A psychiatrist has revealed how common female psychopaths are – as well as three ways in which they differ from their male counterparts in a video on YouTube.
Dr Sohom Das is a forensic psychiatrist, from London, who also runs an eponymous YouTube channel. He shares content about crime, mental health conditions, and psychology among other topics.
His previous video topics include how having ADHD can affect your love life, why women are more likely to binge watch true crime than men, and six reasons why female prison officers have sex with inmates.
Speaking in the video, Dr Das said: ‘Psychopathy can occur in both men and women, although it’s more commonly diagnosed in men – some estimates have suggested that they could be about a 10 to one proportion.’
However, he explained, some experts say the assessment is ‘skewed towards obvious male traits and that female psychopathy is more subtle’. According to the expert: The first part of the psychopathy assessment looks at how emotionally detached, selfish, uncaring and manipulative a person is so this is relevant for both male and female psychopaths.
‘The second part of the test, which covers the psychopathic lifestyle, focuses on violence and anti social behaviour, and these are more male traits.’
He added that proportionally, most of the pertinent research is largely based on studies of criminals who were in jail at the time, and in the UK, more men (88,000) are incarcerated than women (less than 4,000).
Dr Das then shared three differences between male and female psychopaths.
Forensic psychiatrist Dr Sohom Das (pictured) discussed female psychopaths in a video he shared on YouTube
1. Male psychopaths are more aggressive and impulsive
Speaking in the video, Dr Das explained: ‘[Male psychopaths] tend to be more aggressive and impulsive, so they commit more crime, more violence, more substance abuse and general criminal activity.
‘However, [female psychopaths] often present with more covert and manipulative behaviour. They rely on their charm deception and emotional manipulation.’
2. Their motivations are different
According to the forensic psychiatrist, male psychopaths are driven by ‘a desire for power, excitement, revenge or sexual urges’.
However, he explained, female psychopaths are generally motivated more by ‘financial gain, status or attention’.
According to Dr Das, male psychopaths are more likely to commit violent crimes than women (pictured: Christian Bale playing Patrick Bateman in American Psycho)
3. They generally commit different types of crime
In his video, Dr Das said that male psychopaths are more likely to commit ‘violent crimes, assaults, stabbings’.
Meanwhile, female psychopaths are ‘more likely to commit fraud, embezzlement and other white collar crimes’.
This means they are less likely to end up in prison
‘[This] goes back to my point that they’re less likely to be examined, and therefore the proportion is likely to be underestimated,’ Dr Das concluded.