I never really met a psychopath myself but I always wonder if they are really that dangerous as portraied in movies and TV-shows.
If not can you please explain me why in simple words as I don’t understand much about this topic?
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“Psychopath” isn’t an actual diagnosis. The closest would be Antisocial Personality Disorder, or ASPD which is primarily characterized by a lack of empathy and remorse.
A diagnosis requires at least three of the following criteria to be met:
repeatedly breaking the law
repeatedly being deceitful
being impulsive or incapable of planning ahead
being irritable and aggressive
having a reckless disregard for their safety or the safety of others
being consistently irresponsible
lack of remorse
ASPD is also treatable, although some core tenants of the disorder, such as lack of empathy, may always remain.
As such, I would say people with this disorder are not always dangerous. There are many different combinations of symptoms that can present seeing as only three are needed to diagnose. People with this disorder are more likely to be violent or manipulative, but the majority of them are not going to be the serial killers you see on TV. While lacking empathy and remorse removes a lot of your motivation to not hurt other people, it doesn’t inherently motivate you to hurt them either.
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