Psychopath vs sociopath

[Lister Farrar]

From this am's discussion of Hamilton's book:

Psychopathy ... is a personality disorder that has been variously described as characterized by shallow emotions (in particular reduced fear), stress tolerance, lacking empathy, coldheartedness, lacking guilt, egocentricity, superficial charm, manipulativeness, irresponsibility, nonplanfulness, impulsivity, and antisocial behaviors such as parasitic lifestyle and criminality.

Sociopathy or Antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) is described by the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, fourth edition (DSM-IV-TR), as an Axis II personality disorder characterized by "...a pervasive pattern of disregard for, and violation of, the rights of others that begins in childhood or early adolescence and continues into adulthood."[1]

from wikipedia

[Rolf]

So He's both, then...

[Lister Farrar]

To quote Sylvan when racing Sunday in his postal skin suit, "Its all about awareness".

[JohnT]

I have to say I am really enjoying the book (The Secret Race). It isn't depressing - motivating in fact. He takes us into the world of bike racing at the top and, despite the doping, it is still really exciting. I think Lance (I am sure) is a psychopath. It explains the behaviour. Not an excuse for his behaviour, but until now I couldn't really fit all of the pieces together. It all makes a lot of sense now - not just Lance, but the whole thing. Psychopaths are often very successful and that success rubs off on those around them. But this gives them power that they exploit with no remorse. Hook up with a psychopath and you can reach the top (team mates and tour organizers), but you can't easily unhook once you are there. I've witnessed something very similar to this and the 'Lance' character in my real world still came out on top in the end. He might not be fighting the USADA anymore, but I do expect a response to this book.

JT