Quote Originally Posted by Osiris View Post

I believe this to be a wholly incorrect diagnosis. Scratch displays sociopathic tendencies, not psychopathic. The biggest factor being she understands the difference between right and wrong (rape, protecting unborn children, empathy for child-bearing women, etc), she simply chooses to ignore it and follow her own code and compass--which is indicative of the sociopath. She's far, far from a psychopath.
Some psychiatrist have used psychopath and sociopath interchangeably, as have I. In modern psychiatry they are seen as separate diagnoses but have a considerable overlap. Scratch exhibits elements of both however more IMHO psychopathic elements: high incidence of violence and impulsivity, lack of conscience and empathy, erratic and violent criminal behavior, values relationships that only benefit themselves. She let her brother go to prison for a crime she committed ! Interestingly, studies on the brain waves of psychopaths have indicated that there is a marked difference in how their brains react to certain stimuli. Because they have no feeling and no concern for others or themselves, the threat of fear does not trigger the same response in the brain of a psychopath that it does in another person. Some believe sociopaths have a very skewed moral compass whereas psychopaths a brain abnormality in the amygdala which controls emotional responses. Compassion meditations undertaken by bhuddist monks have been analysed in functional brain MRI scans and linked to increased social connectedness.