Child psychopathy: symptoms, causes and advice for parents

Childhood psychopathy is one of the phenomena that generates the most interest from the world of psychology. The presence of boys and girls who do not empathize with others and who can carry out cruel or manipulation without experiencing any remorse causes alarm bells to go off for fathers, mothers and educators.

In this article we will see what is known about childhood psychopathy and the way in which this condition is expressed through the actions of these little ones.

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Child psychopathy: definition

Although there is no fully agreed definition, psychopathy is considered to be a type of disorder characterized by a lack of empathy and feelings of guilt, as well as the tendency towards disinhibition.

In the clinical field it is called antisocial personality disorder, a name that already indicates the type of problems that produces this condition: conflicts in personal relationships or attacks against others, whether through physical violence or not.

Childhood psychopathy, specifically, is the condition associated with psychopathic traits that occurs during childhood. That is to say, it is not a differentiated mental disorder, although naturally this condition is expressed in a different way in children and in adults.

In addition, it has been observed that psychopathy often appears during the first years of life, and that its presence in this stage of life serves to predict the chances that that person will exhibit antisocial traits when they reach old age adult.

• Related article: "Psychopathy: what happens in the mind of the psychopath?"

Symptoms of child psychopathy

First of all, it is necessary to take into account that there is no instrument for measuring and diagnosing psychopathy that allows to know with certainty what happens in the mind of a boy or girl and if he expresses that disorder or not.

In any case, what is done is to carry out interviews with fathers, mothers or guardians, as well as with the little ones, and from the crossing of a series of data a conclusion is reached. Also, this always has to be performed by psychiatrists or clinical psychologists, depending on the legislation of each country.

In any case, as a guide, we can recognize several typical symptoms of child psychopathy and that, if they occur in a way Clear and sustained over time, they can reveal information about the chances that a boy or girl will present this disorder.

1. Constant defiance of norms

We are not talking about breaking rules associated with good education, but those that they have to do with the most basic forms of coexistence. For example, systematically throwing food on the ground, attacking other children or even adults, etc.

2. explosions of violence

In general, the infant stage is characterized by disinhibition. However, this is absolute in children with psychopathic traits. For this reason it is possible that sometimesand violently deal with people or animals, which brings us to the next point.

3. animal abuse

Many of these little ones take advantage of moments when there are no adults around to hurt or even kill animals, for the simple pleasure of "playing" with them, as if they were detachable toys. However, it is also possible that they do it simply for the pleasure of making people suffer.

• Related article: "Animal abuse in minors: children's things?"

4. no regrets

In childhood psychopathy punishments and scolding have little effect, since although it is understood that others recognize certain activities as bad and undesirable, that does not matter. In any case, what is relevant is to create strategies to avoid this kind of situation in the future.

Causes

The exact cause of psychopathy is unknown, although it is believed that there is an important genetic component. However, it is most likely that in most cases the disorder has more than one cause, and that the genotype is just something that predisposes. For example, it has been shown that certain injuries to the frontal lobe of the brain can generate these symptoms, and something similar occurs with the continued experience of very stressful experiences or traumatic.

Tips for fathers and mothers

It must be clear that in any case, psychopathy, whether in children, adolescents or adults, does not is not a diagnostic category with well-defined limits, but in it there are different degrees. That is why many psychologists prefer to talk about traits of psychopathy, and not from "psychopathic people".

That's why, even if a mental health team points out that a minor has significant psychopathic traits, that doesn't mean he's going to be like a psychopath from the movies, or a murderer. Statistically, even people who fall into this diffuse classification tend more towards normality than towards more extreme characteristics.

In addition, as little is known about psychopathy, it is possible that it is a false positive and that the minor's behavior evolves towards normality naturally, without interventions. After all some minors can express their discomfort and emotional problems behaving very much like psychopaths, for a while.

Having said this, we must also know that unfortunately to date there is no treatment that offers guarantees of its efficacy in the intervention on child psychopathy, which does not mean that there will never be. This means that we must be wary of those who offer "cures" and other miraculous therapies; while it is not impossible that you will get better through psychotherapy, it is unlikely that it will happen, or that it will happen because of it.