Date of Award

Summer 8-22-2015

Document Type

Doctoral Research Paper

Degree Name

Psy.D. in Clinical Psychology

Organizational Unit

Graduate School of Professional Psychology

First Advisor

Lavita Nadkarni

Second Advisor

Ragnar Storaasli

Third Advisor

Rebecca Baker

Copyright Statement / License for Reuse

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Keywords

Personality disorders, Psychopathy, Diagnosis, Misdiagnosis

Abstract

When one thinks of the psychopath, an image of one of the notorious serial killers of the 1980s generally pops in their head- Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, or the Green River Killer. While still rare, psychopaths encompass much more than just serial killers, and they have a unique presentation that lies outside the confines of any current diagnosis. Characteristics such as lack of empathy, impulsivity, grandiosity, and poor behavioral controls are included in various personality disorders. The Narcissist will show lack of empathy and grandiosity while the Borderline will have poor behavioral controls and impulsivity, for example. However, the construct of psychopathy is more complex, including the above traits but also callousness, manipulativeness, superficial charm, and lack of guilt. These unique characteristics, when appropriately identified, are detrimental to society, resulting in extreme financial loss, overwhelming hurt, and even death, which is why labeling as such is important.

Copyright Date

6-29-2015

Publication Statement

Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.

Rights Holder

Katherine K. McMann

Provenance

Received from Author

File Format

application/pdf

Language

English (eng)

Extent

30 pgs

File Size

9.2 MB

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