Dear Professor Death

Dear Professor Death,

I recently watched a noire mystery series and I’m pretty sure the killer was a sociopath––or a psychopath––although they never labeled her. Can you explain the difference?

Puzzled in Peoria

Dear Puzzled,

Both sociopathy and psychopathy personalities are antisocial, but in different ways. Let’s start with the psychopaths, who makes up less than one percent of the population, making it an uncommon diagnosis, with fewer women than men meeting the criteria.

A psychopath possesses zero empathy or regard for the feelings and rights of others. They are manipulative, selfish, need to be in control all the time, feel no shame or guilt for their actions, are irresponsible, and only form superficial emotional relationships with others.

In the early 1800s psychopathy was first described as “insanity without delirium.” The condition is thought to be a product of a slow rate of brain development and early developmental problems.

A psychopath can be charming on the surface. An example of a psychopath most people have heard of is Ted Bundy, a man who cold-heartedly raped and murdered at least thirty-six women over the course of four years. Jeffrey Dahmer, who killed and dismembered seventeen men and boys, is another.

Sociopathy is also known as antisocial personality disorder and affects up to four percent of the population, again mostly men. Sociopaths have a high tendency toward physical aggression, are impulsive and erratic in behavior rather than controlled, are deceitful and usually cannot hold down a job. Like psychopathy, a combination of nature and nurture can lead to the condition.

John Wayne Gacy is probably the most well known sociopath in the States. Gacy raped, tortured, and murdered at least thirty-six young men and boys over a six year period, burying two thirds of them in the crawl space under his ranch home.

While she didn’t kill anyone directly, Elizabeth Holmes has also been labeled a sociopath. Holmes started Theranos, a company that tested blood. she claimed Theranos could test for a long list of diseases in a short few minutes with only a few drops of blood.

If you want to read more about the subject, this is one of my go-to sites for research on mental illnesses:

https://www.simplypsychology.org/psychopathy-vs-sociopathy.html