Wilde Things
| by Fingal Wilde
Psychopaths in the Workplace
Having recently being a victim of psychopathic behaviour in the workplace,
I have decided to revisit the subject. My daughter majored in psychology
at university some 15 years ago, and being a sufferer of ECRD (Excessive
Compulsive Reading Disorder) myself, I could not resist the compulsion to read
her textbooks, so I do consider myself an amateur psychologist.
M
y first step in this re-evaluation
of psychopathic behaviour
was to test myself, through a
DIY test that is available on the internet.
I achieved a score of 8, which put me
low on the psychopathic scale, as a
score of over 30 identifies you as a
psychopath. You may think that a low
score is good, but I’m not so sure,
because this low sco re actually makes
you a target for full blown psychopaths,
and goodness knows how many times I
have been targeted!
But back to the subject. What exactly
is a psychopath, and how do you
identify them? Firstly, all psychopaths
are absolute narcissists. They think that
the universe revolves around them and
their needs. Everyone around them is
either a target or a vassal in fulfilling
these needs. And if these targets or
vassals dare to stray from this line,
then they become obstacles and are
in danger of being eliminated at the
very worst, and intimidated at the
very best. Psychopaths also tend to
surround themselves with individuals
whom they can manipulate and
brainwash, and these individuals, after
the requisite amount of manipulation
and brainwashing, begin to idolise the
psychopath. This idolisation gives them
the tools to scheme against others,
and it also supports their narcissistic
bubble, which sustains their false sense
of importance. This will explain the
phenomenon of cults and cult followers.
As I mentioned in the introduction, I
have recently experienced the horrors
of being a target of a psychopath and
his small coterie of cult followers, and it
is not a pleasant experience, because
no amount of logic or reasoning can
penetrate their false shell of cultist
hero worship, and any attempt to bring
the debate to a reasonably sane and
realistic level is met with a barrage
of venom, abuse and intimidation.
It would be quite funny if it was not so
serious and life threatening. The really
scary part of this is the fact that whilst
there are not that many psychopaths,
there are enough of them hiding away in
all levels of our society, and every now
and then their behaviour explodes onto
the headlines, and in a gruesome way.
The Reeva Steenkamp murder is one
such example.
What I want to focus on is the havoc
that a psychopath can cause in the
workplace, and why it is important to
identify them, preferably before you
employ them. And, if you have had the
misfortune to employ a psychopath,
it is important to weed them out as
soon as you suspect that you have a
nutcase in your employ, because as
sure as God made little green apples,
their behaviour will manifest itself in
unfortunate ways, and in most cases
will do irreparable damage to your
business. So how do you identify a
psychopath, before you employ them?
Well, if you are a substantial business,
you can afford to employ the services
of a qualified psychologist, who can
run the necessary psychometric tests,
and identify the cuckoo before you
unwittingly unleash the funny farm
applicant’s psychopathic behaviour
on your employees, your customers,
and whoever else has the misfortune
to get in their narcissistic way. If you
have a small business, then the most
affordable way is to use a DIY kit from
the internet. The self-test that I used for
my own assessment can be found on
| words in action
56
june 2014
http://vistriai.com/
psychopathtest/,
which is a
psychological test
designed to help
you learn about
psychopathy.
It is based on the
Hare Psychopathy
Checklist and has been converted into
a multiple choice format as the checklist
requires quite expert judgment. This
test is only to help you learn about the
subject, but it can be enlightening if
answered honestly. But herein lies the
rub. It can be manipulated to give an
incorrect reading, and guess what?
Psychopaths are master manipulators,
so you will have to find other ways
to identify them, and unfortunately
these traits will only come out once
the padded cell candidate has been
employed. In my case, even though
there were early signs of psychopathic
behaviour, I turned a blind eye to the
misdemeanours, eventually at great
cost, because when the chips were
down, he revealed his true colours in
spectacular Technicolor.
Next month, we shall look
at the list of the Hervey
Cleckley’s List of Psychopathy
Symptoms.