Dr hervey m cleckley and smith

The basic elements of psychopathy outlined by Cleckley are still relevant today. Cleckley describes the psychopathic person as outwardly a perfect mimic of a normally functioning person, able to mask or disguise the fundamental lack of internal personality structure, an internal chaos that results in repeatedly purposeful destructive behavior, often more self-destructive than destructive to others.

Despite the seemingly sincere, intelligent, even charming external presentation, internally the psychopathic person does not have the ability to experience genuine emotions. Cleckley questions whether this mask of sanity is voluntarily assumed to intentionally hide the lack of internal structure, but concludes it hides a serious, but yet imprecisely unidentified, semantic neuropsychiatric defect.

An expanded fifth edition of the book had been published in and was re-released by his heirs in for non-profit educational use. In the s, Philippe Pinel first used the French term manie sans delire "mania without delirium" to designate those individuals engaging in deviant behavior but exhibiting no signs of a cognitive disorder such as hallucinations or delusions.

Although the meaning of the term has changed through numerous writings on the subject over time, the writing of Cleckley and his use of the label "psychopath" in The Mask of Sanity brought the term into popular usage. The first edition was published inwith the subtitle then being 'An attempt to re-interpret' rather than as later 'to clarify'.

Cleckley says in the preface that the book "grew out of an old conviction which increased during several years while I sat at staff meetings in a large neuropsychiatric hospital". He added that after commencing full-time teaching duties he found similar patients to be as prevalent in a general hospital, outpatient clinic and the community.

In later editions he explains that the basic concepts presented in were based primarily on "adult male psychopaths hospitalized in a closed institution" for several years. Cleckley had worked for a number of years at a United States Veterans military Administration hospital, before taking up full-time teaching responsibilities at the University of Georgia School of Medicine.

The second edition published inCleckley has described as a "new and much larger book", based on more diverse clinical observations, feedback and literature reviews. The third edition in he describes as having fewer changes and additions, but important clarifications to key concepts such as the hypothesis of a core semantic deficit.

A fourth edition was published in A fifth edition was published in ISBN and is generally considered to be the definitive culmination of Cleckley's work [ according to whom? The preface does not specify the changes made. Unlike the first edition it states: "Dr. Corbett H. Thigpenmy medical associate of many years, has played a major part in the development and the revision of this work.

A sixth edition was published shortly after Cleckley's death inbut is described by others as having minimal substantive changes. Cleckley, his second wife, naming her as well as Hervey M. Cleckley and copyrighted to her rather than Mosby as for all prior initial releases which have been repeat published in various different years. The Mask of Sanityfifth edition, presents clinical theories as well as case studies, written in the form of dramatic, novelistic descriptions of 13 individuals, an amalgamation of those he had observed.

He notes that many types of people hold beliefs that he and much of society would consider irrational, such as mysticismpseudosciencepraising of unintelligible or immoral works e. He argues, however, that these are personal freedoms and such groups are usually capable of leading useful lives in harmony with others. This he says distinguishes it from psychosis once fully developed and from psychopathy.

Cleckley also addresses the confusing traditions of classification in the area of psychopathy, a term he admits is itself confusing and not being used in line with its etymological meaning 'mental sickness'though adopts it as the most familiar and apparently durable. He considers the terms sociopathic personality and antisocial personality, as adopted by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders ; the relationship to the overall category of personality disorder ; and the earlier widespread concept of "constitutional psychopathic inferiority", disputing its hereditary dr hervey m cleckley and smiths. He states that the main purpose of the book is to bring a few cases before other psychiatrists, and also to raise the profile among the public, to enable better management of psychopaths.

He criticizes the 'doctrine of permissiveness', and refers with regret to the lack of prominence of psychopathy in psychiatric textbooks. Cleckley argues under a subsection titled "Not as single spies but in battalions" a phrase appearing in Hamlet [ 5 ]that although reliable statistics are hard to come by, there are various reasons to suspect both psychiatric and prison admission rates are an underestimate, and the incidence of the condition is in his opinion "exceedingly high".

Their survey is further detailed in the book's appendix, where Cleckley clarifies it took place between and at a federal Veterans Administration hospital, located on the Southeastern seaboard, for the care of ex-service men, mainly from World War I. He critiques the 'benign policy' of the VA of not diagnosing more psychopathic personality due to giving the benefit of the doubt to issues such as neurastheniahysteriapsychastheniaposttraumatic neurosesor cerebral trauma from skull injuries and concussions.

He concludes they have "records of the utmost folly and misery and idleness over many years" and if considering the number in every community who are protected by relatives, "the prevalence of this disorder is seen to be appalling. Finally, Cleckley asserts that the account provided in his book will accord with the scientific methodas pointed out by Karl Pearson in The Grammar of Sciencewhich he loosely summarizes as: to record observed facts; group them together by correlation as distinguished from other facts; to try to summarize or explain in a way that indicates the significance.

He also says his method takes inspiration from that used in an earlier work, The Psychology of Insanityby English physician Bernard Hart First edition published in and now open access. In Section Two, "The Material", Cleckley presents a typical "full" psychopath's behavior in a series of 15 vignettes originally nine in the first edition, and all male.

For example, the psychopath can typically tell vivid, lifelike, plausible stories that are completely fraudulent, without evincing any element of delusion. When confronted with a lie, the psychopath is unflappable and can often effortlessly pass it off as a joke. In another typical case history, the psychopath is hospitalized for psychiatric treatment but because of his constant trouble-making, leaving wards in an uproar, the hospital is finally forced to turn him over to the police.

Eventually, the police become so sick of his repeated antics that they try to hospitalize him again. Also included are six vignettes of "Incomplete manifestations or suggestions of the disorder" in non-patients, such as "The businessman", "The gentleman" or "The physician". This became a landmark in psychiatric case studies and was repeatedly reprinted in subsequent editions.

Cleckley revised and expanded the work with each edition published; the second American edition published in he described as effectively a new book Cleckleyp. The Mask of Sanity is distinguished by its central thesis, that the psychopath exhibits normal function according to standard psychiatric criteria, yet privately engages in destructive behavior.

The book was intended to assist with the detection and diagnosis of the elusive psychopath for purposes of palliation and offered no cure for the condition itself. The idea of a master deceiver secretly possessed of no moral or ethical restraints, yet behaving in public with excellent function, electrified American society and led to heightened interest in both psychological introspection and the detection of hidden psychopaths in society at large, leading to a refinement of the word itself into what was perceived to be a less stigmatizing term, " sociopath ".

In the same year as he published The Mask of Sanity during World War IICleckley wrote an address warning: "In our present efforts to prepare for national defense no dr hervey m cleckley and smith which confronts the examining boards for selective service is more pressing or more subtle than that of the so-called psychopathic personality".

He argued such soldiers were likely to fail, be disorganized, and be a drain on time and resources. He recommended routinely checking for past encounters with law enforcement or drinking alcohol until incapacitated. Cleckley critiques the "benign policy" of the VA of not diagnosing more psychopathic personalities due to giving the benefit of the doubt to issues such as neurastheniahysteriapsychastheniaposttraumatic neurosesor cerebral trauma from skull injuries and concussions.

He concludes that psychopathic personalities have "records of the utmost folly and misery and idleness over many years" and if considering also the number in every community who are protected by relatives, "the prevalence of this disorder is seen to be appalling. Cleckley consistently described the hypothesized central deficit in psychopathy as "semantic" the 'meaning' of thingsearly on referring to it as a "semantic dementia " or "dysergasia" a term of Adolf Meyer 's, implying a physiological basis and later "disorder".

He explained that this did not refer to the meaning of life in an abstract sense but to the emotional substrate from which the purposes and loyalties of everyday life are formed and experienced. In using the term semantic in this broad psychosocial sense, he referred to Alfred Korzybski 's theory of general semantics. This has repeatedly led to the belief that he had suggested the core abnormality is in the use of language, which he has said is a misinterpretation.

Today the term semantic dementia refers to a specific neurodegenerative disorder involving loss of semantic memorywhile semantic disorder commonly refers to semantic pragmatic disorder associated with autism. Corbett H. Thigpenmy medical associate of many years, has played a major part in the development and the revision of this work". He also credits his and Thigpen's wives, both called "Louise", as well as the "constant encouragement, generous help, and the major inspiration that have come from Dr.

Sydenstricker to the Department of Neuropsychiatry. Based on Cleckley's work, but with fundamental changes, from the s the psychologist Robert D. Hare devised an influential " psychopathy checklist " to assess psychopathy primarily in the criminal justice system. The concept of psychopathy evolved substantially with the development of this checklist, and the descriptions of the 15 psychopaths discussed in The Mask of Sanity were thus recently reassessed according to more modern understandings of what psychopathy constitutes.

The authors note that "the Cleckley psychopaths were often bold and fearless, as well as exploitative, charming, dishonest, self-centered, remorseless, and shallow. They exhibited a wide range of criminal behavior, albeit inadequately motivated i. Virgil P. Sydenstricker was a professor of medicine and an internationally recognized specialist in hematology and nutrition.

Articles published with Cleckley were among the first to describe an atypical form of pellagra now known as "niacin deficiency" which was then endemic in southern states. Cleckley practiced the controversial " coma therapy ", where psychiatric patients would be repeatedly put into comas over several weeks through overdoses of insulinmetrazol or other drugs.

In the wake of sometimes fatal complications, Cleckley published in and advising on theoretical grounds the prophylactic administration of various vitamins, salts and hormones. In Cleckley, along with Walter Bromberg, a senior psychiatrist and psychoanalyst [1]published an article on the insanity defense. They suggested changing the wording of it to: "In your opinion, was the defendant suffering from disease of the mind and if so, was it sufficient to render him unaccountable under the law for the crime charged?

They argued that mental illness can involve any part of the mind and that the insanity test should focus on the extent to which the accused's mind overall, due to some inner pathology 'whether obvious or masked', was unable to operate in accord with the law. Cleckley helped pioneer the field of psychopathy and the study of multiple personality disorders.

Dr hervey m cleckley and smith

What fewer people know about are his record-breaking days as a high school and collegiate athlete. Retired U. Air Force Maj. The text is considered to be a seminal work and the most influential clinical description of psychopathy in the 20th century. The book recently has been reprinted and is available on amazon. It is not an easy read, but many of the case studies are fascinating.

Scharff, please send him an email - he will be very appreciative. He is not only interested in interviewing those who knew Dr. Cleckley personally but also in finding any letters, memos or other documents that Dr. Cleckley authored. Next Sunday, I will present part two of the article of the changing world of book publishing part one was published on June E-books; e-readers; how authors can provide mutual support; the value of a Kirkus review; and general marketing strategies will be highlighted.

The writer - a retired U. Air Force major general - lives in Augusta. His email address is genpsmith aol.