SkepticDoesNotMeanHater writes:
One of brothers-in-law is a Psychiatrist and finds Rick Dyer fascinating!
I am glad your brother is interested in personality. Unfortunately, a lot of p-docs are little more than pill-pushers these days. But if you sit down with a psychiatrist, most are still pretty well versed in personality theory even though they probably do not see a lot of Axis 2 types other than Borderlines.
Rick has Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD), full blown. In fact, he has very nasty and fulminant case – but I am not sure if there are lesser or greater varieties of this disorder. I really tire of NPD’s because they are such bastards and scums. I have had to deal with NPD types almost my entire life for reasons that I cannot divulge (as in people close to me that I cannot exactly avoid), and I tire of them and do not want to deal with them anymore. NPD types have caused a tremendous amount of damage to me in life, and Dyer reminds me of this.
Rick also has quite a bit of sociopathy going on – he would get a high score on Hare’s Psychopathy Checklist (PC-L). Whether he is a “narcissistic sociopath” or a “malignant narcissist” per se, I have no idea.
NPD and sociopathy are very close to each other, and there is a overlap. Narcissists play fast and loose with morals a lot, and it is not uncommon at all for them to break the law or set up others for crimes, which is even worse.
Nevertheless, NPD’s tend to stay out of jail because they are having too much fun on the outside exploiting others. Further, a lot of NPD’s simply feel that many criminal acts are against their moral values.
Some NPD’s do commit crimes, and in at least one famous mass murder case in Europe where a man killed his whole family, the perpetrator was an NPD. And in fact, he is not the only NPD who slaughtered his whole family, mostly to escape and unbearable place in life where they may have ended up. But your average NPD is not dangerous except to your ego and feelings.
I like to think of the sociopath as the ultimate narcissist. He is really the only thing that even exists in the universe. The other humans aren’t even really there or maybe they are like tools in your tool shed or some sort of inanimate objects.
A crucial difference is that NPD’s are painfully aware of criticism and others’ opinions of them. Criticism completely devastates them, and they react in various ways to it, often variously with towering rage, counterattack, terribly hurt feelings or rejection or avoidance of the critic. Look at how Rick goes after his critics.
Sociopaths could frankly care less what you or anyone else thinks for them for good, bad or indifferent. They don’t even care how they are coming across to others except if they are creating a lot of bad vibes, they might whip out a “Nice Guy” fake persona out to save the day and win people over.
They don’t care if you criticize them or hate them, in fact, they assume that many people will hate them, but either they don’t care, or they actually provoke hatred in order to live up to their “bad boy” or “Mr. Evil” self-image. A lot of these types actually get off on coming across as a dangerous or evil person. They like to scare and terrorize others and make themselves as hated as possible.
Also narcissists need something called narcissistic supply from other humans, and sociopaths have no need for this as they generate all of the egotistic supply needs they desire internally. They don’t need others to say they are great because they already know that they are Kings of the World, and they don’t care if you agree with them or not
I do think think that the primary issue with Rick is the narcissism – the narcissism outweighs the sociopathy in him.
As a sociopath, Rick is definitely a “controlled sociopath.” The majority of these types are never imprisoned for even one day (note that Rick has yet to spend a day in jail), and they often channel their malign energies into fields like law, medicine, politics, law enforcement, the military and especially business. All of these fields, especially politics and business, are utterly overrun with controlled sociopaths.
Why do these types generally follow the law or more commonly, dance around the edges of the law and least stay out of jail? Not due to any morals they might have. Instead the reason is simple pragmatism – they don’t want to go to prison because that’s no fun. So instead they become what I call “legal criminals” and go into one of the italicized fields above.
Dyer is obviously a classic con artist or confidence man. Studies of these types have shown that the classic personality of the confidence man is sociopath. In other words, most if not con artists are controlled sociopaths.
I have also been damaged a fair amount by the sociopaths that have sadly inhabited my life at times, so Dyer brings back bad memories there too.
Clinically speaking, Rick Dyer has what is more or less an untreatable disorder for the simple reason that he does not want to “get better.” He does not see himself as ill in any way, shape or form, and everything is everyone else’s fault.
Some narcissists can be and have been successfully treated, but it’s not easy. Nevertheless, I simply cannot see Dyer as one of the rare types who finally decides he wants out of the Narcissism Game.
Sociopaths are even harder to treat and for all intents and purposes are simply untreatable. Similar to narcissists but even worse, sociopaths see nothing wrong with themselves of course blame others for any problems. While some narcissists do voluntarily show up for treatment, often later in life when treatment may be easier, I would say that few to no sociopaths wish to be helped or cured. In fact, if you want to “get better” I would say you are not even a psychopath in the first place! Treatment for sociopaths is also worse than for narcissists because in fact it is often contraindicated. This is because the therapy of the sociopath often backfires and results in a worsening of the condition!
For a lot of these types, the optimal treatment would be admittance to a place called “prison.” They won’t get better, and in fact they will probably get even worse, but at least society is protected from their predations while they are locked up.
