The curious case of Maya Mehrotra : PSYCHOPATH or not?? - Page 2

Originally posted by: dhrishti_

@.annihilation. : *bows down to you* HOLY MOLY, did I just read what seems like a 3000+ word analysis based on a fictional character that is mostly confined to the existence of one mere year? I think it was much needed to clarify the concept of psychopathy, considering a huge part of the show is based on it. This isn't an analysis, this is a thesis, like the ones you need to do a PhD, yeah, that kind of thesis. I wasn't convinced that Maya is a psychopath, truly, I didn't want to admit it, but now I think it's pretty darn clear. I sincerely hope the show focuses on Maya's condition and further explains her behaviour, actions and personality instead of just terming her as 'ill' or suffering from a 'mental disorder', that'd be quite a disappointment, but at least now we have this post to hold onto. Oh yes, thanks for this post, I'm positive I'll come back and refer to it a lot in the 5(ish) months the show has left.

@---Khushi--- : Thanks for having shared this gem here, if not for you, I probably wouldn't have ever come across this dissection of psychopathy.

Originally posted by: ---Khushi---

If we assume that Maya is indeed a psychopath, here are certain facts about psychopaths...

1) We all have often wondered how Maya manages to manipulate people & make them do what she wants them to...well, here's an insight into what could be the reason for that...

"There are two kinds of empathy," says James Falpsychopathlon, a neuroscientist at the University of California and author of The Psychopath Inside: A Neuroscientist's Personal Journey into the Dark Side of the Brain. "Cognitive empathy is the ability to know what other people are feeling, and emotional empathy is the kind where you feel what they're feeling."

Autistic people can be very empathetic - they feel other people's pain - but are less able to recognise the cues we read easily, the smiles and frowns that tell us what someone is thinking. Psychopaths are often the opposite: they know what you're feeling, but don't feel it themselves. "This all gives certain psychopaths a great advantage, because they can understand what you're thinking, it's just that they don't care, so they can use you against yourself." (Chillingly, psychopaths are particularly adept at detecting vulnerability. A 2008 study that asked participants to remember virtual characters found that those who scored highly for psychopathy had a near perfect recognition for sad, unsuccessful females, but impaired memory for other characters.)

2) We have often wondered why she hasn't been treated as yet...here's the probable reason...

"Psychopathy is probably the most pleasant-feeling of all the mental disorders," says the journalist Jon Ronson, whose book, The Psychopath Test, explored the concept of psychopathy and the mental health industry in general. "All of the things that keep you good, morally good, are painful things: guilt, remorse, empathy." Fallon agrees: "Psychopaths can work very quickly, and can have an apparent IQ higher than it really is, because they're not inhibited by moral concerns."

So psychopaths often welcome their condition, and "treating" them becomes complicated. "How many psychopaths go to a psychiatrist for mental distress, unless they're in prison? It doesn't happen," says Hare. The ones in prison, of course, are often required to go to "talk therapy, empathy training, or talk to the family of the victims" - but since psychopaths don't have any empathy, it doesn't work. "What you want to do is say, Look, it's in your own self-interest to change your behaviour, otherwise you'll stay in prison for quite a while.'"

(Reference : http://googleweblight.com/i?u=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/2017/04/20/psychopaths-can-spot-one/&grqid=4mfamyJe&hl=en-IN )