Normal Psychopaths, Neurobiology, and Activist Social Science and Therapy

A: Nope. Genetics account for malignant narcissists and sociopaths. My father, my daughter. Good parenting, no trauma. It's a neurological abnormality. They cannot love; they cannot experience being loved. Those of us born amongst them who do have compassion, are surrounded by evil. Actual evil. ***

A: This was my LIFE not some opinion. Also, I was a neuropsychology researcher, so I know the science behind it. It is a heartbreaking condition. My father ran over my kitten on purpose in my presence when I was 4. My daughter gave me an overdose of digitalis, which I had no access to, and was enraged when I didn't die. That's not arguing an opinion.

*** B: This is definitely an interesting tangent. My mother is a sociopath, and although my grandparents were kind, the cultural practice of “respecting your elders” meant she was around my great grandfather, who was an incredibly violent man. My grandmother also didn’t have the resources at the time to recover from the trauma of growing up with my great grandfather either. I think in my mother’s case it was very much a mix of nature/nurture. I’ve chosen to not allow my mother around my children because not only do I not want them to be her targets, I don’t want them seeing her behavior as normal. The presence of people who are pretty malicious and deliberately hurtful to others because they find it thrilling sometimes clashes with my UU values. I think there is a tendency to want to pretend people like that don’t really exist, but they very much do. Sorry about the tangent-it just made me think a little bit. ***

A: I appreciate your sharing. It gets very isolating when other people and the mental health profession just claim it's all coming from inside you that it's your problem, and not the stress and trauma of being surrounded by evil. ***

I know your kind of pain, since my mother was born in Nazi Germany, and my dad came from Latin America pursuing advanced and well-rounded education. As an outsider growing up in modest dysfunction, I began to perceive toxic dysfunctional America when my friend supported nukes and Reagan inspired people more than Carter. It has been your life, but when you interpret it involves your opinion. You were a neurologist, and not a biosocial Anthropologist, which highlights how Sciience iitself iis merely an opinion iin a larger sense. I already read your comment on mental health professionals, who also get "opinion" status in your favor. Besides my study of much neglected materiial in Bio Anthro, my stint in Soc Serviiiices with Afro Am/Latno substance abusers broadened my knowledge base, as did my actiivism experience and study of International Relations and sustainabliity/socal justice theory. Do you know just the study of orthodox economics made people more narcissistic iin a study? See the moviie The Corporation by Achbar et al based on a lawyer´s book. it does a reasonable analysis of the psychotic behavior of "corporations" (Uh, their EXECUTIVES, thank you), spending, is it BILLIONS? on child ads. See Marj Kelly´s book Diviine Right of Capital, too. UUism is special in the first place for its embracing culture encourages spiritual seeking. There´s more to it, but blaming people´s "Biology" is reductionist Scientism. Indulge in spiritual and other economic activism Buddhism and internal Kung Fu practices offer profound development, especially to cultivate or deepen high integrity Christianity. Do you know that the Buddha´s meditatiive Nirvana protected him from a murderer iin a detailed account, St. Benediict was protected from poison, and there are many Chriistian testimonies of similar kinds of protection, including one experienced wiith my wife and two kids. It all jumped into a higher gear for me with holistics and psychosomatics. And Greenpeace/Oxfam type stuff.