Psychology flat affect
Treatment Options and Associated Conditions
Flat Affect: Treatment Options and Associated ConditionsMedically reviewed by Timothy J. Legg, PhD, PsyD — By Kimberly Holland — Updated on August 4, 2017
Overview
Flat affect is a condition that causes people to not express emotions in the same way other people might.
For example, when a person without flat affect is happy, they may smile brightly or in some other way show that they’re pleased. A person with flat affect shows no facial expressions. They may also have no verbal reaction.
Flat affect is a symptom of other conditions. It’s not a condition or disorder on its own.
People who show symptoms of flat affect should be examined by a psychologist or psychiatrist. These doctors diagnose and treat mental health conditions. Many of the underlying causes for flat affect are the result of a mental health disorder or disease.
People who experience flat affect show symptoms including:
- no or low emotional expression on the face
- no or low emotional reaction in both verbal and nonverbal ways
- appearance of apathy
- a monotone speaking voice
- avoidance of eye contact with others
- little to no change in facial expressions
Most of the conditions that cause flat affect are related to the brain. These conditions include:
- Schizophrenia: This disorder affects everything from how a person performs tasks and behaves, to how they feel and react. Some people with schizophrenia report they still experience a wide range of emotions, but they may not show those emotions in the form of facial expressions.
- Autism: Flat affect is common in people with an autism spectrum disorder. Some people with autism appear to have little emotional reaction to activities.
- Depression: The chemical imbalances of depression may interfere with proper brain function. This can lead to symptoms including flat affect.
- Brain damage: Injuries, such as a traumatic brain injury, can cause a variety of symptoms. These include depressed mood, loss of interest in things that typically produce pleasure, and flat affect.
- Posttraumatic stress disorder: This disorder is common in individuals who have experienced a significant event which was perceived as traumatic.
The resulting condition causes a variety of symptoms, including depression, anxiety, emotional withdrawal, and flat affect.
Two other common causes of flat affect are not the result of altered brain activity. These include:
- Side effects of medications: Some medications like antidepressants and seizure drugs may impact affect.
- Facial paralysis or muscle disorders: Muscle disorders or facial paralysis may prevent some people from displaying the emotions they feel.
Flat affect may be the result of unusual brain activity. Specifically, the area of the brain that’s responsible for arousal doesn’t appear as active as it does in people who don’t experience the lack of emotions.
Exhibiting signs of flat affect doesn’t mean a person doesn’t experience emotions. Some people with flat affect report that they feel emotions, but they just don’t show it on their face or in their actions. This isn’t because they don’t have the feelings.
Their brain and body have a hard time translating an emotion into a physical reaction.
Treatment for flat affect falls into two main categories.
The first treatment type aims to address the underlying cause of symptoms. For many of the most common causes of flat affect, medications, therapy, or some combination of the two may greatly reduce symptoms. Treating these primary causes may increase the display of emotions.
The second treatment type helps individuals with flat affect learn to create emotional reactions when they don’t naturally occur. A psychologist, behavioral therapist, or occupational therapist can help individuals recognize emotions in other people and create appropriate responses. Speech-language pathologists can help individuals train their voice to express more emotion using different tones of voice. These responses may include both facial reactions and verbal communication techniques. Learning to respond to others can help create and support social relationships.
Flat affect is a symptom of several conditions. Preventing or treating those conditions avoids the possible side effect.
If you’ve been diagnosed with any of the conditions, work with a doctor, therapist, or neurology specialist to treat the underlying cause. Getting ahead of symptoms and treating them before they worsen can help prevent flat affect.
Flat affect is a symptom of several mental health conditions. These conditions can be treated. Treating the underlying cause can help prevent or improve symptoms like flat affect.
The good news for some people with flat affect is that treatment can help restore normal emotional display. For some people, however, the condition may be permanent.
Last medically reviewed on August 4, 2017
How we reviewed this article:
Healthline has strict sourcing guidelines and relies on peer-reviewed studies, academic research institutions, and medical associations. We avoid using tertiary references. You can learn more about how we ensure our content is accurate and current by reading our editorial policy.
- Autism spectrum disorder. (2015).
nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/autism-spectrum-disorder/index.shtml - Gur RE, et al. (2006). Flat affect in schizophrenia: Relation to emotion processing and neurocognitive measures. DOI:
10.1093/schbul/sbj041 - Mayo Clinic Staff. (2016). Schizophrenia: Symptoms and causes.
mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/schizophrenia/symptoms-causes/dxc-20253198 - Schizophrenia. (2016).
nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/schizophrenia/index.shtml - Woodbury-Smith MR, et al. (2010). Autism spectrum disorders, schizophrenia and diagnostic confusion. DOI:
10.1503/jpm.100130
Our experts continually monitor the health and wellness space, and we update our articles when new information becomes available.
Current Version
Aug 4, 2017
By
Kimberly Holland
Medically Reviewed By
Timothy J. Legg, PhD, PsyD
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Medically reviewed by Timothy J.
Legg, PhD, PsyD — By Kimberly Holland — Updated on August 4, 2017
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Flat Affect in Schizophrenia, Depression, Autism & More
Written by Alyson Powell Key
In this Article
- Schizophrenia
- Depression
- Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)
- Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
Your affect is the outward expression of your emotional state. If you’re happy or upset, people usually can see it on your face and hear it in your voice. But sometimes your emotions and how you express them don’t match up. You may be elated or depressed, but others can’t tell.
This is called a flat affect. People who have it don’t show the usual signs of emotion like smiling, frowning, or raising their voice. They seem uncaring and unresponsive.
Flat affect can be brought on by different conditions.
Schizophrenia
This is a serious, long-term mental illness. Some symptoms include:
- Believing things that aren’t real (delusions)
- Seeing or hearing things that don’t exist (hallucinations)
- Disorganized thinking or speech
- Sudden agitation, confusion, and other unusual behaviors
A flat affect can be a negative symptom of schizophrenia, meaning that your emotional expressions don’t show.
You may speak in a dull, flat voice and your face may not change. You also may have trouble understanding emotions in other people. You might confuse happy and sad, or misjudge just how happy or sad the other person might be.
Schizophrenia is a lifelong illness. Even if your symptoms have gone away, you’ll need to stay on medication and get therapy. If your symptoms are severe, you may need to go to the hospital for your or other people’s safety.
Social skills training can help change a flat affect. This is when you work with a therapist or other mental health expert to learn how to communicate, interact with others, and manage everyday activities.
Depression
A flat effect can be one of the symptoms of this mood disorder. Researchers have used movie clips to study flat affect and depression. In one small study, they found that people who are depressed reacted less to positive scenes than people with schizophrenia did. Depressed people also reacted slightly more to negative clips.
Experts don’t exactly know why depression leads to a flattened affect. They think it may be linked to things such as a problem with your brain chemistry, your genes, and physical changes to your brain.
Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)
This brain damage can happen after a car crash, a fall, or any other injury that causes a hard hit to the head.
The impact bounces your brain back and forth inside your skull. The trauma causes bruising and bleeding and tears the nerve fibers.
TBI can hurt a part of your brain called the frontal lobe. That’s where emotional expressions start. A damaged frontal lobe may cost you your ability to recognize or feel different emotions. The result is a flat affect. You also may miss cues in other people’s body language. A brain injury can even change your personality.
TBI can range from mild to severe. Your symptoms may go away after a few months or they may last for the rest of your life.
Your doctor will recommend a combination of treatments.
A speech therapist or neuropsychologist can help you manage your flat affect and improve your relationships with family and friends.
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
Scientists know that autism and related disorders stem partly from genetics as well as differences in the brain.
People with ASD interact, behave, and communicate in unusual ways. A flat affect is one of them. Your face often may appear blank. Your voice may not change tone or may sound robot-like. People with ASD also have a hard time reading other people’s voices and body language.
It can be difficult to diagnose conditions like anxiety or depression in people with ASD because they may not give many outward signs. That’s why it’s important for caregivers and doctors to check for changes in sleep, appetite, and overall mood.
There’s no cure for ASD. But medication can help with energy level, focus, depression, and seizures. Working with a therapist can help you better relate to other people.
Inadequate affect - Psychological Center "Transfiguration"
Affect refers to the outward expression of a person's inner emotions. For most people there is a correspondence between affect and circumstance; for example, if you are told that your friend has passed away, your reaction will be sadness and tears. Inappropriate affect
However, for a certain percentage of the population, external affect does not match the situation in which he is. This is called inappropriate affect and can have many causes.
If you know someone who smiles during a tragedy or does not show emotion when one would expect it, they may be experiencing inappropriate emotions.
In order to fully understand the ramifications of inappropriate affect, we will look in detail at symptoms, causes, related conditions, diagnosis, coping, treatment, and related issues.
Overview
As already noted, inappropriate affect involves the manifestation of reactions that do not correspond to the situation in which you are, or perhaps even to your inner state.
Emotions, actions or general behavior that seem out of place in the situation fall under the general term "inappropriate affect".
Inappropriate affect can be a sign of various physical or mental problems, but it can also be the disorder itself. Psychiatrists and other professionals have recognized inappropriate affect as a problem among patients for over 100 years, reporting events such as laughter or tears without any reason.
In a 1909 study of what we now call schizophrenia, Stransky called "intrapsychic ataxia" a condition involving a disturbance between thoughts and affects. At 19Bleuler noted in 1950 that the clinical prognosis of schizophrenic patients who exhibited inadequate affect was much worse than those who did not.
The six types of basic emotions and their influence on human behavior
Causes
There are a number of different potential causes of inappropriate affect, but they fall under the categories described below.
Brain damage or neurological dysfunction
Inappropriate affect may be the result of physical damage to the brain, such as that caused by a brain tumor, brain injury, dementia, brain injury, head trauma, etc.
When inappropriate affect is the result of a structural problem in the brain, the limbic system, anterior cingulate cortex, and prefrontal cortex are usually affected.
Schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders
The second major cause of inappropriate affect is psychiatric disorders, including depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, schizoaffective disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Often these people have not lost the capacity for emotional reactions, but seem to have lost the capacity for their normal and expected development. This is because their affect is a reaction to their hallucinations or delusions and their assumptions about the causes of other people's actions.
Instead, they may have strange reactions that make no sense to an outside observer. Thus, they display emotions and behaviors that seem inconsistent with the reality of the situation, but in fact they correspond to their internal experience of the situation.
In schizophrenia, a type of inappropriate affect is sometimes called "flat affect" when it appears as a reduced expression of emotion.
Can antidepressants cause emotional numbness?
Psychological factors
There may be other causes of inappropriate affect that are not related to brain damage or mental disorder. In most of these cases, the person is able to respond normally, but for one reason or another, not. For example, a person in therapy may laugh while describing a difficult situation in order to control their emotions in self-defense.
Diagnosis
If you are concerned that you or someone you know is living with inappropriate affect, it is important to get a diagnosis from a licensed mental health professional. Your doctor can refer you to the necessary specialists, such as a neurologist, psychologist or psychiatrist.
The first step would usually be to rule out any physical or neurological condition causing the inappropriate affect. Your mental health professional may use a mental status examination, which is a structured way to observe and evaluate a person's psychological function in terms of attitude, behavior, cognition, judgment, mood, perception, and thought processes.
Often, inappropriate affect is a symptom of another disorder rather than the syndrome itself, so psychiatric disorders will be evaluated, which may also be a potential cause. The severity of the problem will also be assessed to determine where it is in the mild to severe range.
as clinical interviews help diagnose mental illness
Conditions that cause an inappropriate effect
,with inadequate affect can be associated with various states:
- Mental Disorders
- Large depressive disorder
- Shizoid scene of the personality of the personality
- Schizoaffective disorder
- Psychopathy
- Uncontrollable crying, even when not sad
- Recognizing that your reactions are inappropriate
- Emotions that do not correspond to the reality of the situation
- Show happiness during a tragedy
- Get angry without any lack of external provocation expected
- Bad affect reactions (but not in the case of mere suppression of emotions)
- Obviously, the specific types of symptoms experienced will depend on the underlying cause of the inappropriate affect.
Types of inappropriate affect
In addition to the general symptoms of inappropriate affect, there are a number of specific categories into which symptoms can be grouped. Remember that an inappropriate affect is simply something that doesn't fit the situation or the person's inner emotional state.
The different types are listed below.
Blunt effect
Dullness of affect is a common symptom of schizophrenia and related disorders and refers to a reduced level of intensity of emotional expression. A person with blunted affect feels little even in emotional situations. For example, a person with blunted affect might tell a story about a car accident, but say little about how it made them feel, speak in a monotone, and not have many facial expressions.
Limited influence
Limited affect is a reduction in the range of expression. So, a person describing a car accident may show some feelings and emotions, but this is less than one would expect based on the content of what he said.
Flat affect
Flat affect means a complete absence of feelings or emotions, regardless of the circumstances. It is a step below blunted affect, since it is completely devoid of emotional expression.
Labile affect
A person with labile affect shows rapid changes in his emotions that do not seem to be related to any external situations or seem out of place for the given situation. In other words, if you have a labile affect, you will exhibit rapid and repetitive changes in mood or affect. It seems that a person with a labile affect cannot control his emotions.
This type of affect is often seen in neurological disorders such as pseudobulbar affect, in manic episodes in bipolar disorder, and in borderline personality disorder. Labile affect can also result from fatigue, stress/anxiety, and overstimulation.
Superficial affect
Superficial affect has the same meaning as blunt affect, but it is often used to describe the emotional experience of people with psychopathy.
A person with superficial affect will not experience much emotion in situations that may evoke certain feelings. This means that the things that make most people feel negative emotions don't have the same effect on psychopaths. For example, American serial killer Richard Ramirez, also known as the Night Stalker, when he was sentenced to death, replied: “Big deal. Death has always gone along with the territory. See you at Disneyland."
Treatment
Treatment of inappropriate affect depends on the underlying cause. Proper treatment depends on an accurate diagnosis, which is why it's important to see a doctor if you or someone you know is suffering from these symptoms.
Most types of inappropriate affects can be treated with medication, depending on the severity of the symptoms. Even if psychotherapy is used, it is usually an adjunct to medication, because therapy on its own often does not solve the problem.
Helping someone with inappropriate influence
If you are caring for someone who is experiencing inappropriate emotions, you may also find it difficult.
You may react negatively or defensively to the other person's behavior, which can make the situation worse. You may also be confused by their behavior and not sure how to react. As a caregiver, it is important that you find time for yourself as well. Support groups or other ways to connect with others who are experiencing the same problems can be helpful. You can also consider talking therapy for yourself to better learn how to manage the situation and your needs and emotions.
Coping
If you live with inappropriate affect, it can be difficult to know how to cope. Below are some tips on how to minimize the impact of inappropriate exposure on your life.
Seek professional help
Visit a doctor to determine the root cause of your inappropriate affect. This person will be able to recommend the appropriate treatment for your situation.
Rely on friends and family
If you have a neurological condition that causes you to react inappropriately, it may be helpful to tell those closest to you so they can better understand what is going on.
Seek social support
If you have schizophrenia or a related illness, it is important to seek social support, such as a schizophrenia or PTSD support group.
According to the Cardiovascular Psychiatry and Neurology Study, reducing daily stress and depression may help reduce the onset of unwanted effects. To manage stress and help balance your mood, exercise regularly, prioritize sleep, avoid substances such as alcohol, and eat healthy foods.
more here
moral madmen. What type of psychopathy do you prefer? — Technologies of Development
Psychopathy is perhaps the most controversial concept in psychology. Some completely deny it, others devote serious tomographic studies, trying to find typical patterns (patterns) of brain activity in psychopaths. So what is psychopathy?
Psychopathy is moral insanity
Psychopathy is defined as a syndrome that includes the following features: reduced ability to empathize, heartlessness, inability to repent, self-centeredness and superficiality, lack of emotional reactions (the so-called flat affect).
The French psychiatrist Philippe Pinnel united all these symptoms in one phrase: moral insanity. This condition has a deep neurophysiological basis: functions in the frontal and temporal regions of the psychopath's brain are reduced. Namely, these zones are responsible for self-control and empathy - the ability to feel the emotions of others. Psychopaths can be figuratively defined as intraspecific predators that prey on their own kind and use their resource and energy for their own well-being. They humiliate others, endanger them, cause them pain and suffering. And at the same time, not once or twice, but systematically, regularly.
Important
These are extremely deceitful people. Moreover, given their ability to not show emotions (or rather, they simply do not have emotions), it is extremely difficult to determine their deception. Even experienced verifiers and profilers often make mistakes when working with psychopaths. Therefore, specialists should always ask themselves the question: is there a psychopath in front of me or not?
Psychopaths have an amazing ability to disguise themselves and cause a kind of “Stockholm syndrome” in others: the victim justifies the actions of the person causing her trouble.
Is there a way out?
My opinion (although many will disagree with me on this issue) is that, unfortunately, it is impossible to re-educate a psychopath. Psychopathy is a congenital condition, and it is impossible to influence or change the behavior of such a person. But there is still a way out. If the psychopath himself is aware of his own problems and wants to solve them, he has a chance to correct his behavior. But this is available to a few, so the possibility of somehow pushing a psychopath to work on himself seems extremely unlikely to me.
How to spot a psychopath?
There are many classifications of psychopathy, and the main one in the Soviet Union and Russia until 1997 was the classification of P. B. Gannushkin, later - the Lichko classification based on this system. Also today there is an international classification of diseases "Group of Specific Personality Disorders", whose categories are in many ways similar to the variations of Gannushkin and Lichko.
Gannushkin and Lichko identified three criteria for psychopathy: totality, stability, and maladaptation. But I have doubts about the third point. The fact is that psychopaths are perfectly adapted and adapted in society, they miraculously parasitize on the people around them. It is difficult for others with psychopaths, but they themselves have no problems. So about maladaptation, I would put a big question mark. In addition, in my opinion, the system proposed by Lichko is too huge, and quite a lot of effort is required to keep it in mind. In a situation of lie detection, when time is very limited, this can cause poor-quality analysis. In other words, using this method, you can simply not notice the psychopath.
Another, one might even say, somewhat opposite version of the classification, or definition, of psychopathy is the checklist of Robert Hayer, the world's largest specialist in psychopathy. His test allows you to identify psychopaths on the basis of both emotional and communicative characteristics, as well as lifestyle and communication activity.
These are four blocks of 10 points with a score, where 25-30 points and above are considered psychopathy. De facto, this checklist is the standard of modern psychiatry in the West, including forensic, and is widely used in profiling. But does it make sense to use such complex and multifaceted typologies in real life? If you just need to highlight certain features of your partner in personal relationships or in business, if you are not a professional in the field of communication, but you are faced with the question of whether to establish a relationship with a person or in what direction to continue them, then you should use an easier way to evaluate people's behavior. Let's talk about the classification proposed by the American psychologist FBI profiler Joe Navarro. It is a practical tool that does not require complicated categorizations and scales. Navarro identifies four categories of psychopaths: narcissistic, emotionally unstable, paranoid, and predatory. We will rely on this method.
So, consider the types of psychopathy. Types of psychopaths
Narcissistic personalities
These people love attention and are ready to do anything to get it. Such a person can come on New Year's Eve five minutes before the chiming clock, so that everyone is waiting in suspense for him (naturally, the spoiled mood of those around him does not bother). In short, this type of psychopath is defined as: everything is for me, all the attention is on me, and if this does not happen, then get aggression. The usual behavior of a narcissist is to extract material and emotional resources from loved ones for their own personal goals, to maintain their external position in society. In the family of such a person, half of the salary of her husband, a middle-class bank clerk, will be spent on ties, suits and paying off a loan for his expensive watch.
The wife will save money on children's food, hoping that her husband will rise up the career ladder and bring in more money.
He himself does not see anything wrong or unusual in this. By the way, even if he gets rich, his relatives will not get anything, everything will go to him anyway. The absolute egocentricity of such psychopaths seems somewhat childish, infantile. In fact, this is what it is, this is a big narcissistic child who plays with toys and will never stop. When deciding whether to establish a relationship with such a person, you must understand that if you do not put him on a pedestal, you will receive aggression. And if you do, he will draw all the resources out of you, literally everything that is possible. The word “no” does not exist for them, including in sexual relations, therefore, in the company of such a man, the risk of rape is high: despite protests, he will continue harassment, because any person is just a thing for him to maintain his own ego.
Classic narcissistic personalities include Zep Branigan from Futurama with his motto "Advance and defeat the enemy, throwing everything with your own corpses, and I will receive another reward.
" Interesting
Let me tell you a short episode from the life of the famous and beloved commander, who is still remembered by the Leningrad sailors. Once, at one of the events of the navy, this marshal dressed up in a white uniform that did not correspond to him according to the charter, moreover, he also forced all the other sailors to dress not according to the rules: in a black uniform in order to stand out more against their background. This is absolutely typical psychopathic behavior. Such people, even being great, if they are “pressed” from above, will “squeal”. This is how narcissistic psychopaths draw resources.
Emotionally unstable personalities
They move with extraordinary ease along the entire emotional spectrum, from extremely positive to extremely negative. At work or in any public place, they can be absolutely charming on an emotional upsurge, and at home, any smallest difficulty or unpleasant information will plunge them to the very bottom of negativity.
And the household will have to pull them out of there, playing the role of rescuers. Those who closely communicate with such people pay a kind of emotional tribute for life and are completely exhausted, losing the opportunity to lead a normal emotional life. No wonder such psychopaths are figuratively called "energy vampires". They have many connections, they run from one passion to another: they give one partner the opportunity to relax, forget about emotional fatigue from the relationship and return to him again to use him again. They can be extremely manipulative when trying to get emotional support. Their typical threat is suicide. By the way, take such a threat seriously, try to send the person to a psychiatrist. Because they are prone to self-harm and one day they may simply not “calculate strength”. One of the signs is multiple healed skin cuts. So if you see multiple scars on the skin of your new friend or acquaintance, then get ready to spend emotional energy on supporting them.
Interesting
A striking example of this type are girls with small cuts on their wrists, literally exhausting their partners, pumping energy out of them. Another variant of this type of psychopathy is Keeve Crocker, the assistant to that same cartoon character Zep Branigan, who is constantly thrown from minus to plus. The type, however, is very harmless, because he rarely receives emotional nourishment.
Paranoid psychopath
"Trust no one and you won't be hurt" - he views the whole world through the prism of a threat to him. Irrational fear and distrust in relationships is the first sign of this type of psychopathy. Constant monitoring, constant surveillance, phone and e-mail checks. However, if there is no evidence of infidelity, then the tension only grows. In the paranoid psychopath's picture of the world, if you are not with him, then you are against him.
Interesting
A real story that happened in St.
Petersburg: one of these psychopaths met with all the ex-boyfriends of his fiancée, after forcing her to tell about all premarital affairs. Then, after the wedding, with his suspicions, he brought her to neurosis, and later to alcoholism. By the way, when she got married, this girl perfectly understood what she was doing, she saw all the manifestations of her future husband, but she wanted a lot of money. She received them, but her personality, unfortunately, was completely destroyed. Paranoid psychopaths consider themselves very logical and are able to convince everyone of the correctness of their picture of the world. Therefore, as soon as you hear the words about “conspiracy”, “world government”, “flying saucers” or simply “colleagues at work who make cunning plans to fire him”, think about it, even if everything in the words of the interlocutor looks logical and truthful. They are consumed by irrational mistrust and fear, and tend to collect threats as real. For example, President Nixon kept a list of his enemies on his desk.
Predators
Robert Hayer very accurately called such people “snakes in suits”, because in their presence others literally experience physical discomfort, a kind of psychological discomfort, covering all facets of being. And this applies not only to ordinary people, but also to well-trained specialists - psychotherapists, profilers and polygraph examiners: after communicating with such “patients”, they often need several hours, or even days, to come to their senses.
However, sometimes predators manage to deceive people for a very long time. The most typical situation: the mother is in love and lives with a "charming" man who systematically intimidates and rapes his adopted daughter. And the mother turns a blind eye to this and does not believe her own daughter. The caretaker from the social service, the hero of the film "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo", just refers to such predators. The cold killer Stapleton from The Hound of the Baskervilles and the hero of Oleg Yankovsky Sergey Petrovich Kamyshev from the movie My Sweet and Gentle Beast are in the same category.
Predators have the most pronounced "flat affect": they do not know how to express emotions. They literally peer at us, analyzing our facial expressions, trying to figure out how to react, how to adjust. Pedophiles, rapists, brutal robbers, human traffickers - almost all without exception belong to this category of psychopaths. This is their most dangerous category. The solution here is unambiguous - to run away from such a person. Mixed forms of psychopathy
There are practically no pure psychopaths. As a representative of the mixed version, one can cite the example of John McAfee, a brilliant programmer and creator of the antivirus named after him. He combines the traits of both a narcissistic psychopath and a paranoid psychopath. By the way, while having a high intelligence, McAfee perfectly interacts with society.
Psychopath facial expressions: "Chaplin smile" and raised eyebrow
Do different types of psychopathy manifest themselves in facial features and expressions? This is an understudied topic.
Studies relating to Machiavellianism and narcissism tell about the connection between the perception of people's appearance and character traits. It is mainly about the ratio of the width of the face to its height, where a sharper face is a definite sign of psychopathy. Machiavellianism - manipulative patterns of behavior aimed at strengthening personal power and control: deceit, cunning, deceit, opportunism, conciliation, unscrupulousness.
Narcissism is a serious personality disorder characterized by a belief in one's own uniqueness, special position, superiority over other people, an inflated opinion of one's talents and achievements.
I will share practical observations of the signs of these disorders, collected in practice by our experts. The first is subtle emotions. Plus, two small signs that cannot fully guarantee the presence of psychopathy, but are a kind of “label”, indicate that this person can be dangerous. This is a “Chaplin smile” and hypertonicity of the outer part of the frontal muscle: an eyebrow curved in a special way.
In any case, the presence of signs of psychopathy does not give us the right to hang any labels on a person, especially in public. Knowledge only helps to understand the characteristics of our partner (possible or existing), and it also makes it possible to make an informed decision about the prospects of these relationships, both work and personal.
Important
The first question that a verifier must answer himself when he sees a person at the examination: are there any signs of psychopathy in him? This is a kind of filter. And it does not matter by what criteria we will evaluate it: Gannushkina, Lichko or Navarro. But, in my opinion, the latter method is more convenient and practical for detection.
"PSYCHOPATHS", a recording of a master class by Evgeny Spiritsa
You will learn how to use their successful strategies and avoid destructive influence.
There are now more than 7 billion people on the planet, and the globe is not getting any bigger - the struggle for resources is obvious.
