The Taste of Blood

[H2O Man]

93. "Malignant narcissist" is,

of course, the term coined by Erich Fromm to describe sociopaths. Hence, I'm comfortable with the use of either to describe those people, and aware that each individual will have some unique characteristics. Those tend to be rooted in how the individual learned to channel their pathology in the environment in which they inhabit.

I retired in 2003, and of course there have been some changes in the terms people use. Some of that was unfortunately caused by insurance companies, who did not want to pay for longterm treatment for sociopaths. Thus, it became part of anti-social personality disorder, which is a shame, because ASPD people can be worked with successfully, if one focuses on the "criminal code of conduct." Sociopaths do not invest in that code.

I was fortunate to be trained by J. Reid Meloy, who was Robert Hare's top student. Hence I go by the definitions that Reid taught. But Fromm is no doubt a much bigger influence on how I view the rest of society.