General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: I lived with a sociopath and liar. They really really believe what they say. [View all]KY_EnviroGuy
(14,490 posts)I'm an amateur psychologist as a useful hobby in my decades-long process of chemical abuse recovery and self-understanding. It also helps me to be more understanding and accepting of others.
That said, I agree that many of these mental oddities are inborn but can now see how we may have inherited those characteristics from early evolution. For example, our species went through millions of years in extremely brutal struggles just to survive, and it may have been that literally 100% of our populations at times were what we would today label as psychopaths. We still carry fragments of those genes in all of us. One could also argue that each and every one of us is a little bit of a psychopath as part of our survival instinct.
So, I believe most mental "oddities" come in degrees, and my experiences with many everyday people seem to prove that. Some of the most interesting people I've been exposed to in my 70 years were those with multiple personalities, and several that were bipolar. Those types will try one's patience and tolerance to our very core. Low-level psychopath are simply just a pain in the ass.
Bottom line is that unless our society is willing to test and classify people mentally at an early age, and then be willing to segregate those we don't want to deal with in open society, then we'll be stuck with the occasional madman that makes it to the top. Seriously, I doubt if humanity will ever be willing to go there to any degree. For a number of practical reasons, I personally would be against it, at least in the near-term.
I do, however, think a thorough mental evaluation should be a requirement for anyone running for very powerful positions in government or business, and it would be fair to the public interest. Republicans would fight against that to their death.