The 'Blue Angels'

Human being is a very complex being. Display of human behaviour is another fascinating observation that gives a clue to the functions of brain. Personality of a human being is made up with genes and environment. Human behaviour results in both peace and disaster in the world that can manifest in the shape of destruction and doom. There are people who apparently are quite good, righteous and moralistic but at some point in their life would commit acts that inhumane and akin to insanity.
Media has been active in bringing information about a number of so-called religious people who had resorted to violent crimes. The TV dramas also portray pictures of such individuals who pretend to be 'great' human beings. One such drama 'Mahmoudabad Ki Malkayein' presents a character of 'moulvi' who would fit into the aforementioned description. Recently, a Canadian TV news report revealed horrific sex crimes by a priest who was once well regarded and respected in the community. The life histories of our politicians are replete with such dual-faced presentations. Many of these politicians present themselves as the most dignified and pious persons in their family life but outside family boundaries they remain active in shameful, immoral and criminal activities. We come across a term 'Psychopath' in academic literature. By description and definition, these are individuals who are self-absorbed with no conscience or feeling for others. They are also described as 'monsters' in the society who are unstoppable and untreatable predators whose violence is planned, purposeful and emotionless.
There is a variety of psychopaths that are described in academic literature but one worth mentioning in the present context is "Charismatic Psychopath". They are charming and attractive liars. They possess demonic ability to persuade others like the cult-leaders who lead their followers to death. They have the quality of making striking impression as possessed of the noblest human qualities. They can abuse anybody by virtue of their charm and deception. People with psychopathic traits exists everywhere and all around the globe. In Pakistan, according to a personal communication, there are around 17% psychopaths among the population. Typical examples are those terrorists that abuse religion in order to carry out lethal activities by themselves or through their followers. I refer to a recent article by Pervez Hoodbhoy published in Express Tribune entitled "Run for your life" in which he has described killers who are killing in the name of religion without any fear of being accountable or punishable. The state in this case is a silent spectator. Is it right to assume that the perpetrators are 'psychopaths'? If yes, what about the state functionaries?
A colleague had an experience with people at department of health in Islamabad. He came across a number of people who appeared quite religious by their attire and demeanour but demanded bribe in order to accomplish a genuine task. They spoke at length about the teachings and holy rituals of the religion and totally ignored what the religion say about bribery.Many of our present and past rulers spoke all fantastic lies about leading the country to the path of progress in the most charming ways but as a matter of fact had brought the country to the brink of disaster.
A number of psychopaths fall under the category of 'charmers' find place in organisations and firms. They because of their pathological predisposition would eventually ruin the fabric of the place they work for. It has been suggested that in order to protect the work place it is better not to hire the psychopaths and interviewers should be trained in such a way that they can easily detect these kinds of people. Scientists have discovered the differences in brains of normal individuals versus psychopaths. They believe that dysfunction in specific regions of brains result in the manifest behaviour of these individuals. There are a number of factors that can help in identifying the potential psychopaths, like: superficially charming individuals, people with grandiose self-worth, proneness to boredom, pathological lying, conning and manipulativeness, lack of remorse or guilt after wrong doing, shallow affect, lack of empathy, poor impulse control, promiscuous sexual behaviour, failure to accept responsibility for own actions, short-term marital relationships, juvenile delinquency, authoritarian, secretive, need for stimulation, incapacity for love, does not perceive that anything is wrong with them, criminal versatility, desire for despotic control over every aspect of the victim's life, paranoid, goal to create a life time victim, etc. These factors have found place in tests detecting psychopathology based on scores. However, each individual factor on its own is important predictor of such a personality make-up.
We do come across people with one or more characteristics as described earlier. Possession of any of the factors or traits gives a strong heads-up warning to the individual who is dealing with such people.
Reverting back to the charm factor in such psychopaths who could engulf people with their pseudo-charm and then ruin their lives is not at all uncommon in Pakistan. We can rightly call them "Blue Angels". Managing such angels is a formidable task. There is no medication as such but there are a number of rehabilitative programmes in the western world. We need an extensive screening system for our country. It will not be surprising to detect a massive number of such individuals on initial screening. I wonder our criminal justice system may have some suggestions for addressing this matter. (The writer is a Professor of Psychiatry at Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada)