

 

“Stress, injury to health, trauma, PTSD”

“Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a natural emotional reaction to a deeply shocking and disturbing experience. It is a normal reaction to an abnormal situation.”
Robert C Scaer, MD, Author, The Body bears the Burden: Trauma, Dissociation and Disease

Tim Field, who unfortunately is no longer are with us, wrote a very informative piece on Stress, injury to health, trauma, PTSD.  So instead of making a long post, please click HERE

Knowledge will help you heal!

What abusive relationships and Cults have in common

A short post but a very informative article written by Mark Banschick, M.D. What Awful Marriages & Cults Have in Common (May 28, 2013)  Here
*Please note, the psychopath’s own family can be compared to cultmembers.

Please note: In the article Mark Banschick, M.D. writes, “Many abusers do, in fact “love” their wives (or husbands), only to abuse them when frustrated or when under the influence.”  The word “love” is in quotation marks as psychopaths are incapable of love.  A psychopath has shallow emotions and their partner, the victim, is used and abused by the disordered individual to serve their own selfish ends.   A psychopath always need to have someone by their side, be it a partner, a  colleague or a “friend”.   To keep in mind, all relationshipa are based on use and abuse.
Further reading; What can we learn about emotion by studying psychopathy? (2013) Here
What Are The Essential Characteristics Of A Psychopath?  Here

Also, once again, bringing attention to an earlier post by LoveFraud, Coercive persuasion, mind control and brain washing (Aug. 31, 2007)   Here

The more information you have, the better you can protect yourself!

Stay safe and take good care of yourself!

Advice and a new study on empathy

Let me begin with some advice from the site Aftermath: Surviving Psychopathy and quote;

“There are several reasons for this advice. If it is only you versus a psychopathic individual, it makes it easier for that person to redefine your reality. Someone with many psychopathic features will present a version of reality that is convenient for him/her in the moment but is not consistent with the facts. An isolated person is easier to brainwash and to manipulate. Having other people around who know about this person’s behavior makes it harder for the person to do that. Other people who are not taken in can also provide an important reality check to help you keep your bearings and to give you feedback about how well you are coping. But groupthink can also support a psychopath, so it is also advisable to look for outside opinions when you are in what may be a cult or other coercive affinity group.

Another reason is that people often lose their support systems when they are involved with people with psychopathic traits. One trick of such a predator is to isolate you from friends and family. We all need close relationships with people who are trustworthy. If you are in a relationship with someone you cannot trust, your needs for love, dependency, and attention are either not being met or are supposed to be met by only one person—the psychopath. You will be happier if there are a variety of people to support you. Moreover, a healthy support system will help you get away from a psychopathic individual and recover emotionally from the trauma you have suffered. A good support system can include family members and friends, as well as counselors and therapists.”

Further reading,

Comments on Martha Stout’s Thirteen Rules for Dealing with Sociopaths in Everyday Life  Here

* A word of caution! Not all counselors and therapists are familiar with the disorder and some may even be psychopaths themselves.   You do best in reading up on the disorder yourself.

A recent study of interest concerning empathy,

Brain response to empathy-eliciting scenarios involving pain in incarcerated individuals with psychopathy.  (Decety J, Skelly LR, Kiehl KA. June 2013)   Here

Some write-ups concerning the study;

Psychopaths are not neurally equipped to have concern for others (April 24, 2013)     Here

and  Psychopaths Are Not Neurally Equipped to Have Concern for Others (Apr. 24, 2013) Science Daily   Here

How media can turn it around, the following headline a perfect exampel, Psychopaths Can Feel Empathy, Too, Study Finds (July 27, 2013)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/25/psychopaths-empathy-_n_3652792.html
where you can read the following, and I quote;
“But surprisingly, when the psychopaths were instructed to try to empathize while watching the videos, their brains showed the same level of activity in these brain areas as normal individuals. They seem to have a switch they can turn on and off that turns their empathy on and off depending on the situation, Keysers told LiveScience.”
Key words here, when “instructed to” – meet the manipulative psychopath!

Regardless of the fact that they are not neurally equipped to have concern for others they are not ‘insane’ enough to not know what they are doing and they enjoy causing harm to others,  see post below,

Psychopaths know right from wrong but don’t care.  By; Cima M, Tonnaer F, Hauser MD. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. 2010   Here

and

Bullies may enjoy seeing others in pain: Brain scans show disruption in   natural empathetic response. University of Chicago (November 7, 2008)   Here     (The word “may” should be taken lightly as they do enjoy it, the smirk on their face says it all)  and it is all about “winning”, see earlier post,  Must “win”, no matter the cost  Here

The psychopath is in other words,  a very disordered and dangerous individual who leaves a path of destruction wherever he/she is.

 

“Psychopaths are not neurally equipped to have concern for others”

Besides having no conscience, a new study, the first of its kind, also points to that psychopaths “lack the basic neurophysiological “hardwiring” that enables them to care for others”. Psychopaths are not neurally equipped to have concern for others (April 24, 2013) University of Chicago http://news.uchicago.edu/article/2013/04/24/psychopaths-are-not-neurally-equipped-have-concern-others

Study; Brain Response to Empathy-Eliciting Scenarios Involving Pain in Incarcerated Individuals With Psychopathy. (April 24, 2013) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23615636

A write-up can also be found in Science Daily, Psychopaths are not neurally equipped to have concern for others (April 24, 2013) http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/04/130424161108.htm

This does, most likely, not only apply to incarcerated psychopaths as in the above study as anyone who has had any type of personal interaction with such an individual knows all too well. The lack of empathy also explains the incredible egoism that these individuals display. A lack of conscience and a lack of concern for others makes the psychopath very dangerous to others as well as to society as a whole. In the articles above one can read that, “Psychopathy affects approximately 1 percent of the United States general population”. That seems to be a very low numer and the true number is more likely around 4% and that in any population, not only in the U.S. Considering what is going on today, it may even be higher.

Power and control over others is what drives the psychopath and that is the reason that we find them sitting on powerpositions, positions which they’ve obviously “bullied” their way to. Psychopaths sitting on positions of power affects society as a whole and thus the following articles and videos.

Psychopathy, Politics and The New World Order (May 9, 2013) http://www.globalresearch.ca/psychopathy-politics-and-the-new-world-order/5334458

Week in Review: Psychopathy and the Collapse of the U.S. Empire (May 12, 2013) http://www.globalresearch.ca/week-in-review-psychopathy-and-the-collapse-of-the-u-s-empire/5334809

Do you know the truth about the EU? http://eutruth.org.uk/

The one thing that the psychopath “cares” about, is money because money equals power and absolute power and control over others are core traits of the psychopath.

About so called “vaccines”, The Greater Good Movie http://www.greatergoodmovie.org/#!prettyPhoto

And, the destruction of our food supply;

Video: Consciousness Beyond Chemtrails – Jeffrey M Smith on GMO’s – FULL HD

“Psychopathy in Politics and Finance”

As “wordpress” seem to be acting up again, just a short post. VIDEO – “Psychopathy in Politics and Finance” (May 6, 2013) http://www.globalresearch.ca/psychopathy-in-politics-and-finance/5334161

Research on psychopathy – 2012

Well, up and running again, problem seem to be fixed 😉  Decided to summarize the entire year of 2012, enjoy!   As below studies are just a few of many  . . .  for more research,  please visit my other homepage Here

 

The psychopath magnetized: insights from brain imaging (Jan. 2012) Here

Reduced susceptibility to the attentional blink in psychopathic offenders: Implications for the attention bottleneck hypothesis  (Jan. 2012)  Here

Investigating associations between empathy, morality and psychopathic personality traits in the general population.   (Jan. 2012)   Here

Do fearful eyes activate empathy-related brain regions in individuals with callous traits? (Jan, 2012)   Here

Joint ICA of ERP and fMRI during error-monitoring   (Jan, 2012)   Here

Effects of Acute Tryptophan Depletion on Prefrontal-Amygdala Connectivity While Viewing Facial Signals of Aggression  (Jan. 2012)   Here   (Of interest in regard to aggression)

Considering anger from a cognitive neuroscience perspective (January/February)   pdf.   Here

Cold-blooded lie catchers? An investigation of psychopathy, emotional processing, and deception detection   (Feb. 2012)   Here

Chapter 18 – Psychopathy and Sadism: Interpreting Psychopathic and Sadistic Behavior in the Crime Scene  – “sadism refers to the intentional infliction of psychological or physical suffering on a conscious victim, able to experience pain or humiliation”  (Feb. 2012)   Here

White matter microstructural abnormalities in the frontal lobe of adults with antisocial personality disorder  (Feb. 2012)  Here   Also see Swivelchair’s post on the study, Do psychopaths have split brains? White matter studies point to brain hemispheric disconnect.   Here

I Want It Now! Neural Correlates of Hypersensitivity to Immediate Reward in Hypomania   (March, 2012)   Here

The function of the anterior temporal lobe: A review of the empirical evidence  (April, 2012)   Here

Psychopathy among pedophilic and nonpedophilic child molesters   (April, 2012)    Here  Also of interest, “The primary aims of the psychopath and the pedophile are thr same: to dominate, to use, and to subjugate another person in service of the grandiose self.”  Psychopathy: Antisocial, Criminal, and Violent Behavior, Authors, Theodore Millon PhD DSc, Erik Simonsen MD., Roger D. Davis PhD och Morten Birket-Smith MD. (Dec. 2002)   Chapter 19, page 304.

Fear conditioning in psychopaths: Event-related potentials and peripheral measures  (April, 2012)   Here

Relationships between bullying behaviours and the Dark Triad: A study with adults   (April, 2012)   Here   “Correlational analyses demonstrated that psychopathy was most strongly related to bullying”. Related article;   How the “Dark Triad” of Personality Traits Relates to Bullying Behaviors   Here

The role of prefrontal cortex in psychopathy   (2012)   pdf.   Here

Cortical Thinning in Psychopathy  (May, 2021)   Here    Also see;   Cortical Thinning and Functional Connectivity in Psychopathy  (R.J.R. Blair, June 2012)  Here

Can psychopathic offenders discern moral wrongs? A new look at the moral/conventional distinction   (May, 2012)   Here

The Neuropsychological Underpinnings to Psychopathic Personality Traits in a Nationally Representative and Longitudinal Sample   (June, 2012)   Here

Somatic aphasia: Mismatch of body sensations with autonomic stress reactivity in psychopathy   (July, 2012)   Here

A cascading errors model of empathy and psychopathy   (July, 2012)   Here

Empathy, attention, and the development of psychopathy   (July, 2012)   Here

A neurobehavioral evolutionary perspective on the mechanisms underlying empathy    (July, 2012)   Here    and   Here

Emotional intelligence in incarcerated men with psychopathic traits   (July, 2012)   Here    Related article, New Study Examines Emotional Intelligence in Incarcerated Individuals (Aug.)   Here

Psychopathic traits and change on indicators of dynamic risk factors during inpatient forensic psychiatric treatment  (Jul/Aug. 2012)   Here   “psychopaths showed the expected pattern of treatment noncompliance, compared to non-psychopaths.”

Psychopathy Increases Perceived Moral Permissibility of Accidents   (Aug. 2012)   Here

Thinner cortex in the frontal lobes in mentally disordered offenders   (Aug/Sept., 2012)   Here

The Antisocial Brain: Psychopathy Matters – a structural MRI investigation of antisocial male violent offenders’   (Sept. 2012)   Here   Related article,  Psychopathy linked to specific structural abnormalities in the brain   Here

Hypersexuality in college students: The role of psychopathy   (Oct. 2012)   Here

Psychopathic personality traits and cognitive dissonance: Individual differences in attitude change.   (Oct. 2012)   Here

A model of differential amygdala activation in psychopathy   (Oct. 2012)   Here

Psychopathy-related differences in selective attention are captured by an early event-related potential   (Oct. 2012)   Here

The Potential Role of the Striatum in Antisocial Behavior and Psychopathy   (Nov. 2012)   Here

Examining the effect of psychopathic traits on gray matter volume in a community substance abuse sample   (Nov. 2012)   Here

Beyond cortical localization in clinico-anatomical correlation   (Nov/Dec. 2012)   Here

“I killed her, but I never laid a finger on her” — A phenomenological difference between wife-killing and wife-battering    (Nov/Dec. 2012)  Here

Amygdala dysfunction attenuates frustration-induced aggression in psychopathic individuals in a non-criminal population   (Dec. 2012)   Here   “The findings indicate that amygdala dysfunction underlies affective deficits of psychopathy. We propose that the insensitivity of the amygdala to the affective significance of social stimuli contributes to an increased risk of violation of social norms, but enhances the ability to attenuate impulses toward maladaptive aggression in successful psychopaths.”

Exaggerated attention blink response in prisoners with externalizing   (Dec. 2012)   Here

Olfactory abilities and psychopathy: higher psychopathy scores are associated with poorer odor discrimination and odor identification    (Dec. 2012)   Here   Related article, ‘Psychopaths’ have an impaired sense of smell   Here    as well as post by Swivelchair, The smell of a psychopath   Here

The Socialized Psychopath – Beware!

Came across a very good article which led to other links which I would like to share in hope that it deepens the understanding of these very dangerous individuals.

What Makes A Socialized Psychopath So Dangerous?    Here

MIND CONTROL TRICK    Here

MIND CONTROL METHODS USED TO CHANGE THE PERSONALITY     Here

“Because of the nature of mind control, the victims are unable to make the decision to discontinue the relationship with a sociopath, even when they feel they are just being used.”
Do You Think You May Be In A Relationship With A Sociopath?    Here

Please explore the sight above.  However, below are also some links that are just as important;

“STOUT: Well, the perfect victim, from the sociopath’s point of view, is the person who is smart enough and capable enough to do him some good in the world and who is also fun to manipulate. How much fun is it to manipulate someone who is stupid and incompetent? Another good person to manipulate is someone of high character, because that is also fun for the sociopath. On the other hand, the sociopath doesn’t want this person to be so savvy that he or she will immediately see him for who he is. He wants the person to be easily enough fooled to stick with him. This can be accomplished by looking for someone who is very, very loyal. Most of us consider loyalty to be a very positive trait—and it is a positive trait. But it also blinds people to some of the traits of the person they’re loyal to.   The Sociopath Next Door (Article);     Here

“The number one trait of a sociopath/psychopath is the ability to make you feel sorry for them.”    Here

“They will go great lengths to make you feel sorry for them, and to make you care about them; in order to manipulate you even more.”
Warning signs     Here

Dangerous Mind Games: How Psychopaths Manipulate and Deceive     Here

Eight Ways to Spot Emotional Manipulation    Here

 * * * *      New information added concerning mind control  (Nov. 17, 2012)

The Mind Control Manual: Important Concepts About Mind Control, Cults And Psychopaths   Here

Mind Control Manual – Important concepts about mind control, cults and psychopaths   Here

“Over the last six months we have received many letters from desperate family members asking, “How can I get my ____ away from the psychopathic con artist?” What family members are really asking for is advice on how to overcome the brain washing of a loved one.”  How to Escape from Mind Control  Here

Recent research concerning psychopathy can be found   Here     (The site is in Swedish but all research is in English)

The more you know, the better you can protect yourself and for those personally affected, heal.

Lessons from “Love Fraud”

Would, with this post, draw attention to Donna Andersen’s very informative videos in regard to sociopaths/psychopaths.  Donna Andersen is the author of lovefraud.com Here

The more you know, the better you can protect yourself!

Lovefraud Lesson #1 – Introduction by Donna Andersen   Here

Lovefraud Lesson 2 – What is a sociopath?   Here

Lovefraud Lesson #3 – Charisma and charm   Here

Lovefraud Lesson #4 – Sensationalism and sociopaths   Here

Lovefraud Lesson #5: When sociopaths pretend to be your sudden soul mate   Here

Lovefraud Lesson #6: Sociopaths and sex   Here

Lovefraud Lesson #7: Sociopaths trap us into making promises   Here

Updated Aug. 28, 2012;

Lesson #8: Sociopaths and love bombing   Here

All of the above videos can also be fouund on Lovefraud Click   HERE

Research – Some ‘highlights’ from 2011

Below some research that confirm what everyone who has been targeted already know.

“Correlational analyses demonstrated that psychopathy was most strongly related to bullying”
Relationships between bullying behaviours and the Dark Triad: A study with adults. (Dec. 2011)   Here

Bullying at school as a predictor of delinquency, violence and other anti-social behaviour in adulthood. (March 2011)   Here

More research from 2011;

The effects of reward and punishment on response inhibition in non-clinical psychopathy (Jan. 2011)   Here

A possible mechanism of sadism (Jan. 2011)   Here

The other allele: Exploring the long allele of the serotonin transporter gene as a potential risk factor for psychopathy: A review of the parallels in findings (Jan. 2011)   Here

Genetic Influences on Being Processed Through the Criminal Justice System: Results from a Sample of Adoptees (Feb. 2011)   Here

Narcissism and academic dishonesty: The exhibitionism dimension and the lack of guilt. (Feb. 2011)   Here
Also of interest in connection to above study;
Identifying and profiling scholastic cheaters: Their personality, cognitive ability, and motivation.   Here
Personality Predicts Cheating More Than Academic Struggles, Study Shows (2010)   Here
Narcissists can now be given the ultimate title they deserve – a Psychopath   Here

Psychopathy, PCL-R, and MAOA genotype as predictors of violent reconvictions. (Feb. 2011)   Here

Specifying the attentional selection that moderates the fearlessness of psychopathic offenders. (Feb 2011)   Here
Also of interest; Attention Moderates the Fearlessness of Psychopathic Offenders.  (2010)   Here

“These findings provide clear evidence that deficits in defensive reactivity are linked specifically to the affective-interpersonal features of psychopathy and not to the antisocial deviance features represented most strongly in APD.”
Clarifying the Role of Defensive Reactivity Deficits in Psychopathy and Antisocial Personality Using Startle Reflex Methodology. (Feb. 2011)   Here

Individual differences in cognitive-flexibility: The influence of spontaneous eyeblink rate, trait psychoticism and working memory on attentional set-shifting. (March 2011)   Here
Related;   The psychoticism–psychopathy continuum: A neuropsychological model of core deficits. 2010 (pdf)   Here

Dual Temperamental Risk Factors for Psychopathic Personality: Evidence From Self-Report and Skin Conductance. (March 2011)   Here

Psychopathy and impulsivity reconsidered (March-April 2011)   Here

As victims of psychopaths often are stalked, harassed, terrorized and even killed;
The development and validation of the guidelines for stalking assessment and management (March-April 2011)   Here

A newtrait on the market: Honesty–Humility as auniquepredictor of jobperformanceratings (April 2011)   Here   Related article; Higher Job Performance Linked to People Who Are More Honest and Humble  Here

Narcissism and stock market investing: Correlates and consequences of cocksure investing (April 2011)   Here

The psychopath’s dilemma: The effects of psychopathic personality traits in one-shot games  (April 2011)    Here

Increased testosterone-cortisol ratio in psychopathy. (May 2011)   Here

Lack of empathy in patients with narcissistic personality disorder. (May 2011)   Here

Differences between psychopathy and other personality disorders: evidence from neuroimaging  (May 2011)   Here

Cold-blooded lie catchers? An investigation of psychopathy, emotional processing, and deception detection. (Early view May 2011)   Here

An inter-hemispheric imbalance in the psychopath’s brain. (July 2011)   Here

Would I lie to you? “leakage” in deceptive facial expressions relates to psychopathy and emotional intelligence (July 2010)   Here

Emotion and Morality in Psychopathy and Paraphilias. (July 2011)   Here
Also of interest;
Paraphilias with co-morbid psychopathy: the clinical and legal significance to sex offender assessments (2010)  Here

White matter microstructural abnormalities in the frontal lobe of adults with antisocial personality disorder. (July 2011)   Here
Also of interest neurologicalcorrelates post;
Psychopath white matter: Abnormal mostly on the right hand side (July 25, 2011)  Here

Moral Judgment and Psychopathy. (July 2011)   Here

Predatory Violence Aiming at Relief in a Case of Mass Murder: Meloy’s Criteria for Applied Forensic Practice. (July/August 2011)   Here
Related;
Bullies may enjoy seeing others in pain: Brain scans show disruption in natural empathetic response. (2008)   Here

Psychopathic Traits From the Perspective of Self and Informant Reports: Is There Evidence for a Lack of Insight? (Aug. 2011)   Here

Personality and economics: Overview and proposed framework. (Aug. 2011)   Here
Special Issue on Personality and Economics. (Pdf).   Here

Cortex and amygdala morphology in psychopathy (Aug. 2011)   Here
Related;
Morphological alterations in the prefrontal cortex and the amygdala in unsuccessful psychopaths. (2010)   Here
Localization of Deformations Within the Amygdala in Individuals With Psychopathy (2009)   Here

As trauma (interaction with a psychopath) and PTSD go hand in hand;
Changes in brain anatomy during the course of posttraumatic stress disorder.  (Aug. 2011)   Here
For more info on PTSD see, Tim Fields, Trauma and PTSD   Here

Investigating the neural correlates of psychopathy: a critical review. (Aug. 2011)   Here

The relationship between psychopathy and impulsivity: A multi-impulsivity measurement approach. (Sept. 2011)   Here

‘Wasn’t me!’ A field study of the relationship between deceptive motivations and psychopathic traits in young offenders. (Sept. 2011)   Here

Psychopathic traits in Finnish homicide offenders with schizophrenia. (Sept. 2011)   Here

Psychopathic Personality Traits, Genetic Risk, and Gene–Environment Correlations. (Sept. 2011)   Here
Related;
Evidence for substantial genetic risk for psychopathy in 7-year-olds (2005)   Here
Also see an earlier post,
Children at risk – Callous disregard for the feelings of others   Here

High Psychopathic Trait Females Exhibit Reduced Startle Potentiation and Increased P3 Amplitude. (Sept./Oct. 2011)   Here

Capturing the Psychopathic Female: A Prototypicality Analysis of the Comprehensive Assessment of Psychopathic Personality (CAPP) Across Gender (Sept./Oct. 2011)   Here

The genetic origins of psychopathic personality traits in adult males and females: Results from an adoption-based study. (Oct. 2011)   Here

White-Collar Criminals: The ‘Kinder, Gentler’ Offender?  (Oct. 2011)   Here

Amount of altruistic punishment accounts for subsequent emotional gratification in participants with primary psychopathy  (Nov. 2011)   Here

Mate-selection and the Dark Triad: Facilitating a short-term mating strategy and creating a volatile environment.   Here

Greed is good? Student disciplinary choice and self-reported psychopathy. (Nov.2011)   Here
Write-up of interest,
Psychopaths and Big Money – It All Adds Up   Here

Psychopathy and indirect aggression: The roles of cortisol, sex, and type of psychopathy. (Nov. 2011)   Here

The effects of sertraline on psychopathic traits (Nov. 2011)   Here

Psychopaths’ Brains Show Differences in Structure and Function (Nov. 2011)    Here

Reduced Prefrontal Connectivity in Psychopathy (Nov. 2011)   Here
Related, great post by Neurological Correlates,
We called it: Psychopath brain disconnects and reduced functions   Here

Psychopathy, reactive aggression, and precarious proclamations: A review of behavioral, cognitive, and biological research (Nov.-Dec.2011)   Here

The psychopath magnetized: insights from brain imaging. (Dec. 2011)   Here   and   Here

A very long post, I know, but there should be som research of interest for everyone.   Last but not least, I’d like to mention a site in German dealing with Psychopathy for those with german as their native language, Erkenne Psychopathie    Here