What we know about psychopaths

Dave Cullen's book Columbine convincingly makes the point that Eric Harris was a psychopath.

"Psychopaths are distinguished by two characteristics. The first is a ruthless disregard for others: they will defraud, maim, or kill for the most trivial gain. The second is an astonishing gift for disguising the first. It's the deception that makes them so dangerous. You never see him coming. Psychopaths take great personal pride from their deceptions, and extract tremendous joy from them.

The fundamental nature of a psychopath is a failure to feel. They have a readiness of expression, rather than a strength of feeling. The psychopath is prone to vexation, spite, quick and labile flashes of quasi-affection, peevish resentment, shallow moods of self-pity, puerile attitudes of vanity, absurd and showy poses of indignation. Indignation runs strong in the psychopath. It springs from a staggering ego and sense of superiority. They are nearly always thrill seekers. They crave new sources of excitement because it is so difficult to sustain. They rarely stick with a career; they get bored. They perform spectacularly in short bursts - then walk away.

In the Columbine killings there was a combustible combination: an angry, erratic depressive, and a sadistic psychopath. The psychopath is in control, of course, but the hotheaded sidekick can sustain his excitement leading up to the big kill. "It takes heat and cold to make a tornado," Dr. Fuselier of the F.B.I. is fond of saying.

Psychopaths react to pain or tragedy by assessing how they can use the situation to manipulate others. So what is the treatment for psychopathy? Nothing works! Therapy only gives the psychopath better ways of manipulating, deceiving, and using people. Some progress is being made in managing the condition, appealing to the fact that they think with their head (no emotional component), helping them to see that it is in their own self interest to adhere to rules and be rewarded with special privileges."