The Pill for Psychopathy

Dr Horshall asked one of Raiford Prison’s psychologists during Bundy’s execution “if there was any effective treatment for people like Bundy” and the response back was “only a sledgehammer between the eyes” (Rule, 2008, p. xxx). Is this actually true? Is the only effective treatment for psychopaths and/or serial killers to rid the world of them completely in order to protect the greater good. Throughout the course of this semester, we dived deep into the realm of serial murder. We have explored multiple theories that could explain the violent behaviors of serial killers and we have explored the realm of psychopathy in relation to serial murder. But throughout all of our studies, we did not come across any chapter in our textbook that explored the treatment of serial killers and/or psychopaths. We were presented no data on an actual effective treatment and/or cure for a serial killer or psychopath. Does this mean that there is no cure for them? Personally, after having taken this course in its near entirety, I believe at this point in time with our technology and research in psychology and criminology, there is no cure for serial killers/psychopaths. Maybe someday there will be a “cure”, maybe never.

Psychopathy falls under the extreme end of the anti-social personality disorder spectrum. In general, personality disorders are defined “as having an enduring pattern of inner experiences and outward behaviors that impairs their sense of self, emotional experiences, goals, capacity for empathy, and/or intimacy” (Hickey, 2016, p. 90). Anti-social personality disorder is specifically defined as having “significant impairments in personality functioning manifested by impairments in self-functioning (such as identity and/or self-direction) AND impairments in interpersonal function (lack of empathy/intimacy) as well as pathological personality traits in antagonism (manipulativeness, deceitfulness, etc.) and disinhibition (irresponsibility, impulsivity, etc.)” (Lowry, 2021). In class, we learned that psychopathic traits include ruthlessness, charisma, impulsivity, persuasiveness, and a lack of remorse/guilt (Lowry, 2021). The lack of empathy and lack of remorse felt by psychopaths is one of the largest reasons I personally believe that psychopaths will not be able to be cured. They physically, mentally, and emotionally are unable to feel compassion for others and remorse or guilt over the things they have done. In combination with their lack of empathy, psychopaths believe that there is nothing actually wrong with them; therefore, there is no reason for them to be cured. As someone who has taken multiple different psychology courses and has been in therapy several times, I know from experience that you cannot help someone to get better if they believe nothing is wrong with them and if they absolutely refuse to put the effort in to get better. A person has to actually want to get better in order to progress in treatment. Due to the psychopath’s lack of empathy and inability to realize there is something wrong with them, even if there was a known “cure”, you would not be able to help them get better.

Currently, there is very little information on how personalities have come about and if they even have the ability to change. There is no known “cure” for personality disorders; no magical medication that completely eliminates maladaptive traits and no therapy known to help control those traits. There is very little information on how to treat personality disorders as well. Mostly, this is due to the fact that most people with personality disorders believe there is nothing wrong with them and so they do not seek to engage in therapy or other treatments. Due to that, there is very little information on what types of medications and/or therapy help to treat or “cure” personality disorders. This is especially true for anti-social personality disorder and psychopathy. One of the only ways to manage criminal psychopaths currently is through incarceration (Kiehl & Hoffman, 2014). Even then, as we have previously learned in Concepts of Penology, our current criminal justice system focuses on retribution instead of rehabilitation. Therefore, we are not treating the source of the problem, only containing it. As we saw throughout the semester with Ted Bundy, regulation of criminal psychopaths in incarceration can be extremely difficult as well. Without knowing how personality disorders come about, it will be nearly impossible to properly treat criminal psychopaths, especially with the risk that come with containing them.

The causes for psychopathy are not well understood like most other complex mental disorders. There are multiple arguments throughout the psychological and criminological community about whether nature or nurture has more of an impact on the development of personality disorders. Some argue that nature has more of an impact. Dr Kent Kiehl, a psychologist at University of Mexico, in 2012 discovered that psychopaths have reduced gray matter in the paralimbic system of the brain (Pomeroy, 2014). Evidence has also shown that psychopathy is correlated to “aberrant neuronal activity in specific regions of the brain” (Kiehl & Hoffman, 2014). Most likely, this is caused by genetics or early developmental problems. Others argue nurture; however, there are no major current studies that correlate environmental factors. Personally, I have always believed that for each and every person, the combination of nature and nurture on the development of mental disorders is different. Therefore, psychopaths are each differently impacted by nature and nurture. Without knowing or at least understanding what causes psychopathy, I believe there cannot be a medication or therapy to treat psychopathy. Even then, I believe nothing can be truly cured in the realm of mental disorders, only properly managed.

Therapy has always been a staple treatment for most mental disorders, helping people to deal with maladaptive behaviors that have caused harm to themselves and/or others around them. However, there is no form of traditional or nontraditional therapy that shows evidence to treat psychopathy, including psychoanalysis, group therapy, client-centered therapy, psychodrama, psychosurgery, electroshock therapy and drug therapy (Kiehl & Hoffman, 2014). Due to there being little to no evidence of being able to treat psychopathy, it is often thought that it is untreatable. When psychopaths have previously engaged in psychotherapy, more often than not, they just become better at manipulating “normal” people since they are exposed to their frailties (Kiehl & Hoffman, 2014). Psychotherapy requires patients to actively participate with their own recover; however, psychopaths are not distressed by their own behavior and believe they have no psychological or emotional problems. This results in psychopaths just learning to become better psychopaths, better social chameleons, and better at putting on a façade. Because of the fact that current research in therapeutic treatment of psychopaths has often resulted in this, I thoroughly believe that psychopaths cannot be cured. There must be some neurological hard wiring that has yet to be discovered that makes it impossible for psychopaths to be empathetic even with the use of therapy and medications.

I have always thought that complex mental disorders will never be fully treatable. That there is no possible way to completely cure someone of depression or anxiety, only a way to help mitigate the symptoms/behaviors that accompany the mental disorder. However, after going through this semester and exploring psychopathy and serial killers, I have realized that there is not even a way to mitigate the maladaptive behaviors that accompany criminal psychopaths, especially psychopathic serial killers. In conclusion, with our current level of information on why psychopathy happens, a psychopath’s lack of empathy, and belief that nothing is wrong with them, I believe that psychopathy cannot be cured. Maybe someday, when society’s technology is more advanced and we have a better understanding of personality disorders, we will be able to better regulate and treat psychopaths. However, maybe that prison psychologist was right. Maybe the only current effective treatment for psychopathic serial killers is a “sledgehammer between the eyes” (Rule, 2008, p. xxx).

Bibliography

Dodgson, L. (2018, March 4). Psychopaths cannot be cured - here's why. Retrieved from Insider: https://www.businessinsider.com/psychopaths-cannot-be-cured-heres-why-2018-2

Hickey, E. W. (2016). Serial Murderers and Their Victims 7th Edition. Boston: Cengage Learning.

Kiehl, K. A., & Hoffman, M. B. (2014, June 16). The Criminal Psychopath: History, Neuroscience, Treatment, and Economics. Retrieved from US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4059069/

Lowry, M. (2021, Week 4). Are Serial Killers Born or Made: Psychopathology & Biogenics of

Serial Murderers [PowerPoint slides]. Department of Social Sciences, Alfred University.

Pomeroy, R. (2014, June 10). Can Psychopaths Be Cured? Retrieved from MoD Laboratory Yale University: https://modlab.yale.edu/news/can-psychopaths-be-cured

Rule, A. (2008). The Stranger Beside Me. New York: Pocket Books.