The Psychopath’s Mind

There is a concept that psychopaths have an ice cold, emotionless and hard persona. This is further supported by the stereotypes portrayed in popular movies.

This misconception, however, has been roundly criticized and at the forefront of this reassessment of the psychopathic mind is Norwegian University of Science and Technology researcher Aina Gullhaugen. She says, “A lot has happened over the past few years in psychiatry. But the discipline is still characterized by the attitude that a certain group of people is put together in such a way that they cannot be treated. There is little in the textbooks that say that these people have had a hard life. Until now, the focus has been directed at their anti-social behavior and lack of empathy. And the explanation for this is based on biology, instead of looking at what these people have experienced.”

In her experience as a psychologist, she found that there are discrepancies between the formal characteristics of psychopathy and her experiences in meeting and dealing with them. She theorized that when psychopathic criminals are hardened with traditional descriptions, there would be no vulnerable aspects or psychiatric disorders present in them. Thus, she reassessed the conclusions by changing the questions and reviewing the issues affecting psychopaths in a specific manner. This is what drove her to look into the psychopath’s mind.

Gullhaugen relates, “Hannibal Lecter is perhaps the most famous psychopath from the fictional world. His character in the books and movies is an excellent illustration of the cold mask some have thought that psychopaths have. Because it is a mask. Inside the head of the cannibal and serial killer have tenderness and pain, deep emotions and empathy.”

Thomas Harris, author of the book “Silence of the Lambs”, has admitted to have been based the Hannibal character on real life serial killers, after conducting research at the famed FBI Behavioral Science Unit. He developed the character through psychological damage incurred during Lecter’s childhood and this damage, according to Gullhaugen, is treatable.

Unfortunately, Hannibal Lecter is a fictional character. Gullhaugen focused her research in scientific literature and compared the Hannibal’s character and other offenders that high degree of psychopathy. She said, “I have gone through all the studies that have been published internationally over the past thirty years. I have also conducted a study of the psychological needs of Norwegian high-security and detention prisoners.”

Each of the studies conducted on these worst offenders indicate that their personal histories had physical and/or psychological abuse during their childhood years. The result of her efforts is all found in their article, “Looking for the Hannibal behind the Cannibal: Current Status of Case Research.”

She further added, “Without exception, these people have been injured in the company of their caregivers and many of the descriptions made it clear that their ruthlessness was an attempt to address this damage, but in an inappropriate or bad way.”

Her reassessment on how the world views psychopaths includes the methodologies used in the study of psychopaths. She said, “One way to examine emotional reactions is to show people pictures of different situations and then study the response. First the subject is often shown benign or neutral images, where you could be expected to be happy and relaxed. The physical reaction is a calm pulse, no sweat on the skin and the like. Then, suddenly there is a picture of a gun aimed at you. Most people would react to this right? But when psychopaths do no respond in the expected way, we conclude that they have a biological defect.”

In order to understand them, Gullhaugen proposes that individuals place themselves in the everyday life of psychopaths. These prevalent conditions include presence of criminal gangs or a difficult upbringing requiring desensitization and being strong as a requirement for daily survival. Maybe even the presence of guns and violence affect how one reacts to these kinds of stimuli, making a cold and emotionless reaction as the only rational and proper reaction to what they have grown accustomed to in their daily lives.

She thus declared, “I found that research on the psychopath’s emotions were incomplete. We need other tests and instruments to measure the feelings of these people, if there are feelings to measure.” In response, this is what exactly what she has done, adding on to the conventional survey methodologies which include a diagnostic interview and checklist of psychopathy and neuropsychological tests by using questionnaires that measure the individual’s interpersonal and emotional aspects. The results from the changes on the methodologies currently being used in the study of psychopathy would be changed and even improved with these efforts.

She relates, “There is no doubt that these are people with what we call relational needs. In the aforementioned case descriptions and my own study, it became clear that they both have the desire and the need for close relationships and that they care. At the same time, it is equally clear that they find it almost impossible to achieve and maintain such relationships.”

The study conducted by Gullhaugen demonstrates how the common survey methods would show individual indications on self-esteem, low depression and sense of general well being together with other methods that underscore how psychopaths suffer from underlying psychological pain. She asks rhetorically, “Isn’t it strange that someone who claims to have a great life can also answer that his or her life experiences have had a catastrophic or tremendous influence on him, or…?” She further explains that in some instances, the interviewees were individuals who didn’t even try to answer questions for fear that someone in prison would get access to information. She further added, “They may have a vested interest in appearing in a certain way. At the same time, they reveal a little bit of what is behind the mask when they answer the various questions in private, without any of us present.”

One of the main characteristics in the development of criminal psychopathy is their abnormal upbringing. The research revealed that psychopaths, as children would experience a parenting style that is very different from what is normal in the general population. Gullhaugen explains, “If you think of a scale of parental care that goes from nothing, the absence of care, all the way to the totally obsessive parent, most parents are in the middle. The same applies to how we feel about parental control. On a scale from ‘not caring’ all the way to ‘totally controlling’, most have parents who end up in the middle. But it is different for psychopaths. More than half of the psychopaths I have studied reported that they had been exposed to a parenting style that could be placed on either extreme of these scales. Either they lived in a situation where no one cared, where the child is subjected to total control and must be submissive or the child has been subjected to a neglectful parenting style.” This, she says, is an example of how the behavior of psychopaths is related to their personal life experiences. This provides for a better image of their individual feelings and this can be the starting point for their treatment.

Gullhaugen remarks, “The attachment patterns show that these children feel rejected. To a much greater degree than in the general population, their parents have an authoritarian style that compromises the child’s own will and independence. This is something that can cause the psychopath to later act ruthlessly to others, more or less consciously to get what he or she needs. This kind of relationship – or the total absence of a caregiver, pure neglect – is a part of the picture that can be drawn of the psychopath’s upbringing.”

This conclusion, however, cannot be fully proven, as the research has not investigated enough cases, though three other similar cases yielded the same tendencies.

She further adds, “It’s hard to say exactly what has created the psychopath’s rock hard mask. Bit as others have said before me: You do not get a personality disorder for your eighteenth birthday present. Have seen what children and young people with these kinds of characteristics experience and what it is like for them, through my work in child and adolescent psychiatry. Of course, not all reckless behavior is explained by a bad upbringing, but we do not inherit everything either. That is my main point.”

Gullhaugen highlights that biology and environment influence each other and personality disorders result from the sum totality of the factors that come from both biology and psychology. She explains, “The combination of the individual’s biological foundation, temperament, personality and vulnerability are important components. The individual’s relational vulnerability is the very essence of the personality disorder in my opinion. I see that these people are apprehensive when they meet me. I see a clear vulnerability in them through behavior that betrays insecurity and discomfort on the inside. And now we have research that confirms the hurt, suffering and nuances of their feelings.”

Her research yielded very few significant differences between normal people and those known psychopaths during her study of Norwegian prisoners. She further examined the individual’s ability to experience a wide range of emotions and found that psychopaths have experienced more negative emotions, such as irritability, hostility and shame. These individuals do not feel guilt and have more primitive emotions such as anger and anxiety. She relates, “This is what I found in the studies I conducted of strong psychopathic individuals who had committed serious criminal acts.” In the realm of positive feelings though, there was little or no difference and this suggested that the psychopath’s emotional life has more nuances than what was first considered.

To address these discrepancies, new and improved diagnostic manuals are currently being developed and will most likely be available in 2013. This development pleases Dr. Gullhaugen, as changes and improvements are being undertaken. The modifications include the use of tools that avoid strictly define individuals into categories but allow a more individualized evaluation allowing for descriptions from normal to diseased. She further places her belief that these modifications would paint a more accurate picture of the disorder.

She concludes, “When we recognize that the psychopath’s upbringing and relationships are important, and that the psychopath’s emotional life is more complex than what we have previously believed, we reduce the stigmatization of these individuals. Meanwhile, we also have a starting point for treatment. I don’t think we can get everyone back to a normal way of life. But it may be possible to help many to get on better with themselves and others. This in turn could reduce the risk of repeated serious crimes. Treatment is difficult, but possible.”

She also recommends that a full risk assessment should be undertaken before reaching a decision on whether or not a person can be returned into the general population. She says, “When you understand the problem better, it would be easier to predict all types of behavior. Our evaluations will be more extensive because of this and will give a more comprehensive and accurate picture.”

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Vitamin D Can Help Curb Depression

In a recent study with women suffering from moderate to severe depression, the groups who received treatment for Vitamin D deficiency showed significant improvement in their medical situations.

According to Sonal Pathak, MD, an endocrinologist at Bayhealth Medical Center of Dover, Delaware, “Vitamin D may have an as-yet-unproven effect on mood and its deficiency may exacerbate depression. If this association is confirmed, it may improve how we treat depression.”

The study was unveiled during the Endocrine Society’s 94th Annual Meeting held in Houston, Texas. Here, Dr. Pathak presented the research results after the three women, aged from 42 to 66, were diagnosed with clinical depression and were medicating with antidepressants. The three women were also being treated for one of two metabolic conditions, Type 2 diabetes or hypothyroidism. These women also had risk factors for vitamin D deficiency. These can be attributed to low intake of the vitamin as well as poor sun exposure. To determine such, the three subjects had undergone a 25-hydroxyvitamin D blood test.

All three women registered low levels of vitamin D, between 8.9 to 14.5 nanograms per milliliter. When individuals register below 21 ng/mL, they are deemed deficient as normal levels are set at 30 ng/mL according to the Endocrine Society. The women were prescribed oral vitamin D replacement medication between eight to twelve weeks and their vitamin D levels were increased to normal levels. The women ranged between 32 to 38 ng/mL.

After the treatment, the three women related improvements in their depression according to the Beck Depression Inventory. This is a twenty one question survey that measures the level of sadness and depression of an individual. Scoring between 0 to 9 would be minimal depression. A 10 to 18 is considered as mild depression, 19 to 29 is moderate depression and a score between 30 to 63 means severe depression.

One of the three women improved their depression score from 32 to 12, which is a drop from severe to mild depression. Another one of the women scored from 26 to an eight, showing only minimal symptoms of depression. The third patient’s score of 21 improved to 16, showing mild depression.

Still, other studies have indicated that vitamin D levels have an effect on both mood and depression. There is still a need for a large, randomized controlled clinical studies to prove if there is a cause and effect relationship.

Dr. Pathak further added, “Screening at-risk depressed patients for vitamin D deficiency and treating it appropriately may be an easy and cost effective adjunct to mainstream therapies for depression.”

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Bees Can Reverse Brain Aging

A study conducted at the Arizona State University have found that elderly honey bees are able to reverse brain aging. This was found that despite their advanced age, they are able to manage hive responsibilities usually managed by much younger bees.

This finding is important as there is current research on age-related dementia in humans and potential new drug regimens might be found from these senior honey bees. The researchers have found that social interventions in bees, and hopefully in humans can effectively mitigate the effects of dementia due to advancement of age.

The study was published in the journal Experimental Gerontology and it was conducted by scientists from ASU in cooperation with the Norwegian University of Life Sciences. The study was lead by Gro Amdam, an associate professor with the School of Life Sciences at ASU. The findings indicated that tricking the older forager bees in performing socially inclined tasks in the hive results in changes in their brain structure and functioning.

Amdam declared, “We knew from previous research that when bees stay in the nest and take care of larvae – the bee babies – they remain mentally competent for as long as we observe them. However after a period of nursing, bees fly out gathering food and begin aging very quickly. After just two weeks, foraging bees have worn wings, hairless bodies and more importantly, lose brain function – basically measured as the ability to learn new things. We wanted to find out if there was plasticity in this aging pattern so we asked the question, ‘What would happen if we asked the foraging bees to take care of larval babies again?’”

In experiments conducted for the study, the researchers had removed all the younger nurse bees from the hive, leaving only the queen and the babies. When the elder foraging bees had returned to the nest, the activity lessened for several days. When some of the elderly bees returned to foraging for food, the others remained in the hive and took care of the larvae bees. The study researchers found that after ten days in the hive, about half of the elderly bees had significantly improved to learn new things when they remained in the hive.

The team not only observed the ability to learn return to these bees, they also found a change in the protein make up in the bee’s brains. When the brains of the hive bees and forager bees were compared, they found two proteins change in the make up. They also discovered the presence of Prx6, a protein that helps combat dementia also found in humans as well as other conditions such as Alzheimer’s. There was also a discovery of a second protein that chaperones and protects other proteins from being damaged when exposed to cell level stresses.

The boon of this discovery is in the creation of a drug that can help maintain brain functionality but the formulation can still be up to thirty years away in the future. Amdam further added, “Maybe social interventions – changing how you deal with your surroundings – is something we can do today to help our brain stay younger. Since the proteins being researched in people are the same proteins bees have, these proteins may be able to spontaneously respond to specific social experiences.” The study lead further suggested that studies be done on mammals such as rats to investigate if the same molecular changes that bees undergo may also be doable in mammals and eventually humans.

Source: http://asunews.asu.edu/20120702_bee_brainaging

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Anger Prevalent in American Youth

According to a study from Harvard Medical School, nearly two-thirds of American adolescents have felt an anger attack at an early age that involved threats of violence, vandalism and even attacking others. These episodes of uncontrollable rage are more common in today’s adolescents compared to previous findings.

The study is based on the seminal National CoMorbidity Survey Replication Adolescent Supplement, which is a national household survey conducted face-to-face with 10,148 individual American adolescents. It found that of those surveyed, two-thirds of adolescents have in their past undergone anger attacks and one in every twelve individuals, nearly six million young adults, has met the criteria to be diagnosed as suffering from Intermittent Explosive Disorder. IED is an emotional syndrome characterized by persistent uncontrollable anger attacks not found in other psychological illnesses.

The study results were published in the July 2nd edition of Archives of General Psychiatry. The study clarified that IED typically presents itself during late childhood, and often continues throughout one’s life. This condition is also associated with other problems, and often precipitates emotional disorders such as depression and substance abuse. All these findings were elucidated by the study’s Senior Author Ronald Kessler, who is also the McNeil Family Professor of Health Care Policy at the Harvard Medical School. He further said that only six and half percent of all adolescents suffering from IED had received professional treatment for their anger attacks.

The HMS study further found that IED sufferers often have severe and chronic episodes during adolescence, and its first symptoms occur early in life. The study further found that IED episodes are largely untreated, with only 37.8 percent of adolescents undergoing treatment for IED and other emotional problems within a year of the study. In this group, only 6.5 percent received psychotherapy specifically for this anger disorder.

With these findings, the study team advocates the importance in identification and treatment of IED especially through school-based violence prevention programs. Kessler added, “If we can detect IED early and intervene with effective treatment right away, we can prevent a substantial amount of future violence perpetration and associated psychopathology.”

In order to be diagnosed with IED, the adolescent must have at least three separate incidents of impulsive aggressiveness that is described as “grossly out of proportion to any precipitating psychosocial stressor” at any stage in their life. This definition comes straight from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. For the study, an even more stringent criteria had been set for IED where adolescents would not be qualified under other mental conditions related to aggression, such as bipolar disorder, ADHD or attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, oppositional defiant disorder and other conduct disorders.

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Awareness is Medicine to Ease Suffering

Awareness or mindfulness is one way that an individual can respond to pain and discomfort. While many would want to be free from physical discomfort, some discomfort is inevitable for everyone, and mindfulness can help ease this condition. In doing this, the individual can learn how to manage the pain and suffering until recovery is complete.

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Income-Generation vs Busywork

The Pareto principle tells us that 20 percent of our actions are responsible for 80 percent of our results. Likewise in business, you have a few activities that result in income-generation, and the rest is just busywork. The problem is when we get overwhelmed by the busywork; in order to do creative work, you need to provide separate time to focus on demanded work instead of reacting to the latest email.

Thus, creative individuals should be encouraged to “show the money”. This is in essence specific time to be able to focus on income generating activities and ignore everything else that distracts them from that ultimate goal. While each industry would have a specific set of income generating actions, the following are some of the common activities that are present regardless of the kind of business:

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Humor: A Double-Edged Sword

Many say that being funny is a positive trait, especially in first-time encounters. In many surveys, one of the most desired qualities in a partner is sense of humor. Be it while dating or after marriage, the more a person enjoys their partner’s sense of humor, the more they will be satisfied with their relationship.

But a psychologist from the University of Western Ontario raises a red flag on all this. According to Dr. Rod Martin, humor in relationships can cut both ways. Funny people may seem to be more attractive initially, but as time goes by, the thrill of the humor wears off. Furthermore, relying too much on jokes to avoid deep relational issues can lead to more serious problems; in this case, humor may actually cause more harm than good.

This was seconded by Robert Weiss, a psychologist from the University of Oregon who studied the effect of humor in relationships. He said, “Humor is a tool like any other. People use humor in lots of different ways, including some negative ones. It’s not just one monolithic thing.” He added that almost every sweet, supportive way of using humor has an evil counterpart, the aggressive, selfish, or manipulative version. Teasing comments can either be interpreted as flattery or attack. Since these two are intertwined, it may come across as not being funny.

The most common way that humor ends up being hurtful are jokes about one’s qualities, such as clumsiness, shyness or body parts. Humor also weakens the foundation of a relationship in unseen ways, such as making a joke to change the subject when one brings up finances without even trying to be funny. In the end, one may fail to notice what important things that have been disagreed upon when humor enters the picture.

Throughout history, the basic structure of a joke, where one says one thing and mean another is a useful tool in human interaction. According to Martin, this ambiguity allows individuals to interpret matters differently and alter their stance when it is not properly received. This makes it into a flexible communication strategy as a means to explore different meanings. This includes dropping hints about marriage or dating and depending on the response, have a means to escape in the form of a joke.

Another benefit is that humor can bring lovers together as one. This was observed especially in lover’s retreats where one way to break the ice is through a joke or a funny video. This is one of the most positive ways that humor is present and because of this, many do not understand its downside. A well-timed joke can actually help cool down a tense situation. Many resort to out of this world antics to help break the tension, change the mood or introduce another point of view into the conversation. Humor through exaggeration, an unrealistic point of view is turned, allowing the recipient to regain a foothold on reality.

This may become a problem, especially when after calming a partner down and picking them up again, a pattern of demand and withdrawal ensues making it better to avoid problems through a joke instead of addressing them altogether.

This double entendre effect of jokes allows individuals to be hostile in a subtle manner, usually with a just kidding rejoinder. In many instances, the very same comments can either be uplifting or demeaning, cooptive or segregating and this depends on the situation and the context it was made. The difference is not in the way the line is delivered but how the recipient interprets it. Even good intentions can be washed away when an errant comment is doled out, as how the butt of the joke understands it is what matters most.

Between the various studies on humor, many patterns have emerged. Women use humor as a tool to enhance a relationship while men use it to increase their persona. Men often linked jokes and slapstick greater than women, while women make humor in collaborative storytelling scenarios. The difference is not about hormones but more about context. There have also been studies that show that individuals use humor differently compared to those of their inferiors. This can be seen when the boss cracks a joke, everybody laughs and when assistant offers a suggestion, she includes self-deprecating humor into it.

Humor is often at the behest of the beholder. Most psychologists agree that humor is more likely to be symptomatic of issues rather than the cause for the issues. The most important aspect of this is timing, especially in romantic relationships. If the partner cannot take a joke, then look at the motives behind saying it, as timing is crucial to making it a positive factor instead of a negative one. Even with this possible effect, humor is what makes individuals human. Humor, after all, helps put people in the right perspective, looking far beyond fears and sorrows to be able to reach out with a loving touch instead of a heavy hand.

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A Pill to Help Make People Work Harder?

In the rush to help create safe weight loss drugs, a new study conducted research from a wholly different perspective. Instead of a drug focused on increasing metabolism, can there be a pill designed to make individuals want to exercise harder and more intensely?

This may sound like fiction, but the new study published in the online edition of The FASEB journal recommends that this may actually be an achievable reality. A team of researchers from Switzerland have found that a specific hormone in the brain named erythropoietin (Epo) was elevated in mice who were motivated to exercise.

Moreoever, the strain of erythropoietin used in the experiments did not cause an increase in red blood cell counts, which avoids potentially unwanted side-effects. Thus, the treatment could help with any health condition which benefits from physical activity, from obesity to Alzheimer’s and many other mental health conditions that can be alleviated through physical activity.

According to Max Gassmann, DVM, researcher from the Institute of Veterinary Physiology of the Vetsuisse-Faculty and Zurich Center for Integrative Human Physiology at the University of Zurich said, “Here we show that Epo increases the motivation to exercise. Most probably, Epo has a general effect on a person’s mood and might be used in patients suffering from depression and related diseases.”

In making this discovery, Gassmann and his colleagues had used three types of mice, those that had no treatment, those injected with the human hormone Epo and those that were genetically modified to produce human Epo in the brain. Compared to the control group, those mice with human Epo in the brain had significantly higher running imperative without increasing red blood cell count.

Gerald Weissmann, MD, Editor in Chief of the FASEB Journal captured the significance of the study by saying, “If you can’t put exercise in a pill, then maybe you can put the motivation to exercise in a pill instead. As more and more people become overweight and obese, we must attack the problem from all angles. Maybe the day will come when gyms are as easily found as fast food restaurants.”

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Good Habits Knock Out Bad Habits

Each individual has their own bad habits, whether it be eating too much, sleeping too little, surfing the web at work time, or something more disastrous. Many have no control over these habits, and the inability to create and maintain good ones in their place affects the overall well-being of one’s life.

There is a book that specifically discusses this. Penned by Charles Duhigg, a business reporter with the New York Times, The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do In Life and in Business, discusses how one can control bad habits such as complaining too much to coworkers, dragging our feet with difficult tasks, and even going against established office routines.

The premise of the book is quite simple. He breaks down habits into a simple system where there is a routine, a cue and reward. He then discusses cases of psychological research and reaches a conclusion that while habits may be strong, they also have their weak points. Thus when attacked, these habits crumble and fall. The book advises that instead of actively stopping the habit, analyze what cues the habit that leads you to the routine and what reward is obtained after performing that. Changing either the cue or reward makes the routine easily replaceable with a better one. While psychologists debate about the willpower of the individual, this premise removes willpower and merely focuses on the structure of the habits. In tweaking the structure, the brain will soon adapt the behavior automatically, regardless of will or intent.

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Alcohol May Actually Help Problem Solving Skills

In a recent study, scientists observed that men who ingested two pints of beer or two glasses of wine before tackling brain teasers showed quicker times in providing correct answers. This may lead to a better understanding if alcohol actually is able to enhance an individual’s problem solving skills.

The study found that aside from being quicker in solving brain teasers, they got more questions right compared to others who answered the same test while sober. This goes against the grain of traditional wisdom regarding the effect of alcohol on analytical thinking and rational thought.

The lead author of the study, Professor Jennifer Wiley of the University of Illinois at Chicago, found that alcohol may actually enhance creative problem solving skills through a reduction of the mind’s working memory capacity, allowing for greater concentration on one specific topic at a time.

According to Professor Wiley, “Working memory capacity is considered the ability to control one’s attention. It’s the ability to remember one thing while you’re thinking about something else.”

While this study demonstrating alcohol’s ability to enhance creative problem solving, other research counteracted this as increased working memory capacity leads to better analytic and problem solving abilities. Other research includes a current study recently published at the journal Consciousness and Cognition, where it found individuals drinking alcohol and registering 0.07 blood alcohol level or higher were worse at completing problems requiring attention control, but registered better with creative problem solving tests.

With this discovery, participants registering BAC levels of 0.07 or higher were able to solve 40 percent more problems than their sober counterparts, taking just 12 seconds to complete the tasks compared to 15.5 seconds for teetotalers.

Wiley noted caution on the results as it was too focused and may limit the possibilities to a broader more flexible state of attention that may prove helpful to creative solutions to eventually emerge. She added, “We have this assumption, that being able to focus on one part of  a problem or having lot of expertise is better for problem solving. But that’s not necessarily true. Innovation may happen when people are not so focused. Sometimes it’s good to be distracted.”

Another limitation is the study’s application to individuals having a few drinks and not those that drink to get drunk. She added, “The bottom line is what we think being too focused can blind you to novel possibilities and a broader, more flexible state of attention is needed for creative solutions to emerge.”

Other experts view that the findings make sense, they also noted that sleep would also be beneficial for creativity enhancement. Past research would show that individuals that were allowed to sleep after being given a problem were more likely to wake up with a creative solution compared to others who kept awake.

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