Article Why some experts now say psychopathy doesn't exist

[C C]

No doubt humanities scholars would like the social sciences to normalize everything still remaining that is designated as a disorder or mental illness. But such would jeopardize much if not most of the job security of psychological professions. So there has to be point where the latter become worried about being wholly deprived of such a patient resource and react obstinately even with respect to social justice and radical egalitarian demands.
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Why some experts now say psychopathy doesn't exist
https://theconversation.com/psychopathy-...ong-279791

INTRO: As an expert on personality disorders, people often ask me about psychopathy. It seems everybody has had an ex, a boss, a neighbour or a relative who they suspect has traits of it. People are curious about how to recognise psychopathy, and whether it can explain certain harmful behaviour. It’s easy to see why. Psychopathic people are everywhere – from books and movies to newspaper articles and academic papers.

But while such questions are usually asked with confidence, the answers are far less straightforward. In fact, a growing number of academic papers have failed to find evidence that psychopathy exists at all. Could the disorder be something we’ve just invented because it’s convenient, doing away with old concepts of good and evil? Some experts believe so. But I am not so sure.

Psychopathy is normally identified by a few specific traits. These include a lack of empathy and remorse, callousness, impulsiveness, shallow emotions, arrogance and manipulation.

We’ve all come across people who have a combination of these traits. Perhaps they are emotionally detached, cruel, untruthful or even violent. There is no denying that such characteristics exist. What is difficult to prove is that people with psychopathy actually have those traits. Why? I believe it’s down to a mismatch between what we expect psychopathy to look like and how personality actually unfolds in the real world. And this gap is where much of the confusion begins... (MORE - details)

[Magical Realist]

We’ve all come across people who have a combination of these traits. Perhaps they are emotionally detached, cruel, untruthful or even violent. There is no denying that such characteristics exist. What is difficult to prove is that people with psychopathy actually have those traits. Why? I believe it’s down to a mismatch between what we expect psychopathy to look like and how personality actually unfolds in the real world.

After I saw American Psycho when it came out in theaters years ago, I was convinced such people actually exist. Numerous viewings of Dateline episodes have since confirmed it for me.
Nomenclature is irrelevant. There ARE people with no moral qualms about killing someone. Even worse, however romanticized by TV shows and movies, there are also people who are totally into killing their victims. I don't care what psychiatrists want to call it.

[Yazata]

I'm certain that disorders of cognition such as schizophrenia exist, and that they clearly qualify as psychopathologies. I'm certain that major mood disorders exist such as clinical depression and bipolar disorder. They too are psychopathologies. I'm sure that full-frontal autism exists too, particularly the non-verbal sort that require lifelong institutionalization (distinct from the trendy new 'autism spectrum' which may or may not be psychopathological).

But are there really psychopaths who form a distinct psychiatric category? Or are they just bad people, as all the generations before us would have said? Is their problem neurological or ethical?

I'm undecided about that.

[Syne]

But are there really psychopaths who form a distinct psychiatric category? Or are they just bad people, as all the generations before us would have said? Is their problem neurological or ethical?

I'm undecided about that.

That's the crux. Do people have personal agency or are they just the effect of what has befell them.
I tend to think those who believe the latter are more likely to display psychopathic traits, and studies into our sense of agency tend to back that up..