Psychopathic Tendencies in Children: Is Your Child Becoming A Psychopath?

Psychopathy is a form of antisocial disorder which refers to a person suffering from a chronic mental impairment referring to abnormal and violent social reaction. Psychopaths are pathological liars, manipulators and the ones that can get away with their own charm. Though these traits usually surface once the individual would reach the teenage years or adulthood, most parents would usually feel alarmed once their grade school kids would project psychopathic behaviors.

Though it may sound alarming, Dr Jeffrey Borenstein, psychiatrist and the president and CEO of the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation based in New York stated that when referring to "young people" the term psychopathy isn't used to describe their behavior.

Borenstein's publication entitled "Understanding Mental Disorders: Your Guide to DSM-5," focused on the topic called the "conduct disorder wherein younger people would inhibit traits that can eventually lead to psychopathy once taken for granted.

Part of his publication stated, "a child who has a diagnosis of conduct disorder may be showing ... aggression towards other people - for instance, being a bully, threatening or intimidating others, engaging in physical fights."

He then added, "It could be using a weapon to cause [or] that could cause harm to another person, being cruel to other people or to animals, stealing, destruction of property and often lying - those would be some of the types of things that would be a warning sign for a parent."

As per Robert Hare the author of "Without Conscience: The Disturbing World of the Psychopaths Among Us", parents should closely monitor their children who subtly showcase the symptom of psychopathic tendencies as the root cause of the mental disorder can be traced from his/her childhood.

One of the best ways to move the child with calloused emotions and stubborn attitude is to train them to feel emotions.

"You can try to train them to feel emotions, but that is like trying to train a cat to be a mouse. None of the programs seem to work except those that change behavioral problems. You might get them to look out for themselves in a different way, to develop an enlightened self-interest."