Is the United States of America a Sociopathic Country?

Did you know for example, that there are more sociopathic personalities in the United States than there are diabetics?

If you have had a manipulative and cruel boss, a neighbor who lives to annoy and fight over the most simple issues, watched in awe at the machinations of corporate robber baron CEO’s (such as Mitt Romney) that profit by destroying people’s lives without regret, or had a partner, friend, or intimate that seemed “not quite right” as they parroted human emotion but did not really seem to “feel” in the same way that emotionally and psychologically healthy people do, then yes, you may have encountered a sociopath.

The sociopathic personality is not necessarily the cartoon character of human evil such as a Hannibal Lecter or Jeffrey Dahmer. Those are easy marks, super predators that the mass media has played up in order to scare the public by fulfilling the mantra “if it bleeds it leads” that drives news coverage in the United States.

The sociopath is common and mundane. This is precisely why they are so dangerous. I am lucky in that after reading The Sociopath Next Door, I was able to make sense of one of my former work colleagues who lived to manipulate, lie, hurt others, and create chaos.

She was masterful because of an ability to make her behavior seem utterly and totally reasonable while making those others in her circle of sociopathic hell feel like we were the “crazy” ones. As The Sociopath Next Door details, such behavior may be cruel when viewed from an outsider’s perspective; it is nonetheless perfectly rational for the sociopath as a means of advancing his or her goals.

Psychology Today has a piece called Confessions of a Sociopath that is well worth reading. It is written by diagnosed sociopath M.E. Thomas and is excerpted from her forthcoming book.

Her conclusion is very provocative and mirrors some of my concerns about he who would have been president Mitt Romney:

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a sociopath’s dream. Mormons believe that everyone has the potential to be godlike—I believe this includes me. Every being is capable of salvation; my actions are what matters, not my ruthless thoughts, not my nefarious motivations. Everyone is a sinner, and I never felt that I was outside this norm. 

When I attended Brigham Young—where students were even more trusting than the average Mormon—there were myriad opportunities for scamming. I stole from the lost and found, saying I lost a book, but then I would take the “found” book to the bookstore and sell it. Or, I’d take an unlocked bike that sat in the same place for days. Finders, keepers. 

But I am functionally a good person—I bought a house for my closest friend, I gave my brother $10,000, and I am considered a helpful professor. I love my family and friends. Yet I am not motivated or constrained by the same things that most good people are. 

I don’t mean to give the impression that you shouldn’t worry about sociopaths. Just because I’m high-functioning and nonviolent doesn’t mean there aren’t a lot of stupid, uninhibited, or dangerous sociopaths out there. I myself try to escape people like that; after all, it’s not like all sociopaths give each other hall passes to avoid harassment. 

Despite having imagined it many times, I’ve never slit anyone’s throat. I wonder, though, had I been raised in a more abusive home, whether I would have blood on my hands. People who commit heinous crimes—sociopath or empath—are not more damaged than everyone else, but they seem to have less to lose. It’s easy to imagine a 16-year-old version of myself being handcuffed in an orange jumpsuit. If I had no one to love or nothing to achieve, perhaps. It’s hard to say.

America’s celebrity culture, hyper individualism, gross capitalist excess, and worship of greed encourages and rewards psychopathic behavior. Given their pathological narcissism, Millennials and the Facebook generation are particularly vulnerable to the rewards and delights of sociopathic behavior. And rich people, those captains of industry and social climbers, are also especially prone to cheating, lying, and other anti-social behaviors–moreover, such behavior is incentivized in many professions.

In the same family of anti-social behaviors, the corporation, if evaluated as an individual by a clinician, would be diagnosed as a “psychopath:”

America is a corporate market democracy. She is also an Imperial power. Thus a question: is the United States a sociopathic country? And what does this mean for her citizens who are not sociopaths?