1. GLIB and SUPERFICIAL CHARM -- the tendency to be smooth, engaging, charming, slick, and verbally facile. Psychopathic charm is not in the least shy, self-conscious, or afraid to say anything. A psychopath never gets tongue-tied. They have freed themselves from the social conventions about taking turns in talking, for example.
Why wouldn't Casey testify if she had this personality trait?
Casey didn't testify as it could have only damaged her case,as the prosecution would have had a field day with all of her earlier lies. This was obviously a DT strategy that Casey agreed with. It is rare in a case of this nature, and so isn't really notable in comparison with this trait of a psychopath.
If you happened to read her correspondence in jail with "Cookie" however, that would point up the glibness and charm which this point describes. Also, Tracy McLaughlin, who watched casey after LP bailed her out, also commented on the glibness and talkativeness of FCA.
Letters at this link:
http://www.wftv.com/pdf/23069597/detail.html
2. GRANDIOSE SELF-WORTH -- a grossly inflated view of one's abilities and self-worth, self-assured, opinionated, cocky, a braggart. Psychopaths are arrogant people who believe they are superior human beings.
Same as above, if she had a grandiose self-worth, not only would she have hopped up on the stand in a heart beat, she may have even gone to the extent of signing autographs for people.
FCA appeared to believe she was capable of performing an event planning job at Universal even though she did not have the education for that job. She frequently bragged that she had the title of event planner. She bragged on her Facebook profile that she was attending college, when this was not the case. Most people have babysitters for their children. unemployed Casey insisted she had a nanny. In the jailhouse letters, she calls herself a warrior and part of God's army. She also was writing her thoughts in preparation for a book to share her insights, including the truth about God.
3. NEED FOR STIMULATION or PRONENESS TO BOREDOM -- an excessive need for novel, thrilling, and exciting stimulation; taking chances and doing things that are risky. Psychopaths often have a low self-discipline in carrying tasks through to completion because they get bored easily. They fail to work at the same job for any length of time, for example, or to finish tasks that they consider dull or routine.
She has been in solitary confinement for 3 years and the CO state she's a model prisoner. I'm sure she hasn't had any amount of exciting stimulation, but yet she maintained her composure.
Looking for this trait under armed guards in a prison cell isn't the best place to look.
More notable would be the following:
Casey did not complete high school. She did not hold a job for a lengthy period of time. She engaged in risky activities such as surreptitious theft, promiscuous sexual activity and drug and alcohol abuse. Her father said, "My daughter has a tendency to live on the edge." Casey went out often during the week and lived it up with her nightlife as much as she could.
4. PATHOLOGICAL LYING -- can be moderate or high; in moderate form, they will be shrewd, crafty, cunning, sly, and clever; in extreme form, they will be deceptive, deceitful, underhanded, unscrupulous, manipulative, and dishonest.
I will not disagree with this one, everyone knows she's a liar.
:great:
We agree!
5. CONNING AND MANIPULATIVENESS- the use of deceit and deception to cheat, con, or defraud others for personal gain; distinguished from Item #4 in the degree to which exploitation and callous ruthlessness is present, as reflected in a lack of concern for the feelings and suffering of one's victims.
This one is a hard one because I do believe she was careless of AH and her grandfather, but throughout her whole life those are the only 2 I know of with gross disregard. (I know you could argue her parents, but they were enablers with her behavior so it's hard to say she had gross disregard for them, or if they were enabling her to behave that way towards them.)
How about the detectives trying to find Caylee? Or telling Jessie he was the father of Caylee and that the baby was born prematurely? Or never paying LA for the car he sold to her? Or the fictitious emails she created that were supposedly from where she was employed? Or the fake myspace accounts? There are plenty of examples.
6. LACK OF REMORSE OR GUILT -- a lack of feelings or concern for the losses, pain, and suffering of victims; a tendency to be unconcerned, dispassionate, coldhearted, and unempathic. This item is usually demonstrated by a disdain for one's victims.
I have to argue that she is not unempathic, she took care of her "shot girls", she watched over them, etc. She had empathy for them and made sure they weren't being harmed by the drunk men around there. She also cooked, cleaned, etc TL's place once living there. She wasn't dispassionate. I also don't believe she was dispassionate with Caylee, she had 100's of pictures of her, and her alone. She showed concern for Caylee at TL's apartment pool, worried about her getting too close to it.
How about Casey's response to the death of her child? Or the lack of empathy shown for all the people searching for a dead Caylee? How about the pain she put her parents through - any sign she felt bad about that in those recorded conversations? Or was she more concerned with her own needs, such as talking to TL? Did she show any empathy when pointing the finger at Jessie or Zenaida who she knew were not involved? Again, lots of examples.
7. SHALLOW AFFECT -- emotional poverty or a limited range or depth of feelings; interpersonal coldness in spite of signs of open gregariousness.
TL showed her affection, she returned affection. Caylee showed her affection and she returned affection. Her friends showed her care/concern/laughter, and she shared that with them (minus her theft from AH, but she had many more friends then the one). The list could go on.
Why was TL kept in the dark about the disappearance of Caylee? When you are close with someone, this would have been a place for her to be consoled. Or did she not need consoling? The superficial laughter and partying with friends is an easy accomplishment. When Amy exposed herself to crime, Casey took advantage. Casey did this also to her grandparents, parents, and brother.
8. CALLOUSNESS and LACK OF EMPATHY -- a lack of feelings toward people in general; cold, contemptuous, inconsiderate, and tactless.
I stated she wasn't cold in general towards people. A lot of people liked her and enjoyed her company. The CO's even testifying to her being a pleasant person to communicate with the little they did.
The jailhouse videos and conversations are the best demonstration of this. She was dismissive of the emotional pain of others, turning the attention from their suffering back to herself. A view of the videotapes demonstrates starkly her dismissive manner regarding her mothers grief and stress.
9. PARASITIC LIFESTYLE -- an intentional, manipulative, selfish, and exploitative financial dependence on others as reflected in a lack of motivation, low self-discipline, and inability to begin or complete responsibilities.
Again, this one is a hard one to argue. She was a little parasitic after she had Caylee. Before Caylee she was working. So it's hard to say that she is a true parasite since life changes could have caused the parasitic behavior in that time frame.
Looks like this point we agree on, but I would add it was more than a little parasitic. Casey never left her family home to live independently. For more than two years, Casey lied about employment getting her money through thievery rather than work itself. She also was parasitic on her brother by getting him to sell the car to her, but not paying him for it as agreed upon.
10. POOR BEHAVIORAL CONTROLS -- expressions of irritability, annoyance, impatience, threats, aggression, and verbal abuse; inadequate control of anger and temper; acting hastily.
There are only 2 times I've seen Casey not being able to control her behavior, the one jailhouse video and the one day in court. Now, if out of 3 years of watching someone's life, you can only come up with 2... that's pretty good control over yourself.
We also know of the arguments with her mother and father through eyewitnesses such as LA or Tracy McLaughlin. We have a limited look into her past, but from what we do know she has exhibited poor behavior control.
11. PROMISCUOUS SEXUAL BEHAVIOR -- a variety of brief, superficial relations, numerous affairs, and an indiscriminate selection of sexual partners; the maintenance of several relationships at the same time; a history of attempts to sexually coerce others into sexual activity or taking great pride at discussing sexual exploits or conquests.
This could be linked to many other things also, so I'm not going to disagree she behaves this way, but this doesn't mean she's psychopathic.
Of course it doesn't mean she's psychopathic (what a crazy world this would be if it did.) But it is a characteristic of one without question and she does have it. Not knowing (or telling) who the real father is of her baby is another big sign of this, as well as her overlapping relationships.
12. EARLY BEHAVIOR PROBLEMS -- a variety of behaviors prior to age 13, including lying, theft, cheating, vandalism, bullying, sexual activity, fire-setting, glue-sniffing, alcohol use, and running away from home.
We have never heard of her being a troubled child, which is my main reason for saying she isn't psychopathic or sociopathic.
LA in his taped interview with Jessie in the car spoke about Casey's lying troubles starting up in middle school. He said it seemed like she would lie just to lie. We don't have enough information on her childhood though, I agree to some extent.
13. LACK OF REALISTIC, LONG-TERM GOALS -- an inability or persistent failure to develop and execute long-term plans and goals; a nomadic existence, aimless, lacking direction in life.
It's hard to say if this is something she has developed. She's in her 20's (early 20's at that) and this is the point in life that most people are discovering who they are. That is a normal course in development.
I agree this trait is not uncommon in the younger generation, but as it pertains to this checklist, FCA has this trait. Casey couldn't even manage to stick it out long enough to graduate from high school. She expressed an interest in photography and her father tried to help her get into school to study, she dropped that ball without looking back. She hadn't worked for years and led an empty life filled with parties and sex without an apparent thought for tomorrow. In the jailhouse letters, she expressed goals of getting an RV, travelling the country and getting pregnant together at the same time with her cellmate, not very realistic.
14. IMPULSIVITY -- the occurrence of behaviors that are unpremeditated and lack reflection or planning; inability to resist temptation, frustrations, and urges; a lack of deliberation without considering the consequences; foolhardy, rash, unpredictable, erratic, and reckless.
I do agree she lacks impulse control. That also could be related to many other things.
We agree she lacks impulse control. :great:
15. IRRESPONSIBILITY -- repeated failure to fulfill or honor obligations and commitments; such as not paying bills, defaulting on loans, performing sloppy work, being absent or late to work, failing to honor contractual agreements.
I agree with this one also, but could be related to other things.
We agree she is irresponsible. :great:
16. FAILURE TO ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR OWN ACTIONS -- a failure to accept responsibility for one's actions reflected in low conscientiousness, an absence of dutifulness, antagonistic manipulation, denial of responsibility, and an effort to manipulate others through this denial.
I don't see her exhibit antagonistic manipulation or denial of responsibility (in totality).the other symptoms I could agree with if I saw a bigger window into her life.
Casey always painted herself as the victim in her correspondence, I don't recall her ever accepting responsibility. She showed no sense of duty in helping the detectives, she was antagonistically manipulative in the jailhouse conversations with her parents, she denied any knowledge of Caylee's death, and sought to manipulate others through this denial into thinking she had been the victim of a kidnapping. There are other examples, such as Amy's money disappearing and Casey saying she must have been sleepwalking. A proper burial for Caylee is also failing to accept the duty in that situation. Instead she was thrown in the swamp to rot. The evidence of her reaction a body being found there points to her knowing that was Caylee, as well as knowing the blanket was there, and being in a garbage bag. (The Chaplain had not told her that.)
17. MANY SHORT-TERM MARITAL RELATIONSHIPS -- a lack of commitment to a long-term relationship reflected in inconsistent, undependable, and unreliable commitments in life, including marital.
I don't know how long she was engaged to JG, or how long their total relationship was, but we're talking about an early 20 something female, this is normal to not know what you want in life yet. At least in this day in age it is. So, I have to say this isn't a trait she exhibits because we don't know what her future holds.
I agree with you such behavior is not uncommon, but the point remains that this trait is present and is part of the checklist. Casey bounced from relationship to relationship.
18. JUVENILE DELINQUENCY -- behavior problems between the ages of 13-18; mostly behaviors that are crimes or clearly involve aspects of antagonism, exploitation, aggression, manipulation, or a callous, ruthless tough-mindedness.
Again, she wasn't a criminal in any sense before this case.
Casey Anthony did not have a juvenile record, but in regards to no criminal history before this case she had been convicted of felonies involving check fraud. Despite the lack of a juvenile record, her manipulation of others was clearly evident as was her habit of lying about everything and nothing at all. That said, I won't count this as her having the trait.
19. REVOCATION OF CONDITION RELEASE -- a revocation of probation or other conditional release due to technical violations, such as carelessness, low deliberation, or failing to appear.
This never occurred. When she was on house arrest she went back when it was time to go back. She's made all of her court appearances, etc. She didn't attempt to flee the area, so I have to disagree with this.
Agree that there is no evidence of this.
20. CRIMINAL VERSATILITY -- a diversity of types of criminal offenses, regardless if the person has been arrested or convicted for them; taking great pride at getting away with crimes.
Her criminal history is revolved around one instance, so I have to disagree that she has a diversity of criminal offenses.
Her criminal history also revolves around check fraud.
Responses in red above.
Out of the 20 behaviors psychopaths exhibit, IMO Casey exhibited 4 of these personality traits. And, the 4 she definitely exhibited could be related to other issues.
ETA: I never said I had "extensive" knowledge in mental health. I stated that I knew a lot about different disorders (I've had mental health classes repeatedly in nursing school, mental health experiences in life/work, and was going to continue my education to get a degree in psychology). I do not claim to be an expert though, no where near that.
