Diary of a Psychopath

Hi, my name is Dave and I am a psychopath. I enjoy winning battles and personal success. When it comes to getting ahead in business or personally, I will do whatever it takes to get me there. I'm not terribly concerned with the feelings of others if they stand between myself and my goals. I have learned to appear to function as a conscientious member of society through the good teachings of my family, but altruism does not drive me. I am, as a result, very charming and have learned the art of happy manners, but I have a hidden agenda. I enjoy being the life of the party and people are drawn to me.
I can always find a way in any situation to appear "the good guy". I have a great knack to find supporting evidence that my every action is just or at least provoked. I lead all of those around me down the correct path because I know best and my path is what really matters. If you are lucky enough to be chosen as part of my inner circle you will benefit from sharing my path, on which you must follow my rules and not question why those rules do not apply to me. I must apologize now if you find my my path a little bumpy and my rules unfair, but no matter how much you cry and plead with me I will not feel remorse, because I know I'm right. After all, me being right and getting where I want to go is all that really matters (and I know you secretly agree with that). Who wouldn't want to please me? I may, always, understand what you are thinking, but I will never understand how you feel since I can only see one way. I will have grand outbursts if you are disobedient or I feel insulted, but don't worry, it goes as quick as it comes. I can act like I have an average emotional range, but it's only an act. Sometimes I don't have the energy for such acts so I will appear very disengaged and heartless. I need to feel exhilarated and excited so I speed in my car and create war-like scenarios in my head on a regular basis. I would die without such energy. I hate rules and laws. They were created for dumb people and do not apply to me. I have been called a bully by people who know me well enough and do what I like to those of my inner circle, but I still sleep good at night. It's great to be me.

Does this guy sound familiar to you? Chances are you know a few psychopaths. One out of every hundred are likely to be psychopaths. The heads of companies, the guy who works on your car, the lady that sold you insurance...your husband. I know most of you might have the notion that psychopaths are murderers and other criminals, but only some psychopaths are that dangerous. Not all psychopaths are violent criminals and not all violent criminals are psychopaths. Unfortunately some of us are predisposed to attract psychopaths into our lives...repeatedly. It is imperative, if you have a psychopath in your life, that you understand that you will never win a battle with them, force awareness of the disorder on them or, most importantly, ever change them. It is not a choice they made. It's in their neurological make up. You see, people's brains are unique to them, just like bodies. Some people have long legs and some have short. Some people have big feet and some have small. There are sections of the brain that are responsible for specific functions and they are not all the same in everyone. This is why some people have compassion and some have too much or too little etc. It is possible to develop specific functions of the brain, so for anyone able to notice signs of psychopathy early in life there is hope, but once maturity takes hold, the stage is pretty much set. For information on psychopathy and surviving psychopathy visit Dr. Hare at www.hare.org.