A woman who claims to be a diagnosed psychopath has shared the ‘morbid’ interest she had as a child, revealing a window into the mind of those with the personality disorder.
A TikToker, by the name of victhepath, revealed that her special interests included the Holocaust, human sacrifices by ancient Mayans and the original Grimm fairytales – among three other gory stories.
Scientists have found that because psychopaths have reduced empathy and sensation-seeking behavior, they tend to have an increased interest in violent and disturbing content.
The research suggested that psychopaths may be drawn to violent or gory stories due to a desire for stimulation or a need to assert dominance, which may explain the special interests of the TikToker.
A TikToker, by the name of victhepath, revealed that her special interests included the Holocaust, human sacrifices by ancient Mayans and the original Grimm fairytales – among three other gory stories
Generally, people who are described as psychopaths show traits such as antisocial behavior, untruthfulness, irresponsibility and lack of remorse or empathy.
Studies have found that psychopaths often exhibit diminished emotional responses to gruesome or disturbing stimuli, allowing them to engage with such content without experiencing the discomfort or revulsion that most people would feel.
Only about 1.2 percent of US adults considered to have clinically significant levels of psychopathic traits, but that increases in prison where 15 percent to 25 percent of inmates show these characteristics.
The disorder is diagnosed using a 20-item Hare Psychopathy Checklist, which features traits such as lack of empathy, pathological, and impulsivity.
Each is scored on a three-point scale, zero is for does not apple and two fully applies.
However, some medical professionals steer clear from the term ‘psychopath’ and sometimes label it as antisocial personality disorder (ASPD).
‘I was really into the Holocaust specifically when I was a kid, not really World War II as a while,’ the TikToker said in the video.
Generally, people who are described as psychopaths show traits such as antisocial behavior, untruthfulness, irresponsibility and lack of remorse or empathy
‘When I was in the third grade we had a book fair at school and I remember seeing this little black book called The Holocaust and being really intrigued by it.’
She continued to explain that she spent an hour reading the book underneath a table at the event.
‘After that, I was so fascinated by the subject,’ she continued.
‘When I was in eighth grade I went on a DC trip and opted to go to the Holocaust Museum over the Smithsonian.’
Her second special interest was Grimm fairy tales and the original stories that are ‘extremely morbid.’
One of the stories is ‘The Robber Bridegroom,’ which is about bandits who drag a maiden into their underground hideout, force her to drink wine until her heart bursts, rip off her clothes and then hack her body into pieces.
The original Cinderella, another written by the Brothers Grimm, says the stepsisters tried cutting off their toe or heel to fit into the glass slipper.
‘The last special interest is the Aztec and Mayan Empires,’ she said. ‘It shouldn’t be a shock to you guys that I was really intrigued by the whole human sacrifice thing
Many of these stories have since been revised to be suitable for children, but the TikToker said she had a giant book of all the original work.
She continued to explain her other interests as a child were the Romanov family, who were all murdered by Bolshevik soldiers in 1917, Greek mythology and the Labrythin.
‘The Hunger Games is slightly based on the Labrythin, the idea of putting kids in the arena until they,’ the TikToker said.
‘The last special interest is the Aztec and Mayan Empires.
‘It shouldn’t be a shock to you guys that I was really intrigued by the whole human sacrifice thing.’
The TikToker’s video comes after experts in New Mexico analyzed recordings of women being interviewed by police to uncover signs that a woman may be a psychopath.
They found that the biggest psychopaths kept their head very still, just like men.
A stationary stance may be a tactic employed by psychopaths to hide potential clues about their personality or intentions given away by body language.
The study – which claims to be the first linking women psychopaths and nonverbal communication – was led by researchers at the University of New Mexico’s Department of Psychology in Albuquerque.
‘Nonverbal behaviors (i.e., head dynamics) represent an important, yet understudied, form of communication that may enhance our ability to detect certain forms of psychopathology, including psychopathy,’ they say.
‘We believe our results help identify a unique pattern of head dynamics characteristic of women scoring high on psychopathy, specifically, exhibiting more stationary head positioning during clinical interview administration.’
For the study, the researchers used an image processing and machine learning tool to automatically extract head movement from recorded interviews of 213 incarcerated women in the US.
Because psychopathy is ‘highly predictive of future re-offending’ in both women and men, the findings could be important for prison officers.
In police interviews, female inmates who keep their head more still could be more likely to reoffend – although proving this would require further study.
A limitation of the study is participants were solely inmates, so the team do not know how much ‘the prison environment may have influenced participants’ behavior’.
