My experience has only been with one psychopath. Knock on wood - I hope that's all I'll ever have to deal with. But I was wondering - because there were times when this psychopath would seem almost sad, or distraught, or frustrated with himself - and although he never actually came out and voiced his fears or concerns with any great details - he'd just say something to the effect of, "I don't know why I'm the way I am." Most times almost out of the blue - it wasn't like I'd been trying to pry emotions out of him. At that time I had no idea of the magnitude of his actual situation myself - but knowing what I do know now I'm wondering if he were to become enlightened to the fact that he's inflicted with a mental disorder and that's why he is the way he is.
If by knowing more about the condition - therefore shedding some light onto much of the confusion for the how's and why's that he must to some degree be aware of as being present in his own persona making him such a dispicable monster at times - would that in any way lend a hand in curbing some, if any, of his behaviors?
Based on the theory, 'you can't change what you don't acknowledge' - If a psychopath were to become aware of their mental circumstances - would they then be able to formulate personal change and growth - or are they just plain ol' wired for destruction regardless?

Hi Diceyvixen

Psychopaths are not introspective and have no interest or insight into how their behaviour impacts negatively on those unfortunate to come into contact with them.
From my experience the only thing they think about in depth is manoeuvring
to gain any advantage they can squeeze out of every situation. They have a choice of how they behave and their choice is always the way they stand to gain. We have all seen how the Ps in our lives can behave impeccably if it suits their needs at that given moment and how quickly it changes when it doesn’t work.
They have insatiable needs so are always working people over with various tactics and some are so easy to fall for.

They are great at saying the right words to suit their own agenda but it mean nothing. One of the outstanding features of the condition is lying, they even lie about their own lies.

After all these years there is no treatment or therapy so your ex would be a first if he could offer insight into why he behaves like he does and what he intends doing to change to overcome his disorder. If he could do that he would no longer be a Psychopath.

Future research may provide gene therapy but I feel that is a long way off after talking to a researcher studying psychopathy. You might find the research on the Amygdala responses of Ps interesting. There is also quite a lot of info available on the resources section of the forum.

Good luck with your quest for knowledge.

Regards
Jan