I don ' t think it ' s real either tbqh . There are so many different examples of psychopathy in literature , and each one has a lot of inherent bias due to cultural aspects , or with Cleckleys cases , the fact that they were in hospital , which points back to how the society deals with such people and could be an explanation of how they got to such a point of dysfunction in the first place being created in that society which may be fundamentally divergent from their intuitive self . The central quality of even the people Cleckley saw going in and out of hospital for years eluded him , despite publishing the Mask of Sanity from 1947 till 1988 in five editions . Of course , this isn ' t to say that some people aren ' t pathologically lying , thieving , antagonistic , violent , and drug addled assholes . but there could be a lot contributing to that . For instance alcoholism has been commonly attributed to psychopaths , but we now know that many people can drink compulsively if they ingest gluten , and such a gluten intolerance can manifest in a variety of other issues that contribute to the exhibition of anti social traits . On the autism spectrum , where these gluten and casein allergies are ubiquitous , there are a massive range of behavioral and conduct issues that can be mitigated by addressing this allergy . When applied to an autistic , many of the same behavioral patterns that emerge in psychopathy are individually subdivided and categorized , and seen as aspects of that persons autism . However , if someone maybe has a slightly different genetic makeup and does not receive that autism label they can appear to be quite purposeful in their malevolence and the idea that they could be experiencing the same compulsive bad behavior can be hastily overlooked due to their social abilities . Then , over in Eastern Europe there is this tendency to sub in schizotypy for quite often autism , and some antisocial labels we have in the Americas . They have diagnoses over there that we don ' t even recognize . Everyone thinks they ' re doing something , and they work from the generations before who had the same inclination . Then , there ' s the issue that the clergy of psycholgists have progressively ignored with each new DSM that ' s published There ' s no way to know what anyones internal experience is in a reliable and comprehensive way . Currently , it seems as if taking an integrated approach with neuroscience is the way to go , after all , who can argue with brain imaging ? Pretty much anyone actually by itself , looking at how neurons organize their nutrients or water , or whatever molecule doesn ' t necessarily provide an accurate report of the internal state outside of broad strokes . Brain imaging tells someone what to look for , it ' s like a low resolution map that can put you in the right state or city , but then you have to find the covert counterfeiting ring withing those boundaries . Dr . Jame Fallon wrote a book called ' The Psychopath Inside ' which does a good job of talking about a neuroscientific approach to psychopathy . With the CRISPRCAS 9 thing really coming into human trials now , we have another tool . Brain imaging can develop some causal links in the psychophysiological battleground , but these are rarely very strong , or if they are strong they ' re very limited to the point where fitting that causal block in the whole castle of the mind makes it very easy to lose its effect . Now that we can really get down to the individual amino acids in DNA though , we can probably put that third leg on the table . but with all this development , the crystal ball gazing of psychology becomes pretty obsolete . To describe what someone now may label as ' psychopathy ' we ' d be using a language of genes , epigenetics , neurophysiology , and a little pinch of qualitative descriptions in the form of behavior . Obviously it ' s a two way street , and methods of modifying behavior do affect brain activity and epigenetic diddling . but now that we can come from the other direction I suspect we ' ll just be able to understand these issues instead of labeling them in a way that is necessary from the behavioral approach and the blind game of darts that is prescribing medication . but nah . i dont think its real . its just so flimsy , like , oh what this guy is displaying all these psychopathic traits but he ' s found a way to chill and not steal constantly ? he doesnt have to lie because his insight into people is so highly developed he doesnt even encounter those situations ? then boom , no a psychopath . like if this is some inborn issue , then i guess there ' s just a graduate level where no one looks at you funny because you stop fuckin shit up . its a mess . monkeys monkeying monkeys with serious face on . edit at the same time though , I can ' t look at the consistency of history in describing he acts of certain leaders and general ' happenings ' and not see some odd trend . but to me , this trend is much like the oddly colored leaf in fall it ' s just there like it ' s supposed to be . also , i know how I like , and it ' s a rare specimen , therefore , from my limited subjective perspective , it ' s easy to see that my personal desires for affiliation may represent a type .