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Is Your Husband a Psychopath? A Quiz

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How to tell if your husband or partner might be a psychopath.

A psychopath is a person without guilt, empathy, or respect for others. Contrary to what we see in slasher movies, psychopathic individuals are rarely insane or even unusual in any obvious way. Most of them are not serial killers; many are not violent at all. If your husband, boyfriend or partner has had chronic difficulties obeying the law... if he lies or cheats on you over and over... if he is manipulative and makes you feel like his mistakes are your fault... he might be a psychopath. Take the quiz below to find out more.

Is He a Psychopath? About the Quiz

The more "Yes" answers you have on this quiz, the more likely it is that your husband or partner is a psychopath. If you score 50% or higher, there is probably reason for you to be concerned about your safety.

Please disregard the analysis at the end about "correct" answers; this is part of how the quiz is coded, but there are no correct or incorrect responses. The purpose of the quiz is to help you identify behavior patterns and traits that could indicate a psychopathic personality.

Important:
If you answer "yes" to either of the questions about your husband putting you or your children in danger (through reckless behavior and/or physical or sexual abuse), it is important for you to reach out to someone for help. His behavior is unacceptable and could cost you your life.

Please call The National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE(7233) or TTY 1-800-787-3224.

Is Your Husband a Psychopath?

Disclaimer

I am not an expert on psychopaths.

I'm in the criminal justice field and have studied and worked with prison inmates. Most of these inmates were not psychopathic. I am not qualified to diagnose psychopathic or antisocial personality disorder. The quiz on this page should not be taken as a definite indication that your husband or significant other is or is not a psychopath.

Also, I focus here on husbands and male partners because most people with antisocial and psychopathic personalities are men. Female psychopaths, although less common, are equally toxic in relationships. They have many of the same dysfunctional personality traits as antisocial men, but are less likely to be physically violent towards their partners.

Psychopathic Personalities: Sound familiar?

Have you met someone like this?

Even if you have never been in a romantic relationship with a psychopath, at some point in your life you may have encountered someone with these personality traits. But don't be too quick to judge -- there are other problems, such as drug addiction and impulse control disorders, that can look similar to psychopathy.

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Source Book: "Without Conscience"

This book is by Dr. Robert Hare, the psychiatrist who designed the Psychopathy Checklist (Revised), a test to measure psychopathic personality traits in adults. He has also written the Psychopathy Checklist -- Youth Version for use with children and teens. The quiz above is loosely based on the material in Hare's book. I highly recommend it if you want to learn more about the psychopathic personality.
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Comments

Please comment on the quiz, Dr. Hare's book on psychopaths, or your own personal experience with someone who had a psychopathic personality. What advice would you give to someone who believes they may be in a relationship with a psychopath?

Photo credits:
Introduction - Richard Carter. Disclaimer - tms. About the psychopath quiz - Adam Crowe.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.0 Generic License.

  • JJNW May 12, 2012 @ 3:09 am | delete
    I am beginning to learn that psychopaths are much more common that most people think. Scary.
  • joanlee111@btinternet.com Apr 24, 2012 @ 8:57 am | delete
    Initially, as a woman, I got a gut feeling that there was a problem with this man, I felt it on most all meetings with him, I unfortunately ignored it, I was young, 19, I often knew he could not of done most that he claimed, I fell for the lies even knowing they were, I did marry him and even then my guts were saying no. This man controlled, beat me often and stole from me for 20 years until I finally managed to divorce him, back in the days when the police told me my beatings were classed as just a domestic, fractured ribs, kicked in tummy when pregnant, he never paid to cost of home or food and I lived in hell, solicitors used to tell me I needed at least 2.000 pounds to begin a divorce and I had no money though worked 2 jobs to keep us, my ex used to spie on me whilst I was in work and follow me there...it was sheer hell on earth and 16 years on I AM STILL AFFECTED BY IT ALL.
  • FInally free Mar 21, 2012 @ 1:55 pm | delete
    8. Does he use illness, drug or alcohol addiction, or another form of disability to justify his failure to obey the law, and/or his abusive behavior?
    A. Yes
    XB. No

    It said I got this wrong because I said no. But in reality, he felt no need to justify himself for anything he did, or make excuses. To do do would be to acknowledge that he did wrong, or feel some level of remorse. On the contrary, if I ever brought up something to him later at a more calm time, he would get angry at me for "keeping records" of everything he ever did.
  • cjsysreform Apr 14, 2012 @ 6:07 am | delete
    Thanks for your contribution; this actually helps clarify something about psychopathy that everyone should be aware of, namely that just because someone does not make excuses doesn't mean he is not seriously dangerous. It may mean he has a different kind of personality than the typical psychopath, but that should not be taken as an indication that he isn't dangerous.

    Your partner sounds as if he may suffer from paranoid personality disorder -- a condition that has been associated with stalking, extreme rage, violence, and lack of empathy (lack of remorse). I can't be sure of this; please see the disclaimer at the top of the page.
  • TimArends Mar 4, 2012 @ 11:43 am | delete
    Good lens! I wonder if there are any clear-cut, widely agreed-upon differences between psychopaths, sociopaths, antisocial personality disorder and other related issues?
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Recent Articles on Psychopathy

News and discussion of the psychopathic personality.

This section includes links to articles that mention psychopaths, antisocial personality disorder, and/or domestic violence. However, as several visitors to this page have pointed out in the Comments section, not all individuals with these traits are violent -- and an abusive partner is not necessarily a psychopath.
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To evaluate Michael, Waschbusch used a combination of psychological exams and teacher- and family rating scales - tools designed to measure the cold, predatory conduct most closely associated with adult psychopathy. When all the exams and reports were ...
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I'm Amanda Sage, graduate student in sociology and criminal justice. If you liked this page, please visit my other lenses on crime and punishment.

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