aBr June 2014 June 2014 | Page 58

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.