An estimated one in 100 men is a psychopath — remorseless, heartless and destructive. They can be our bosses, husbands or neighbours and often we don’t realise until the damage has been done.
When Walter Marsh applied for a nursing job in Sydney, his résumé was so impressive — a career in the US Marines, experience at hospitals across the US — that nursing manager Michelle Beets offered him a year-long contract and a visa that would allow him to stay in Australia.
Yet Marsh didn’t live up to his first impressions. Michelle was unhappy not only with the quality of his work, but also with his threatening behaviour.
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He had told a colleague, “I know how to kill people, I know how to cut people’s throats”, and said to other staff that Michelle was a “bitch”, who “couldn’t run an emergency department if she tried”.
Worried, Michelle asked a colleague to be there when she told Marsh his contract would not be renewed. He appeared to take the news well, but inside he was seething.
Marsh had mistakenly believed his contract was for four years, not one, and losing his job also meant losing his visa and facing a $50,000 child support bill if he returned to the US.
He also suspected Michelle was giving him bad references, further hindering his plans to stay in Australia.
He could see only one way to fix the problem. He started watching Michelle’s house, noting her movements.
His wife later told the court that he practised his “throat-slitting technique” on her with a wooden spoon. On his bicycle, he wrote “the ends justifies the means”.
In April 2010, as Michelle arrived home with shopping bags, Walter killed her. A few hours later, he told his wife, “I did it. Let’s go home… that bitch is gone. From now on, I will not have any more bad references.”
For people like Walter Marsh, nothing, not even another person’s life, is more important than getting what they want. These people are known as psychopaths.
A psychopath, by definition, is someone who lacks a sense of moral responsibility or social conscience. They do not feel compassion or empathy; they have no conscience.
Signs include compulsive lying, an overblown sense of self-worth, refusal to take responsibility, inability to feel remorse, impulsiveness, cunning and self-obsession.
Experts estimate between one and 5 in 100 men is a psychopath or sociopath (the terms are often used interchangeably). The condition is less likely to affect women and many psychiatrists believe that it is untreatable.
Many psychopaths end up in jail, for crimes ranging from assault to mass murder (Ivan Milat, for example).
Forensic psychologist Tim Watson-Munro deals regularly with men who shrug off horrific crimes as if they were meaningless. “They’re very thick-skinned, they couldn’t care less,” he says.
“It’s almost a badge of honour. They may express remorse, but their remorse doesn’t correlate with other things they are saying. They express no anxiety. They don’t have insights into the gravity of what they’ve done.”
Yet not all psychopaths are law-breakers. When they have been brought up by nurturing parents in stable homes, they’ll get a job, marry and raise a family, just like anyone else.
Often, they prosper, using their charm and confidence to climb ladders and seek power. They cultivate loyal, powerful friends, but quietly, they’re wreaking havoc, targeting people they think they can bully, manipulate, and cheat — their wife, their children, or their employees. Their actions are not necessarily criminal, just amoral.
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Working for a psychopath is a realistic prospect for most people, at some point in their working lives. One recent study found that one in 25 managers and corporate chiefs displayed psychopathic tendencies. So is your boss a psychopath?
Psychopath checklist
- Glib: superficial charm Smooth, engaging, slick. No shyness, never tongue-tied.
- Inflated view of his abilities and self-worth: Psychopaths think they are better than others.
- Need for stimulation: Takes risks, gets bored easily.
- Pathological lying: Ranges from moderate — sly, crafty — to extreme deception, involving complex webs.
- Manipulation: Exploitative and callously ruthless, without concern for others.
- Remorseless: Unconcerned about losses, pain and suffering they inflict on others.
- Shallow: Limited range and depth of genuine feelings.
- Lack of empathy: Cold, inconsiderate, contemptuous, but can act by imitation.
- Parasitic lifestyle: Intentional, manipulative and exploitative financial dependence on others.
- Poor control of behaviour: Generally acts hastily, little control over their irritation, anger.
- Promiscuous sexual behaviour: Affairs, simultaneous relationships, bragging, a history of attempts to coerce people into sex.
- Early behaviour problems: Problem behaviour under 13 — lying, cheating, vandalism, bullying.
Read more of this story in the January issue of The Australian Women’s Weekly.
Your say: Do you think someone you know could be a psychopath?
Video: Jury finds Walter Marsh guilty of Michelle Beets’ murder
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