The Diagnostic Criteria For Psychopathy According To Cleckley
Psychopathy, currently out of use in the clinical setting, can be equated to antisocial personality disorder in the DSM. Now it is beginning to be replaced by the term sociopathy. These are people who manipulate, transgress and violate social norms for their own benefit, without having any type of remorse.
In this article We will talk about the diagnostic criteria of psychopathy according to Cleckley Cleckley was the initiator of the study of psychopathy, and expressed his criteria in his famous work The Mask Of Sanity (1941).
Hervey Cleckley was an American doctor, born in 1903 and died in 1984. Cleckley was the pioneer of psychopathy research, and proposed a series of diagnostic criteria for this. The diagnostic criteria for psychopathy according to Cleckley were described in 1941 in his book “The Mask of Sanity”.
These criteria were the basis of subsequent criteria, used in the various classifications that have subsequently been developed, including the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders). Thus, Cleckley was the initiator of the study of psychopathy, and after him came authors such as Blackburn and Hare (the latter ended up being the most relevant author).
Furthermore, Cleckley introduced the concept of “semantic dementia” to refer to what he considered the main characteristic of psychopathy.
Semantic dementia consisted of the separation between word and action, which resulted in subjects who were “highly asocial, aggressive and impulsive, who lacked feelings and guilt (sometimes not completely), and who would be incapable of creating bonds of lasting affection with other people (…) emotional superficiality, apparently pleasant social treatment and inability to learn from experience.”
Diagnostic criteria for psychopathy according to Cleckley
Cleckley developed his criteria for psychopathy (1941, 1976) through studies he conducted on various real cases. These criteria included a series of significant features in the field of psychopathy, some of which were shared with others already designated by Gray and Hutchinson (1964).
His list of criteria would comprise the most significant and complex description of that time, and the traits would remain until Hare’s description in 1991.
Thus, the diagnostic criteria for psychopathy according to Cleckley are a total of 16:
The term psychopath
The term “psychopath” began to be used with the appearance of Hervey Cleckley’s book, The mask of sanitypublished in 1941. From that moment, the term “psychopath” began to refer to a theoretical construct with very defined personality characteristics that differentiate it from the common criminal.
This “common criminal” is the one who would be diagnosed as antisocial according to the classification manuals of mental disorders (DSM-IV and ICD-10).
In this way, the term psychopath, although its official classification is that of antisocial personality disorder, presents a series of traits and characteristics that make up a distinct subgroup within the broader concept of antisociality
What are these people like?
Psychopaths, currently (and according to most manuals and experts, although there are slight discrepancies) are defined as people with characteristics such as irresponsibility, dishonesty, emotional insensitivity, cruelty and lack of remorse towards their actions (that is, they have no feelings of guilt). Many of these traits were already defined in the diagnostic criteria for psychopathy according to Cleckley,
In other cases, behavioral traits may be more subtle or “hidden,” manifesting in the form of manipulative behaviors, superficial charm, etc. Such behaviors can cause confusion in people around them regarding the true evil of the psychopath’s intentions.
Psychopaths are usually skilled and socially accepted people; They use their skills as a “social weapon” to achieve their goals. They are people who have learned the “rules of the game” to be able to approach people from whom they can obtain benefits.
In line with the diagnostic criteria of psychopathy according to Cleckley, for psychopaths human relationships are not necessary, but rather They only have the purpose of providing them with what they are interested in obtaining
It is from here that the need arises for them to learn social norms and social interaction, in order to take advantage of people and use them, manipulate them, mistreat them or even (in extreme cases) kill them at will.
