“The vast majority of psychopaths, like an iceberg, are under the water and like an iceberg, they are inert; they do nothing, they’re just there.
They torment the spouse by being un-empathetic, but they don’t beat her or kill her.
They bully co-workers, but they don’t burn down the office.
They are not dramatic. They are pernicious. Most psychopaths are subtle.
They are more like poison than the knife and they are more like slow working poison than cyanide.”
– Sam Vaknin, self-aware psychopath
Psychopaths … we usually only know them from Hollywood movies.
[ Chloë Sevigny & Christian Bale in Mary Harron‘s American Psycho ]
We never expect them to enter our real life.
But, the psychopath is closer than you think.
Experts believe their number to be as high as one in a hundred.
Most of them function incognito in high-powered professions … all the way to the very top.
[ Bret Easton Ellis‘ harrowing novel about fictitious serial killer and wealthy young investment banker Patrick Bateman ]
But … it takes one to truly know one.
In this intriguing documentary,
Sam Vaknin, a self-proclaimed psychopath, goes in search of a diagnosis.
In a scientific first, he allows himself to undergo testing to find out if he was born without a conscience.
He knows he’s narcissistic and cannot empathize with others.
By his own admission, he’s pompous, grandiose, repulsive and contradictory, ruthless and devoid of scruples, capricious and unfathomable
… but he believes, he’s not a bad person.
What he is is indifferent … he couldn’t care less.
Unless, of course, the topic is himself.
Vaknin and his long-suffering but ever-loyal wife, Lidija,
embark on a diagnostic road trip.
But, it’s uncharted territory … deep into the mind and life of a psychopath.
The 47-year-old convicted corporate criminal has agreed to take part in the pursuit of his own diagnosis … meeting the world’s experts in psychopathy in the hope that science will provide some answers for why he is like he is.
These experts put Vaknin (and his wife) through a battery of rigorous psychological tests and neuro-scientific experiments.
Vaknin is shocked at the results.
Sam, his wife, the scientists, the film-makers – will they ever be quite the same again?
Please visit the official website for more information:
https://www.cbc.ca