Those who do not see a serious threat here should read up on sociopaths and/or psychopaths (basically the same thing.) Psychotherapy has basically a zero percent rate of effectiveness of treatment for these people. They apparently do not develop this problem in later life, but are born this way, or else develop it quite early in life.
Some years ago, maybe around 1980, idk, this country chose to empty its mental hospitals of most of its patients or inmates, and many of these hospitals closed down. The idea was to "mainstream" them. This may very well have been the best thing that ever happened to a number of folks; it certainly was, in some cases, and I can even testify to a few. But it also left us with a vast number of schizophrenic people who cannot function in society, much less support themselves, and a group of psychopaths.
Definitions of "psychotic" generally include some reference to lack of full contact with "reality." Schizophrenics generally have some sort of disconnect with reality operating, but in most cases, this is no threat to you and I. Psychopaths have no trouble perceiving "reality," or operating in everyday society. They are not "crazy," or psychotic, in the sense that they are well aware of what you and I see as reality. They simply see "reality" as something to be used to their advantage, with no interest in, or regard for, the welfare of anyone/anything else. This must be read in the extreme. A psychopath has no problem with making $20 just because it might cost you your life. And he is clever enough to ensure that the connection is never made; a psychopath, or sociopath, is generally quite intelligent. Much more likely to be a con artist than a mugger. Recent events have made it apparent that con artists can operate at very high levels....
Actually, the schizophrenic often are quite intelligent as well, for that
matter.
I wonder if posting this on a public forum is going to cause me some sort of grief. I would not be surprised.
