001 – Psychopaths: Let’s Chat

In the first episode, Dianne Emerson introduces the podcast, Psychopath in Your Life. The aim of this podcast is to help people understand who psychopaths are and how to identify them amongst the crowd of people that you rub shoulders with on a daily basis. Tune is as Dianne gives listeners insight into how her journey into this research began, why general information and checklists regarding psychopaths can be confusing and misleading, and what it means to be a “successful” psychopath.

Time Stamped Show Notes:
00:10 – Introduction to Psychopath in Your Life
00:19 – This podcast is exclusively dedicated to talk about psychopaths
00:42 – In the 1980’s, Ann Rule was one of the more famous crime writers
00:49 – Her first book was about Ted Bundy, The Stranger Beside Me
01:07 – Jack Olsen also came out with a book called Son
01:19 – The character in this book came from a prominent family
01:52 – This podcast will be about identifying psychopaths
02:04 – Not all the information about psychopaths—the checklists— translate into behavior
02:28 – More information has become available because of the internet
02:40 – To store the information, Dianne set up a free forum
02:52 – She started sorting information and people started sharing their stories
03:16 – Along the way, the discussion forum grew and grew
03:50 – Dianne became fascinated by how many people got involved with a psychopath
04:20 – Who are the psychopaths? They are people who are likely to commit crimes (general prison population)
04:28 – 25% of the prison population are tested and classified as psychopaths
04:35 – 1-3% of the general population are classified as psychopaths
05:04 – How do you know if a person is a psychopath?
05:08 – They fall under the personality disorder cluster
05:14 – “It’s in the genes”
06:03 – Checklists are a good source of information, but they can also cause confusion
06:12 – Smart psychopaths vs. those who end up in prison
06:49 – Psychopaths with criminal minds are easier to identify
06:58 – “The more educated they are, the more they are able to cover their behavior”
07:06 – “The one thing that they don’t have that we have is a conscience”
07:52 – Without a conscience, psychopaths are able to make decisions normal people cannot
08:06 – A practiced psychopath can trick people into believing that they have conscience
09:19 – A psychopath can be a person who’s successful
09:37 – A “successful psychopath” studies and learns different behaviors
10:12 – Normal people tend to overlook things
10:45 – A few years ago, Dianne was contacted by psychopaths who wanted to tell their stories
11:03 – She started a book about the plight of victims of psychopaths
11:13 – Dianne thought there had to be some more information to share to the public regarding how psychopaths operate
11:51 – She decided to interview psychopaths under controlled circumstances
12:46 – One question she asked was, “what was their motivation?”
12:51 – All 3 of them said they wanted to learn
13:00 – They wanted to learn how they can hide their behavior better
13:24 – Dianne’s book is called Psychopaths in Our Lives: My Interviews
14:09 – Stranger danger is overrated
14:31 – Next episode will be about the personalities of psychopaths, clues to look for, and how you can know if you’re a person they’re looking to victimize
14:44 – Dianne looks forward to your questions and comments to continue the conversation!
15:07 – Dianne has spoken with a lot of victims and understands your need for privacy and confidentiality and will deal with your comments/emails with the utmost respect
15:34 – Check out Psychopath In Your Life and send your questions and comments (anonymous, if you’d prefer) that Dianne will be more than willing to address on the air
15:57 – Dianne closes the podcast
3 Key Points:
One size does NOT fit all—the checklists of information regarding psychopaths does not always translate into behavior.
Practiced and successful psychopaths trick people into believing they are “normal.”
It is the psychopaths in our lives who are the ones that can hurt us the most.

Resources Mentioned:
Ann Rule – a crime writer in the 1980’s
The Stranger Beside Me – Ann Rule’s book with Ted Bundy
Son – Jack Olsen’s book on an affluent psychopath
Psychopaths in Our Lives: My Interviews – Dianne Emerson’s book