Author Topic: When Your Child Is a Psychopath  (Read 3460 times)

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Offline EC

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When Your Child Is a Psychopath
« on: May 18, 2017, 09:12:27 am »
This is a good day, Samantha tells me: 10 on a scale of 10. We’re sitting in a conference room at the San Marcos Treatment Center, just south of Austin, Texas, a space that has witnessed countless difficult conversations between troubled children, their worried parents, and clinical therapists. But today promises unalloyed joy. Samantha’s mother is visiting from Idaho, as she does every six weeks, which means lunch off campus and an excursion to Target. The girl needs supplies: new jeans, yoga pants, nail polish.

Listen to the audio version of this article:Download the Audm app for your iPhone to listen to more titles.

At 11, Samantha is just over 5 feet tall and has wavy black hair and a steady gaze. She flashes a smile when I ask about her favorite subject (history), and grimaces when I ask about her least favorite (math). She seems poised and cheerful, a normal preteen. But when we steer into uncomfortable territory—the events that led her to this juvenile-treatment facility nearly 2,000 miles from her family—Samantha hesitates and looks down at her hands. “I wanted the whole world to myself,” she says. “So I made a whole entire book about how to hurt people.”

Starting at age 6, Samantha began drawing pictures of murder weapons: a knife, a bow and arrow, chemicals for poisoning, a plastic bag for suffocating. She tells me that she pretended to kill her stuffed animals.

“You were practicing on your stuffed animals?,” I ask her.

She nods.

“How did you feel when you were doing that to your stuffed animals?”

“Happy.”

“Why did it make you feel happy?”

“Because I thought that someday I was going to end up doing it on somebody.”

“Did you ever try?”

Silence.

Samantha’s parents, Jen and Danny, adopted Samantha when she was 2. They already had three biological children, but they felt called to add Samantha (not her real name) and her half sister, who is two years older, to their family. They later had two more kids.

From the start, Samantha seemed a willful child, in tyrannical need of attention. But what toddler isn’t? Her biological mother had been forced to give her up because she’d lost her job and home and couldn’t provide for her four children, but there was no evidence of abuse. According to documentation from the state of Texas, Samantha met all her cognitive, emotional, and physical milestones. She had no learning disabilities, no emotional scars, no signs of ADHD or autism.

But even at a very young age, Samantha had a mean streak. When she was about 20 months old, living with foster parents in Texas, she clashed with a boy in day care. The caretaker soothed them both; problem solved. Later that day Samantha, who was already potty trained, walked over to where the boy was playing, pulled down her pants, and peed on him. “She knew exactly what she was doing,” Jen says. “There was an ability to wait until an opportune moment to exact her revenge on someone.”

More (a lot more, it's a long article) and audio version: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/06/when-your-child-is-a-psychopath/524502/
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Re: When Your Child Is a Psychopath
« Reply #1 on: May 18, 2017, 10:43:47 am »
Interesting article

Never met a psychopath but I've unfortunately met sociopaths and narcissists.

Way too many narcissists.

Not to mention those on the opposite scale- schizophrenics, bipolar, and autism spectrum , and depression so bad it was horrible to view.

Add some self harmness to the mix, and I've seen a lot of human despair
« Last Edit: May 18, 2017, 10:46:26 am by Freya »
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Online mountaineer

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Re: When Your Child Is a Psychopath
« Reply #2 on: May 18, 2017, 12:46:27 pm »
Reminds me of the brother and sister schizophrenics about whom several TV documentaries have been made, Bodhi and Jani Schofield.
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Offline Free Vulcan

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Re: When Your Child Is a Psychopath
« Reply #3 on: May 18, 2017, 03:19:04 pm »
Quote
But even at a very young age, Samantha had a mean streak. When she was about 20 months old, living with foster parents in Texas, she clashed with a boy in day care. The caretaker soothed them both; problem solved. Later that day Samantha, who was already potty trained, walked over to where the boy was playing, pulled down her pants, and peed on him. “She knew exactly what she was doing,” Jen says. “There was an ability to wait until an opportune moment to exact her revenge on someone.”

Sounds like alot of my classmates.
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Offline Fishrrman

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Re: When Your Child Is a Psychopath
« Reply #4 on: May 19, 2017, 02:56:08 am »
Bad seed.

Only solution is to put her somewhere where she won't be able to carry out her desires to hurt others.

Didn't we once have large institutions for people like that?

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Re: When Your Child Is a Psychopath
« Reply #5 on: May 19, 2017, 03:00:08 am »
Bad seed.

Only solution is to put her somewhere where she won't be able to carry out her desires to hurt others.

Didn't we once have large institutions for people like that?

She is in an institution.

Offline Half Vast Conspiracy

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Re: When Your Child Is a Psychopath
« Reply #6 on: May 19, 2017, 03:27:30 am »
Too close to home.  Take out the physical violence variable, and this story describes our adoption of a 14 month-old girl back in 2001.

She is now in a treatment facility in Utah and will never return.  They say she has reactive attachment disorder (RAD), but her maternal grandfather is my step-dad...it's 100% hereditary. 

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Re: When Your Child Is a Psychopath
« Reply #7 on: May 19, 2017, 08:43:30 am »
Another future President?

Offline driftdiver

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Re: When Your Child Is a Psychopath
« Reply #8 on: May 19, 2017, 10:03:49 am »
Another future President?

@geronl

You have far more in common with this poor girl then Trump does.  Seek help
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Offline Weird Tolkienish Figure

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Re: When Your Child Is a Psychopath
« Reply #9 on: May 19, 2017, 10:12:12 am »
Later that day Samantha, who was already potty trained, walked over to where the boy was playing, pulled down her pants, and peed on him.

The ultimate revenge.
« Last Edit: May 19, 2017, 10:12:32 am by Weird Tolkienish Figure »

geronl

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Re: When Your Child Is a Psychopath
« Reply #10 on: May 19, 2017, 11:14:48 am »
@geronl

You have far more in common with this poor girl then Trump does.  Seek help

 *****rollingeyes*****

Onto the ignore list for a personal attack.

Why do you assume I meant Trump? not Obama or Clinton? or all three?

Offline driftdiver

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Re: When Your Child Is a Psychopath
« Reply #11 on: May 19, 2017, 11:23:56 am »
*****rollingeyes*****

Onto the ignore list for a personal attack.

Why do you assume I meant Trump? not Obama or Clinton? or all three?

@geronl

Because EVERY post you make is about Trump.  Heck you have a malicious Photoshop of him as your avatar.  You are consumed & blinded with your hatred.
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Oceander

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Re: When Your Child Is a Psychopath
« Reply #12 on: May 19, 2017, 11:39:35 am »
@geronl

Because EVERY post you make is about Trump.  Heck you have a malicious Photoshop of him as your avatar.  You are consumed & blinded with your hatred.

You might want to start with that giant mote in your own eye, first. 

Oceander

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Re: When Your Child Is a Psychopath
« Reply #13 on: May 19, 2017, 11:42:22 am »
@geronl

You have far more in common with this poor girl then Trump does.  Seek help

Geez.  That was uncalled for. 

geronl

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Re: When Your Child Is a Psychopath
« Reply #14 on: May 19, 2017, 12:14:42 pm »
Because EVERY post you make is about Trump.  Heck you have a malicious Photoshop of him as your avatar.  You are consumed & blinded with your hatred.

Demonstrably false that every post is about Trump. That's just a pure bald-faced lie. The Avatar image is funny. You should check out Truth_Seeker for blind hatred and obsession.

The good news is I won't need to worry about reading your posts anymore.

Offline driftdiver

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Re: When Your Child Is a Psychopath
« Reply #15 on: May 19, 2017, 01:35:29 pm »
You might want to start with that giant mote in your own eye, first.

Not even factual.   I criticize Trump and also comment when he does good.   I also post on other threads kinda like this one which had nothing to do with Trump until his post.
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Re: When Your Child Is a Psychopath
« Reply #16 on: May 19, 2017, 01:47:15 pm »
Good grief. A legit thread about a medical and social issue, and then, POOF!  :hijack:
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Offline r9etb

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Re: When Your Child Is a Psychopath
« Reply #17 on: May 19, 2017, 02:39:36 pm »
Good grief. A legit thread about a medical and social issue, and then, POOF!  :hijack:

I had a private bet with myself about how long it would take....  I won.

geronl

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Re: When Your Child Is a Psychopath
« Reply #18 on: May 19, 2017, 11:23:20 pm »
All I did was make a generic joke, I didn't bring Trump into it.

Offline Fishrrman

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Re: When Your Child Is a Psychopath
« Reply #19 on: May 20, 2017, 12:43:20 am »
driftdiver wrote (regarding someone else):
"Because EVERY post you make is about Trump.  Heck you have a malicious Photoshop of him as your avatar.  You are consumed & blinded with your hatred."

That's why he's one of only two posters here on my permanent ignore list.
The other seems to have disappeared some months' back -- I believe that one was a "paid disruptor", so to speak...

geronl

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Re: When Your Child Is a Psychopath
« Reply #20 on: May 20, 2017, 12:47:57 am »
That's why he's one of only two posters here on my permanent ignore list.
The other seems to have disappeared some months' back -- I believe that one was a "paid disruptor", so to speak...

I did NOT bring Trump into this thread but liars have to lie. Getting personally attacked is the reason I put people on my ignore list, you've been on it a good while.

Oceander

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Re: When Your Child Is a Psychopath
« Reply #21 on: May 20, 2017, 01:40:56 am »
Not even factual.   I criticize Trump and also comment when he does good.   I also post on other threads kinda like this one which had nothing to do with Trump until his post.

No, my friend, you lash out in hatred at anyone who isn't sufficiently in awe of Trump.  I read a lot more than I post, and you are pretty consistent with that nasty little habit.  That you may (at least in your mind) criticize Trump does not take away from the fact that you also attack those who are not sufficiently loyal for your tastes.

Oceander

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Re: When Your Child Is a Psychopath
« Reply #22 on: May 20, 2017, 01:41:27 am »
driftdiver wrote (regarding someone else):
"Because EVERY post you make is about Trump.  Heck you have a malicious Photoshop of him as your avatar.  You are consumed & blinded with your hatred."

That's why he's one of only two posters here on my permanent ignore list.
The other seems to have disappeared some months' back -- I believe that one was a "paid disruptor", so to speak...

You haven't the faintest clue.

Offline truth_seeker

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Re: When Your Child Is a Psychopath
« Reply #23 on: May 20, 2017, 01:57:25 am »
Demonstrably false that every post is about Trump. That's just a pure bald-faced lie. The Avatar image is funny. You should check out Truth_Seeker for blind hatred and obsession.

The good news is I won't need to worry about reading your posts anymore.
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Offline Sanguine

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Re: When Your Child Is a Psychopath
« Reply #24 on: May 20, 2017, 02:44:56 am »
Too close to home.  Take out the physical violence variable, and this story describes our adoption of a 14 month-old girl back in 2001.

She is now in a treatment facility in Utah and will never return.  They say she has reactive attachment disorder (RAD), but her maternal grandfather is my step-dad...it's 100% hereditary.

Obviously a very painful situation.  Damn.