Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Socios: all in the family


This is one of my favorite songs. I love the lyrics: "One child grows up to be somebody that just loves to learn and another child grows up to be somebody you'd just love to burn. Mom loves the both of them, you see it's in the blood. Both kids are good to mom -- blood's thicker than mud." Of course when I first heard the song I thought I heard "Somebody that just loves to burn," which was obviously more applicable, but the rest is true -- my family loves me just as much as my empath siblings. But with the holidays upon us, I have been thinking about socio family members. Some think that as many as 1 in 25 people are sociopaths, and if that's the case you'd imagine that even more people have a sociopath in the family. Or maybe you turn out to be the sociopath in the family, like the man in this article:
Jim Fallon recently made a disquieting discovery: A member of his family has some of the biological traits of a psychopathic killer.
* * *
Three years ago, as part of a personal project to assess his family's risk of developing Alzheimer's disease, Dr. Fallon collected brain scans and DNA samples from himself and seven relatives. At a barbecue soon thereafter, Dr. Fallon's mother casually mentioned something he had been unaware of: His late father's lineage was drenched in blood.

An early ancestor, Thomas Cornell, was hanged in 1673 for murdering his mother. That was one of the first recorded acts of matricide in the Colonies. Seven other possible killers later emerged in the family tree. The most notorious was distant cousin Lizzie Borden of Fall River, Mass. In 1892, she was accused and then controversially acquitted of killing her father and stepmother with an ax.

As a lark intended to enliven family get-togethers, Dr. Fallon decided to analyze the data from the Alzheimer's project to see whether anyone in his family matched the profiles of killers he had studied. His initial subjects included himself, his three brothers, his wife, and the couple's two daughters and son.
* * *
To his surprise, Dr. Fallon found that the analysis of his own brain showed he had inherited certain high-risk forms of MAOA and other various aggression-and violence-related genes.

"I'm the one who looks most like a serial killer," he says. "It's disturbing."
* * *
"I'm still in balance, but I seem to have low emotional engagement," says Dr. Fallon, noting that the brains of many cold-blooded murderers reveal a similar picture.

Dr. Fallon thinks that one vital factor may have prevented him from becoming a killer. "I had a charmed childhood," he says. "But if I'd been mistreated as a child, who knows what might have happened?"
The moral of this story to me is be careful how much you preach about genetic testing and forced imprisonment of sociopaths because you may turn out to be one of us.

46 comments:

  1. Man, I love this blog.

    Same way Dr. Fallon might have ended up in a violent situation if his upbringing had been less than ideal, I might have easily ended up a junkie had I ever been exposed to it when I was younger.

    So many factors involved the the development of a sociopath. Or rather, sociopathic tendencies and potential.

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  2. Agreed.

    I was raised in a very strict household, but the vast majority of my extended family are drug addicts and lowlifes. There's also evidence of ASPD in both my biological grandfathers. Seems I have all the genetic dispositions but the benefits of being raised in a fairly healthy environment.

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  3. Ah, so it's your parents who turned you into such a pussy.

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  4. And aren't you glad you're an upstanding member of the community now, Fell? Congratulations.

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  5. No, just happy I'm not in prison or sucking dick for meth. If that makes me a pussy or upstanding member of the community, so be it.

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  6. Are you sure you wouldn't suck my dick for meth?

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  7. i wonder if sociopathy is something that could possibly be a "learned behavior", like the women who get that battered womans syndrome. they take so much horrific abuse for such long periods of time that eventually it wears them down to a point were they stop feeling. then sometimes they end up killing their abuser.

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  8. my mother is a strong empath, and so am i. one of my brothers is on the sociopathic spectrum. my father is i think somewhat of a narc. it's too close to home to know for sure.

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  9. //muymalgal said...
    i wonder if sociopathy is something that could possibly be a "learned behavior", like the women who get that battered womans syndrome. they take so much horrific abuse for such long periods of time that eventually it wears them down to a point were they stop feeling. then sometimes they end up killing their abuser.

    December 23, 2009 9:36 AM//

    Yes... it is clear that environmental stressors can afect the developmemt of the brain. Thus there are suggestions that environmental stress, such as that occuring as a consequence of abuse, may give rise to a breakdown in the hippocampal function (Bremner et al., 1995).

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  10. WHile DR. Fellon himself was surprised that he has sociopathic brain, his children were not surprised in the sense that his presence was uncomfortable for those in his immediate family.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah. Everyone who actually knew him knew he was a bit of a sociopath, even if they didn't know about the condition specifically.

      Delete
    2. Yes, I remember him saying his co-workers said that TNP. They said he dosent engage emotionally with any of them.

      Delete
  11. The thing that was so amazing about him was how normal he seemed. If you could quantify "normal" into a person, he would be it.
    I know someone who I think is a psychopath.She is the "perfect Christian". She seems really, really normal but people have told me about the scams she has done and they are big--- con games for money etc.


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    Replies
    1. I know such a guy, who matches your description: good christian, following the set of rules the religion gave him, but at the same time he's not aware of his obvious (to someone who knows the characteristics) narcism condition. He's charming at first, but hopeless and irytating in long term (enough to say, I made whole section at Uni hate him :) ). From what he was talking about his past - being a leader of "pack", making others do dangerous stuff, having lots of girls - he had to be sociopathic. But he turned out narcist, since he's clearly not aware of his "self".

      Delete
    2. This girl, actually, works for me. I just hope she is not a killer~

      Delete
    3. Sylvester
      It appears your grammar and spelling has deteriorated since your Dec. 3, 2012 post in the article "Cameron from Terminator. Or could you just be Monica's sock puppet to support her?

      In that case, your slipping, Monica.

      Delete
    4. Monica
      Will Rich be arriving soon, too?

      Delete
    5. Monica deleted Sylvester's original post and rewrote it with corrected grammar. You are a sly....one.

      Delete
    6. Somewhat, corrected grammar and spelling.

      Delete
    7. I suck at grammar and punctuation. You can't pin THAT on me.

      Delete
    8. 8:36
      Your grammar doesn't depend on which sock puppet your using?

      Delete
    9. LOL Anon @ 8:15, Iam here!!!!

      But Iam touched that you thought of me :)

      Thanks ;)

      Delete
  12. There's such a discrepancy between the 650 post and 722. Evidently, not all saw him as "normal."

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  13. Replies
    1. Who said it was abnormal?

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    2. That was supposed to be in reply to Monica. I messeded it up.

      Delete
  14. Same thing happened to that scientist guy on the episode of Through the Wormhole I mentioned a while back. He was studying fMRI scans of psychopaths in prison and comparing to normals, then realized his own scan was in the stack and showed him to be a psychopath. He brought it up to family members, and they said something to the effect of "oh yeah you are a total psychopath, but you are fun and don't hurt people so we still love you"

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  15. I've been having fun digging into my personal heritage in the past week. I've only gotten back so far as the early 1800's but it's pretty neat stuff. Unsurprisingly I know of the mental health issues in my past and it is enlightening. I think regardless of what you find it's good to know.

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    Replies
    1. How true and I find it relevant to questions and happenings.

      Delete
  16. OMG BEFORE I EVEN READ THIS I WAS GOING TO BRING UP THE STORY OF JAMES FALLON!!!! What a coincedence!!!!

    After the did that MRI scan that showed he had a psychopathic brain, his mother told him that they had a history of serial killers in their family, I think it may have been on the fathers side but Iam not sure. Anyway, like it said above, one of them was Lizzie Borden.

    When James Fallon looked at his family tree closer, he discovered 16 (yes SIXTEEN) serial kilers in his family tree....... I wish I knew what clip it was so I could post it. It was on Youtube though.

    There are a few clips about his story, one was really funny that he did in front of an audience!

    His children were like "Wow, that makes alot of sense now that I think about it. He also said something about him skipping his aunts funeral to go to a party! LOL

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  17. I coundnt find the video of him talking about his family tree, but I did find the one he did infront of an audience.

    It is called "Confessions of a pro-social Psychopath"

    Here it is : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I12H7khht7o

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  18. Look at yesterdays comments.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. OMG THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR REMINDING ME!!!!!

      LOL Up From The Sofa was FANTASTIC!!!!! I brutally and remorselessly killed Bluebird, and my father is next on the list!

      It sounds like I may be turning Psychopathic ;)

      I love the sheer detail of it all, like how I threw up BEFORE I killed Bluebird, instead of after! LOL! That made me think that I must have the "inner psychopath" inside of myself somewhere, it is just starting to be unleashed, and I like it ;)

      Delete
  19. Rich the Uber EmpathDecember 12, 2012 1:38 PM
    ...
    I must have the "inner psychopath" inside of myself ...

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  20. LOL! I guess we all have our inner psychopath.

    I remember one person on here telling me that I should "Embrace my inner Sociopath".

    Maybe we all have some "Latent Psychopathy" (except for the psychop[aths, obviously lol) inside of ourselves........ One day it is bound to come out ;)

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    Replies
    1. I have latent angel face syndrome lol!

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  21. Rich. You are so cute. I could eat you up.

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  22. Have not had a chance to write today. I miss it.

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  23. Monica left the 8th Door to go backwards to earlier doors Smiles that were not smiles and deceptions that were deceptions bombarded her. She was like Sonny in the Godfather, but she didn't die. She became a walking mannequin, as if the mannequins at Lord and Taylor walked down from their elevated platforms and took on life. They had perfect make up and clothes, just like she.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, fear of being seen for who I was inside.

      Delete
  24. Monica wanted to be a success, so she acted like she knew the same secrets as everyone else. She looked the same and that was important. She could never run out of anything, so she had ten pairs of shoes, all the same color or the exact same shoe, in different colors. Her mother asked her if she was afraid the stores would go out of business but she asked it with the same tone, as if Monica had just killed. At any rate, the business of looking the same as everyone else was serious business. Monica got an A plus, but it was time limiting and one day, she just gave up.

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  25. My mother and little sister both fall into the criteria for sociopath. I feel bad for them because the beautiful emotions that most people experience daily are not available for them. My life is full and rich because of my emotions. They have both used me and horribly abused me. They are extremely manipulative and constantly lie. They have never apologized for any hurtful action or word and always find someone else to blame for the smallest thing. They have worked together as a team as well in order to hurt me further. They have no concept of guilt. I am slightly afraid of them as they use hidden threats often. I have tried many times to stop speaking to them but then I feel guilty because they want to see my little girl. I want to protect my daughter from them and I guess the only hope I have in doing that is to not have contact with them. I am so sad because I just want a normal family for my daughter to grow up in. I have had to be in years of therapy because of them. I don't want my daughter to go through the same.

    ReplyDelete

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