Terms like psychopaths and sociopaths have no real representation in current versions of the ICD (WHO's International Classification of Diseases, chapter F). The terms were erased from modern psychiatry for they have been found to be negatively occupied and discriminating (PC=psychological correctness, for the same reason we do not know "hysterics" anymore. Homosexuality also was deleted from both classification systems ICD and DSM - diagnostical and statistical manual, which replaces the ICD in north America. Imagine: hundreds of thousands of gays and lesbians were suddenly healed by ripping one page out of a book... :) ). They only appear in some chapter's appendices. "psychotic" today is more used to describe a severe degree of another kind of personality or affective disorder, and we only know personality/affective problems with disorders in social behavior - no sociopathy.

Can'T say I like it.

But even in the old classic or triadic system of psychiatry, the meaning of these two terms was slightly different than the use of these terms in this topic.

I personally ignore the modern system and always sticked to the older concepts. At least theoretically, for there never was much need for me to fiddle with these categories anyway.

You are much more educated in this kind of stuff than I will ever be.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++======

My Father and Grandfather would talk about such atrocities that happened in their day...

My Grandfather would say some thing like...

''When that SOB gets caught they aught ta hang him in the town square... let the body swing in the breeze a few days as a gentle reminder to other would be murderers"

My dad would say...

"Well they should put him in the "Chair ''and cook him crispy" (but right after that he would say) " But some psychologist would think that was wrong and he would get the Murderer off with some insanity plea."

-----

This world has gone around the bend... there is no turning back... if we allow this sort of thing to continue.

If you vote for Me as the next "Galactic Emperor" I will begin cleaning out our over crowded prisons with PUBLIC: Hangings - Crucifixions - and Firing Squads.

Also I will stop 'insanity pleas' or other 'mental heath issues' from being used as a scape goat.

:sunny:

No wonder, since it has been my profession, years ago. The military professionals on this board know more about military stuff than I do. The lawyers here know more about jurisdiction than the others of us. The business men here know more about the practice of trade and dealing with the procedures at their offices, and so I happen to know a bit about psychology. But since it is long time over for me, I already have started to forget most of it! So, it is only a question of time until some other psychologist eventually shows up here on the board who knows more about certain kinds of stuff than I do. I have stopped being busy with it. My feilds of special interests were not general psychiatry anyway, but thanatology, meditation, traumatization, existential philosophy and spiritual quests, and changes of consciousness as a result of extreme conditions, experiences, or certain types of drugs.

There is nothing wrong with the leagl option of insanity pleas, becasue diverse forms of reduced sanity simply does exist. The problem is that this option apparently gets excessively abused. Also, the changes in terminology as I described in my reply above have another reason that I forgot to mention:

The classical description of "psychopathy" and "sociopathy" concluded that such psychiatric disorders cannot be treated and are impossible to heal. This is a great offegnding for psychology - that for historical reasons tries so very hard to give the impression to have to say something on anything, and that there is nothing that it cannot deal with. The classifications that are choosen today make a conclusion that a person cannot be treated much more unlikely. This correlates with more opportunities, for example at courts, to claim a case of mental disturbances a case not for the law, but for psychology in general. And that growth in perceived importance of psyhcology in everyday life is what it is actively seeking for, and what the policy of psycholoigical interest associations are trying to push forward in politics, and society.

Believe me, I never have shed a tear to have turned my back on this profession. In the situation I was in back then I would have only been able to make a living from it when submitting to the populistic, "official" paradigms of psychotherpay as it is offered (and payed for by health insurances) in Germany. And that was an option I could not bring into congruence with my conscience.

So, the poessebiltiy to accept mental disorders as an argument for sending somebody to hospital instead of prison is somethign that is okay and that I would not miss. But the massive abuse, and the many wrong assessments of future chances of to-be-released patients, is a big problem indeed. Especially in Germany with regard to sexual offenders who get released with an assessement of good perspectives not to become recidivistic (?) again - but our statistic shows that these assumptions were wrong in simply too many cases. Many sexual offenders brought to trial - are persistent offenders. The options and capabilities of psachotherapy are far more limited with regard to many syndroms, symptoms and disorders than psychology is ready to admit. It would make itself less valuable by that, and that cannot be, right?

Yes ...

I totally agree.

I insanity plea is abused.

The rest of what you posted remains a mystery to me...

Skybird I read it but it just goes over my head and my eyes glaze over my mouth falls open and I begin drooling on my key board...my wife nudges me and says

"Your reading Skybird again aren't you?"

That difficult...? Probably I messed up the language again, then...

No no... I just can not connect the makings of the mind as some one trained like you are...so it is my ignorance that blocks me from understanding...thus I have to stand where I stand and drool where I drool.

bump... shameless kind