[jackflashdrive]

OK so some people were interested in sociopaths. I'll relay a story about a supposed sociopath that I knew.

Ken was an intelligent 35yo caucasian male who came from a very wealthy family. His family connections were the reason he was in the mental hospital rather than jail. The entire time I knew him he was extremely sociable and an interesting fellow to talk with. I never saw anything in his outward behavior toward me, other clients, or any staff that would indicate sociopathic tendencies.

The only indication of such tendencies came from his chart, and the contrast between the gruesome information recorded there and his social grace was unnerving. His file was an inch thick with incidents that seemed not just criminal but gratuitously evil. He had started a bunch of fires. Pushed an old guy into traffic. Some questionable accidents involving his vehicle and pedestrians.

I asked him about this and he said that his previous behavior was all due to a coccaine addiction, and that when off of coccaine he was a different person.

I went back and forth in believing that everything really just came down to coke. In the end I defered to the judgment of the large majority of hosptial staff who had a longer history of being around him and saw more of his completely sober manipulations of policies and people to what suited him. But the thing with sociopaths is that you can have a mountain of evidence piled thick in a chart recording the objective facts of behavior, but there will always be an excuse delivered in such a charming and disarming way that you can never totally doubt their story that everything is just a big misunderstanding.