Someone asked me last night whether I had (in my former role working with psychiatric patients on ‘locked’ wards) come across ‘cold calculating killers’. I said that all though some of the patients had killed they had done so during the grip of a psychotic episode. This, of course, doesn’t help the victim or their families but it does tell us something about the difference between ‘mad’ and ‘bad’.

Coincidently I did go to school with a boy who subsequently as an adult went on to become notorious for horrific psychopathic crimes. When people ask me whether there were any signs that he would go on to do these things I have to say that no there weren’t. Not to me any way.

In my article on psychopaths No strings on me: Is there a psychopath in your life? I make the point that psychopaths are not ‘crazy’. They do not hallucinate or believe crazy things (unless believing you really are the centre of the universe can be deemed crazy) but they do lack empathy, fellow feeling and display cold sadism and highly manipulative, narcissistic and controlling behavior. They can come across as empathetic if it suits their selfish goals and can seem genuine and concerned or highly socially magnetic-hence the term ‘charming psychopath.’

This article briefly examines the point that not all psychopaths are criminal People can be psychopaths but not commit crimes although they can cause extensive emotional fallout in the lives of others. Of course psychopaths in power don’t have to comply with law and so can wreck havoc on whole nations as we are seeing in a certain African country right now.

Mark