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THE MASK OF SANITY

Section 3: Cataloging the Material

Part 3: A clinical profile

54. General poverty in major

affective reactions

 

 

Energy Enhancement          Enlightened Texts         Psychopath           The Mask Of Sanity

 

 

54. General poverty in major

affective reactions

In addition to his incapacity for object love, the psychopath always shows general

poverty of affect. Although it is true that be sometimes becomes excited and shouts as

if in rage or seems to exult in enthusiasm and again weeps in what appear to be bitter

tears or speaks eloquent and mournful words about his misfortunes or his follies, the

conviction dawns on those who observe him carefully that here we deal with a readiness

of expression rather than a strength of feeling.

Vexation, spite, quick and labile flashes of quasi-affection, peevish resentment,

shallow moods of self-pity, puerile attitudes of vanity, and absurd and showy poses of

indignation are all within his emotional scale and are freely sounded as the

circumstances of life play upon him. But mature, wholehearted anger, true or consistent

indignation, honest, solid grief, sustaining pride, deep joy, and genuine despair are

reactions not likely to be found within this scale.

Craig60 said long ago that patients who suffer from hysteria do not react with awe,

reverence, wonder, or pity. Often they do not, it might be said, appear capable of

achieving in sincerity the major emotions, although their protestations of such emotions

are prominent and their show of feeling is sometimes so vigorous that the observer is

often misled to believe that they are in tragic grief or remorse. Although such a

diminution of emotional range, especially along the deeper notes, may be seen in the

patient with hysteria, in the psychopath it is very much more far-reaching, profound,

and final. Even in the situations of squalor and misery into which he repeatedly works

himself, when confined in jails and what he regards as lunatic asylums, after throwing

away fortunes or catching and transferring gonorrhea to his bride - even under these

circumstances he does not show anything that could be called woe or despair or serious

sorrow. He becomes vexed and rebellious

CATALOGING THE MATERIAL 349

and frets in lively and constant impatience when confined, but he does not grieve as

others grieve.

Psychopaths are often witty and sometimes give a superficial impression of that

far different and very serious thing, humor. Humor, however, in what may be its full,

true sense,* they never have.43 I have thought that I caught glimpses of it in

psychopaths and, despite a typical history, was inclined to question the diagnosis.

Further observation of these patients gave convincing evidence that the apparent

humor, like the apparent insight, was really an artifact.

One might feel a superficial inclination to credit with humor the patient described

under "The Psychopath as Scientist" who, after his lamentable marriage to the very

unprepossessing streetwalker, laughed and admitted that the joke was on himself. At

first glance such a reply might appear to be the valiant humor of a man who can smile in

any adversity. And, indeed, it might be correctly judged as this if the speaker showed

any evidence of feeling his adversity or accepting his responsibility. But in this instance

the only convincing appraisal is that "he jests at scars who never felt a wound." When

the normal man makes a gay or ironic quip on the subject of his own adversity, we may

justifiably applaud it as humor. If the quip concerns an adversity which scarcely touches

the maker, it is as empty of humor as the empty boldness of a daredevil who wagers his

fortune in a dice game where no one is playing for keeps.

In such a discussion only personal opinions of what is real humor and what is not

real humor can be expressed. Everyone's capacity to appreciate or appraise such a

quality varies, no doubt, as widely as one's sense of what is beautiful.

The emotional poverty, the complete lack of strong or tragic feeling universally

found in all the psychopaths personally observed, has caused me considerable

bewilderment in connection with frequent references in the literature to the powerful

instinctual drives and passions said to be manifested in such people.79,128,156 Although

weak and even infantile drives displaying themselves theatrically in the absence of

ordinary inhibitions may impress the layman as mighty forces, it is hardly to be

concluded that wise and deeply experienced psychiatrists would be similarly deceived.

Perhaps such descriptions apply to other types of personality than that discussed here.

And since, as I have already stressed, the present aim is to present a

__________________________

* Carlyle said, "True humour springs not more from the head than from the heart; it is not contempt,

its essence is love; it issues not in laughter, but in still smiles which lie far deeper. It is a sort of inverse

sublimity, exalting, as it were, into our affections what is below us." Cited in Parkhurst.231

350 THE MASK OF SANITY

type of personality disorder well known and believed to be a clinical entity rather than to

argue about names, efforts will be limited to describing and trying to interpret the

material at hand.

In considering the general shallowness of affect common to all members of this

series in connection with their incapacity for object love, there is temptation to wonder

about the possible interdependence of these facilities. Is it possible for tragic or

transforming emotion to arise in any person without that peculiar and indescribable

personal commitment to another? Or, if not to another human being, at least to some

abstraction well outside the self?

 

Next: Section 3: Cataloging the material, Part 3: A clinical profile, 55. Specific loss of insight

 

Energy Enhancement          Enlightened Texts         Psychopath           The Mask Of Sanity

 

 

Section 3, Part 3

 

  • Psychopath Hervey Cleckley THE MASK OF SANITY, Section 3: Cataloging the material, Part 3: A clinical profile, 44. Synopsis and orientation
    Psychopath Hervey Cleckley THE MASK OF SANITY, Section 3: Cataloging the material, Part 3: A clinical profile, 44. Synopsis and orientation, In an earlier chapter it was noted that an attempt would be made to follow the general methods of science. Let us stop for a moment to orient ourselves. In Section two some examples of the material were offered and certain observations recorded. In the preceding parts of this section an effort was made to consider traditional concepts of the problem and to differentiate broadly the subject of this study from certain other personality reactions. These may be regarded as preliminary steps in the process of sifting and arranging our observations into some sort of order for the purpose of giving them, as much as possible, distinct and comprehensible form at energyenhancement.org

  • Psychopath Hervey Cleckley THE MASK OF SANITY, Section 3: Cataloging the material, Part 3: A clinical profile, 45. Superficial charm and good "intelligence"
    Psychopath Hervey Cleckley THE MASK OF SANITY, Section 3: Cataloging the material, Part 3: A clinical profile, 45. Superficial charm and good 'intelligence', More often than not, the typical psychopath will seem particularly agreeable and make a distinctly positive impression when he is first encountered. Alert and friendly in his attitude, he is easy to talk with and seems to have a good many genuine interests at energyenhancement.org

  • Psychopath Hervey Cleckley THE MASK OF SANITY, Section 3: Cataloging the material, Part 3: A clinical profile, 46. Absence of delusions and other signs of irrational thinking
    Psychopath Hervey Cleckley THE MASK OF SANITY, Section 3: Cataloging the material, Part 3: A clinical profile, 46. Absence of delusions and other signs of irrational thinking, The so-called psychopath is ordinarily free from signs or symptoms traditionally regarded as evidence of a psychosis. He does not hear voices. Genuine delusions cannot be demonstrated. There is no valid depression, consistent pathologic elevation of mood, or irresistible pressure of activity. Outer perceptual reality is accurately recognized; social values and generally accredited personal standards are accepted verbally. Excellent logical reasoning is maintained and, in theory, the patient can foresee the consequences of injudicious or antisocial acts, outline acceptable or admirable plans of life, and ably criticize in words his former mistakes at energyenhancement.org

  • Psychopath Hervey Cleckley THE MASK OF SANITY, Section 3: Cataloging the material, Part 3: A clinical profile, 47. Absence of "nervousness" or psychoneurotic manifestations
    Psychopath Hervey Cleckley THE MASK OF SANITY, ASection 3: Cataloging the material, Part 3: A clinical profile, 47. Absence of 'nervousness' or psychoneurotic manifestations, There are usually no symptoms to suggest a psychoneurosis in the clinical sense. In fact, the psychopath is nearly always free from minor reactions popularly regarded as 'neurotic' or as constituting 'nervousness.' The chief criteria whereby such diagnoses as hysteria, obsessive-compulsive disorder, anxiety state, or 'neurasthenia' might be made do not apply to him. It is highly typical for him not only to escape the abnormal anxiety and tension fundamentally characteristic of this whole diagnostic group but also to show a relative immunity from such anxiety and worry as might be judged normal or appropriate in disturbing situations at energyenhancement.org

  • Psychopath Hervey Cleckley THE MASK OF SANITY, Section 3: Cataloging the material, Part 3: A clinical profile, 48. Unreliability
    Psychopath Hervey Cleckley THE MASK OF SANITY, Section 3: Cataloging the material, Part 3: A clinical profile, 48. Unreliability, Though the psychopath is likely to give an early impression of being a thoroughly reliable person, it will soon be found that on many occasions he shows no sense of responsibility whatsoever. No matter how binding the obligation, how urgent the circumstances, or how important the matter, this holds true. Furthermore, the question of whether or not he is to be confronted with his failure or his disloyalty and called to account for it appears to have little effect on his attitude at energyenhancement.org

  • Psychopath Hervey Cleckley THE MASK OF SANITY, Section 3: Cataloging the material, Part 3: A clinical profile, 49. Untruthfulness and insincerity
    Psychopath Hervey Cleckley THE MASK OF SANITY, Section 3: Cataloging the material, Part 3: A clinical profile, 49. Untruthfulness and insincerity, The psychopath shows a remarkable disregard for truth and is to be trusted no more in his accounts of the past than in his promises for the future or his statement of present intentions. He gives the impression that he is incapable of ever attaining realistic comprehension of an attitude in other people which causes them to value truth and cherish truthfulness in themselves at energyenhancement.org

  • Psychopath Hervey Cleckley THE MASK OF SANITY, Section 3: Cataloging the material, Part 3: A clinical profile, 50. Lack of remorse or shame
    Psychopath Hervey Cleckley THE MASK OF SANITY, Section 3: Cataloging the material, Part 3: A clinical profile, 50. Lack of remorse or shame, The psychopath apparently cannot accept substantial blame for the various misfortunes which befall him and which he brings down upon others, usually he denies emphatically all responsibility and directly accuses others as responsible, but often he will go through an idle ritual of saying that much of his trouble is his own fault. When the latter course is adopted, subsequent events indicate that it is empty of sincerity-a hollow and casual form as little felt as the literal implications of 'your humble and obedient servant' are actually felt by a person who closes a letter with such a phrase at energyenhancement.org

  • Psychopath Hervey Cleckley THE MASK OF SANITY, Section 3: Cataloging the material, Part 3: A clinical profile, 51. Inadequately motivated antisocial behavior
    Psychopath Hervey Cleckley THE MASK OF SANITY, Section 3: Cataloging the material, Part 3: A clinical profile, 51. Inadequately motivated antisocial behavior, Not only is the psychopath undependable, but also in more active ways he cheats, deserts, annoys, brawls, fails, and lies without any apparent compunction. He will commit theft, forgery, adultery, fraud, and other deeds for astonishingly small stakes and under much greater risks of being discovered than will the ordinary scoundrel. He will, in fact, commit such deeds in the absence of any apparent goal at all. Yet we do not find the regularity and specificity in his behavior that is apparent in what is often called compulsive stealing or other socially destructive actions carried out under extraordinary pressures which the subject, in varying degrees, struggles against. Such activities, and all disorder distinguished by some as impulse neurosis,14 as we have mentioned, probably have important features in common with the psychopath's disorder at energyenhancement.org

  • Psychopath Hervey Cleckley THE MASK OF SANITY, Section 3: Cataloging the material, Part 3: A clinical profile, 52. Poor judgment and failure to learn by experience
    Psychopath Hervey Cleckley THE MASK OF SANITY, Section 3: Cataloging the material, Part 3: A clinical profile, 52. Poor judgment and failure to learn by experience, Despite his excellent rational powers, the psychopath continues to show the most execrable judgment about attaining what one might presume to be his ends. He throws away excellent opportunities to make money, to achieve a rapprochement with his wife, to be dismissed from the hospital, or to gain other ends that he has sometimes spent considerable effort toward gaining at energyenhancement.org

  • Psychopath Hervey Cleckley THE MASK OF SANITY, Section 3: Cataloging the material, Part 3: A clinical profile, 53. Pathologic egocentricity and incapacity for love
    Psychopath Hervey Cleckley THE MASK OF SANITY, Section 3: Cataloging the material, Part 3: A clinical profile, 53. Pathologic egocentricity and incapacity for love, The psychopath is always distinguished by egocentricity. This is usually of a degree not seen in ordinary people and often is little short of astonishing. How obviously this quality will be expressed in vanity or self-esteem will vary with the shrewdness of the subject and with his other complexities. Deeper probing will always reveal a selfcenteredness that is apparently unmodifiable and all but complete at energyenhancement.org

  • Psychopath Hervey Cleckley THE MASK OF SANITY, Section 3: Cataloging the material, Part 3: A clinical profile, 54. General poverty in major affective reactions
    Psychopath Hervey Cleckley THE MASK OF SANITY, Section 3: Cataloging the material, Part 3: A clinical profile, 54. General poverty in major affective reactions, In addition to his incapacity for object love, the psychopath always shows general poverty of affect. Although it is true that be sometimes becomes excited and shouts as if in rage or seems to exult in enthusiasm and again weeps in what appear to be bitter tears or speaks eloquent and mournful words about his misfortunes or his follies, the conviction dawns on those who observe him carefully that here we deal with a readiness of expression rather than a strength of feeling at energyenhancement.org

  • Psychopath Hervey Cleckley THE MASK OF SANITY, Section 3: Cataloging the material, Part 3: A clinical profile, 55. Specific loss of insight
    Psychopath Hervey Cleckley THE MASK OF SANITY, Section 3: Cataloging the material, Part 3: A clinical profile, 55. Specific loss of insight, In a special sense the psychopath lacks insight to a degree seldom, if ever, found in any but the most seriously disturbed psychotic patients. In a superficial sense, in that he can say he is in a psychiatric hospital because of his unacceptable and strange conduct, and by all other such criteria, his insight is intact. His insight is of course not affected at all with the type of impairment seen in the schizophrenic patient, who may not recognize the fact that others regard him as mentally ill but may insist that he is the Grand Lama and now in Tibet at energyenhancement.org

  • Psychopath Hervey Cleckley THE MASK OF SANITY, Section 3: Cataloging the material, Part 3: A clinical profile, 56. Unresponsiveness in general interpersonal relations
    Psychopath Hervey Cleckley THE MASK OF SANITY, Section 3: Cataloging the material, Part 3: A clinical profile, 56. Unresponsiveness in general interpersonal relations, The psychopath cannot be depended upon to show the ordinary responsiveness to special consideration or kindness or trust. No matter how well he is treated, no matter how long-suffering his family, his friends, the police, hospital attendants, and others may be, he shows no consistent reaction of appreciation except superficial and transparent protestations. Such gestures are exhibited most frequently when he feels they will facilitate some personal aim. The ordinary axiom of human existence that one good turn deserves another, a principle sometimes honored by cannibals and uncommonly callous assassins, has only superficial validity for him although he can cite it with eloquent casuistry when trying to obtain parole, discharge from the hospital, or some other end at energyenhancement.org

  • Psychopath Hervey Cleckley THE MASK OF SANITY, Section 3: Cataloging the material, Part 3: A clinical profile, 57. Fantastic and uninviting behavior with drink and sometimes without
    Psychopath Hervey Cleckley THE MASK OF SANITY, Section 3: Cataloging the material, Part 3: A clinical profile, 57. Fantastic and uninviting behavior with drink and sometimes without, Although some psychopaths do not drink at all and others drink rarely, considerable overindulgence in alcohol is very often prominent in the life story. Delirium tremens and other temporary psychoses directly due to alcohol were not commonly found in the hundreds of patients observed by me at energyenhancement.org

  • Psychopath Hervey Cleckley THE MASK OF SANITY, Section 3: Cataloging the material, Part 3: A clinical profile, 58. Suicide rarely carried out
    Psychopath Hervey Cleckley THE MASK OF SANITY, Section 3: Cataloging the material, Part 3: A clinical profile, 58. Suicide rarely carried out, Despite the deep behavioral pattern of throwing away or destroying the opportunities of life that underlies the psychopath's superficial self-content, ease, charm, and often brilliance, we do not find him prone to take a final determining step of this sort in literal suicide. Suicidal tendencies have been stressed by some observers as prevalent. This opinion, in all likelihood, must have come from the observation of patients fundamentally different from our group, but who, as we have mentioned, were traditionally classified under the same term. It was only after a good many years of experience with actual psychopaths that I encountered my first authentic instance of suicide in a patient who could be called typical at energyenhancement.org

  • Psychopath Hervey Cleckley THE MASK OF SANITY, Section 3: Cataloging the material, Part 3: A clinical profile, 59. Sex life impersonal, trivial, and poorly integrated
    Psychopath Hervey Cleckley THE MASK OF SANITY, Section 3: Cataloging the material, Part 3: A clinical profile, 59. Sex life impersonal, trivial, and poorly integrated, The psychopath's sex life invariably shows peculiarities. The opinion has already been expressed that homosexuality and the other specific deviations, though of course occurring in psychopaths, are not sufficiently common to be regarded as characteristic at energyenhancement.org

  • Psychopath Hervey Cleckley THE MASK OF SANITY, Section 3: Cataloging the material, Part 3: A clinical profile, 60. Failure to follow any life plan
    Psychopath Hervey Cleckley THE MASK OF SANITY, Section 3: Cataloging the material, Part 3: A clinical profile, 60. Failure to follow any life plan, The psychopath shows a striking inability to follow any sort of life plan consistently, whether it be one regarded as good or evil. He does not maintain an effort toward any far goal at all.47,53 This is entirely applicable to the full psychopath. On the contrary, he seems to go out of his way to make a failure of life. By some incomprehensible and untempting piece of folly or buffoonery, he eventually cuts short any activity in which he is succeeding, no matter whether it is crime or honest endeavor at energyenhancement.org

 

 

 
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