Joe the Psycho?

by,

Suzanne Coleman, MD

We all gasped in horror as we listened to the things that Joe Bailey said on “Bachelor in Paradise” this past season, didn’t we?!  What a psycho…

Watching the new talk segment that followed the show, I heard one of the guests call Joe a sociopath.  What do you think, is that what’s wrong with him?

If you have been following my “Bachelor” blog, you know that I wrote a piece last season about Carly, yes the same Carly who was just on “Paradise,” asking if SHE was a sociopath.  If you haven’t read it, you should.  It covers all of the basics on how to tell if someone is a sociopath.  Important stuff!

While she may have seemed heartless on “The Bachelor,” on “Paradise,” Carly seemed pretty normal, though I do need to add that I only watched about half of the show.  Seeing her again in a different setting and under different circumstances, it was clear that her edited comments on “The Bachelor” made her seem like a terrible person.  Also, “The Bachelor” didn’t show enough of Britt’s bad behaviors to explain WHY Carly was so annoyed by her, and this helped contribute to our negative impression of Carly.  I think that now that most of us have learned more about Britt, we can understand Carly’s reactions to her much better.

So, back to Joe.  Is he really a cold, heartless bastard?  Or is it just another case of editing-gone-wild?  That, I couldn’t tell you.  But what we saw of him on the show sure does make it seem like he has no compassion for other human beings, doesn’t it?

That’s basically what defines a sociopath, a person who doesn’t have the capacity to care about others.  It is also someone who believes that the laws and rules of society don’t apply to them.  They do whatever they want and think that they will get away with it.  They don’t care about how their actions, or inactions, affect others.

This psychiatric disorder affects an estimated 1% of the human population, but it’s much more common in males than in females.  Here are the numbers as estimated by the US government:

One out of 75 men is a sociopath.

One out of 300 women is a sociopath.

It is really quite a common disorder.  Once you start to understand this you will realize how many sociopaths you have known.  They may be your boss, your co-worker, an ex, a family member, a neighbor… the list goes on.

So now that you know all of this, what can you do to protect yourself?  Stay very far away.

This psychiatric disorder is essentially untreatable and incurable.  Sociopaths are harmful towards others.  Someone doesn’t have to be a mass-murderer to be a sociopath, and I think that’s something that most of us used to think.  A sociopath can be that person who screws over other people at work, or in a relationship.  They have no empathy.  They hurt other people, and sometimes they think it’s funny to do so.  “Incurable” means that no matter how much time one spends trying to help someone like this, it is almost impossible to change them.  It would be a waste of time and energy, and will usually end up harming the person trying to help.

I hope that this article helped to bring this disorder to light.  Please share with your friends and family so that they don’t become the next victim of a sociopath, because they are EVERYWHERE.