Armchair psychology - How many of these traits fit Misty?

[1Chump]

IMO, Misty is a child of an alcoholic/addict with extreme dependency issues. It is not mental issue in the sense of psychiatrict disorder but a psychological issue based on the way she was raised.

The closest thing I can use to show what I mean are the characteristics of adult children of alcoholics. However, some of these characteristics are ones that you have but do not necessarily let others see.

Isolation, fear of people, and fear of authority figures.

Difficulty with identity issues related to seeking constantly the approval of others.

Frightened by angry people and personal criticism.

Have become an alcoholic yourself, married one, or both. A variation would be the attraction to another compulsive personality such as a workaholic. The similarity is that neither is emotionally available to deal with overwhelming and unhealthy dependency needs.

Perpetually being the victim and seeing the world from the perspective of a victim.

An overdeveloped sense of responsibility. Concerned about the needs of others to the degree of neglecting your own wants and needs. This is a protective behavior for avoiding a good look at yourself and taking responsibility to identify and resolve your own personal difficulties.

Feelings of guilt associated with standing up for your rights. It is easier to give into the demands of others.

An addiction to excitement. Feeling a need to be on the edge, and risk-taking behaviors.

A tendency to confuse feelings of love and pity. Attracted to people that you can rescue and take care of.

Avoidance of feelings related to traumatic childhood experiences. Unable to feel or express feelings because it is frightening and/or painful and overwhelming. Denial of feelings.

Low self-esteem. A tendency to judge yourself harshly and be perfectionistic and self-critical.

Strong dependency needs and terrified of abandonment. Will do almost anything to hold onto a relationship in order to avoid the fear and pain of abandonment. Extemly loyal.

Alcoholism is a family disease which often results in a family member taking on the characteristics of the disease even if they are not alcoholics (para-alcoholics). Dysfunctional relationships, denial, fearful, avoidance of feelings, poor coping, poor problem solving, afraid that others will find out what you are really like, etc.

Tendency to react to things that happen versus taking control and not being victim to the behavior of others or situations created by others.

A chameleon. A tendency to be what others want you to be instead of being yourself. A lack of honesty with yourself and others.

 

[Cowdaddy]

I agree. Labeling her with a mental illness is a mistake, imo. I blame her upbringing more than anything, as well as her lack of maturity. She appears to be quite young, mentally, not at all on level with her age.

We can see aspects of normal 17 year old behavior in Misty, but there's is a lot here that is not normal--at least it's not normal based on my observations of the behavior of the 17 and 18 year olds I'm around. For one thing, drug addiction is abnormal, in a 17 year old or not.

It is also not normal to have knowledge of a murder and lie about it. I mean, this behavior is extremely anti-social and extremely pathological If this were normal, why would we be wondering about how somebody could do such a thing? It's not the behavior we would expect from normal 17 year old females or from anybody else either.

I don't believe that normal 17 year olds are as accomplished liars as Misty is. Not that normal 17 year olds are necessarily automatically tell the truth either.

And I don't believe that because Misty has mental disorders--this is certainly no excuse for her criminal behavior or lessen her culpability in any way.

The Croslins would be a normal family in any society in which Misty was a normal 17 year old.

 

[Truthful Lies]

My two cents: she's definitely not bipolar...she'd still be having mood swings in jail...especially without being able to self-medicate with drugs.

 

[dodie20]

We can see aspects of normal 17 year old behavior in Misty, but there's is a lot here that is not normal--at least it's not normal based on my observations of the behavior of the 17 and 18 year olds I'm around. For one thing, drug addiction is abnormal, in a 17 year old or not.

It is also not normal to have knowledge of a murder and lie about it. I mean, this behavior is extremely anti-social and extremely pathological If this were normal, why would we be wondering about how somebody could do such a thing? It's not the behavior we would expect from normal 17 year old females or from anybody else either.

I don't believe that normal 17 year olds are as accomplished liars as Misty is. Not that normal 17 year olds are necessarily automatically tell the truth either.

And I don't believe that because Misty has mental disorders--this is certainly no excuse for her criminal behavior or lessen her culpability in any way.

The Croslins would be a normal family in any society in which Misty was a normal 17 year old.

I don't understand why, but I have seen many cases where teenagers either witness or have knowlede of murders, & don't say a word. Some of it may have to do with loyalty to the perp, but young people tend to have the menatality of 'well, no matter what, I can't bring that person back, so I'm not gonna cause problems for my friend'. I've also noticed a tendency in young people, to blame the victim. & no matter how ridiculous it seems to us, they'll find fault with the victim, to justify a murder-even with a child. I don't know if thes teenagers are future psychopaths, or if their behavior is normal...because if you think about it, teens with a knowledge of murder are so rare, that we really don't have much of a base for comparrison.

 

[pittsburghgirl]

dodie20, you only have to look at inner city gang culture in which people who witness murders (often dozens of people in public places) steadfastly refuse to say what or whom they saw. That's not a pathology of the individual; it's a pathology of a social group and its mores.

A short and excellent book on child and teenage psychopaths/sociopaths: Savage Spawn by Jonathan Kellerman. Kellerman is a certified child psychologist and a best-selling mystery writer. In this non-fiction book, he looks at the question of nature vs. nurture and has some chilling stories about very young children who appear to have these tendencies. He also talks about diagnoses and treatment and the often poor prognoses for kids whose parents or guardians are enablers of one kind or another.

 

[PorcineGranny]

IMO ..if Misty is "borderline" anything it is mentally retarded. I agree with some who think Misty is product of a mother who took drugs and or used alcohol during pregnancy and maybe even include the product of one or both parents who seem to have low IQ's

I know the use of the term "mentally retarded" is not PC, but it is still used within the medical field often when describing someone with low IQ test scores
An IQ under 70 is considered as "mental retardation" or limited mental ability. 5% of the population falls below 70 on IQ tests. The severity of the mental retardation is commonly broken into 4 levels:

Clown, hi , I wish to respectfully disagree. Misty is not mentally challenged. If you watch all her tapes and the different mindset you will see she is not "retarded". In my opinion, she is definitely learning disabled, but that does not affect her IQ. On top of learning disabilites there are other various mental situations, but not retardation. If you were to meet someone with say an IQ of 70 you would definitely notice the difference. ( I like your posts, not trying to be insulting to you, but many times we don't understand what retardation means.)

 

[Kat]

I think that MC might have a covert agressive personality. Manipulative.

JMHO. (Especially after hearing her become verbally agressive at a perceived slight by Lindsey on tape 2 of her and her dad speaking.)

 

[Melanie]

I don't know what you would label Misty, but I don't think sociopath fits her.

Me too. Though I think drug addict fits her quite well. Do I have proof, no - but she buys and sells, and her behaviour (to me) exhibits that she's a user. Now that she's had time to detox in jail, her senses may be coming back to her.

I can't categorize her in the same class as Casey, or anyone else for that matter. I just think she's an immature child wth little (to no) education that sells drugs for a living. She has a come-what-may attitude as if nothing can happen to her. Too bad for her.

Moo

Mel

 

[gngr~snap]

MOO Misty has ODD
Oppositional Defiant Disorder
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Health Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision of the American Psychiatric Association defines oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) as a recurrent pattern of negativistic, defiant, disobedient, and hostile behavior toward authority figures that persists for at least 6 months.

ODD is usually diagnosed when a child has a persistent or consistent pattern of disobedience and hostility toward parents, teachers, or other adults. The primary behavioral difficulty is the consistent pattern of refusing to follow commands or requests by adults.

The criteria for ODD are met only when the problem behaviors occur more frequently in the child than in other children of the same age and developmental level. These behaviors cause significant difficulties with family and friends, and the oppositional behaviors are the same both at home and in school. Sometimes, ODD may be a precursor of a conduct disorder.

Family instability, including economic stress, parental mental illness, harshly punitive behaviors, inconsistent parenting practices, multiple moves, and divorce may also contribute to the development of oppositional and defiant behaviors.

http://www.focusas.com/BehavioralDisorders.html

perhaps in addition ot something else...

 

[Wendy101]

IMO ..if Misty is "borderline" anything it is mentally retarded. I agree with some who think Misty is product of a mother who took drugs and or used alcohol during pregnancy and maybe even include the product of one or both parents who seem to have low IQ's

I know the use of the term "mentally retarded" is not PC, but it is still used within the medical field often when describing someone with low IQ test scores
An IQ under 70 is considered as "mental retardation" or limited mental ability. 5% of the population falls below 70 on IQ tests. The severity of the mental retardation is commonly broken into 4 levels:

I respectfully disagree with you. My sons IQ sits at 71 because he can not pass standard testing, he is a 3-D visual dyslexic learner, standard tests do not deviate from the norm. My sons interests are well beyond his age group(7yrs). He can look at a word he has never seen for 1 min and then spell it (verbal) backwards without looking, can you do that? Can you draw quickly a human upside down, sideways? Can you print upside down, backward or mirror image, quickly and automatically like you have been doing it for years? My son can do all those things, and more and he is broderline IQ according to the standard testing, does it sound like he has a "limited" mental ability? I would rather suggest it is, I, the "normal" one who has the "limited mental ability".

I guess what I am saying is sometimes standard testing does not allow the whole picture to be seen.

 

[txsvicki]

I think that MC might have a covert agressive personality. Manipulative.

JMHO. (Especially after hearing her become verbally agressive at a perceived slight by Lindsey on tape 2 of her and her dad speaking.)

Problems with Misty are slowly being revealed in the jail tapes. There seems to be no empathy or compassion for anyone along with retaliation and bitterness when even slightly crossed. I don't believe she really cared that much for Haleigh at all or she wouldn't have minded or even believe now that she was only wanted as a babysitter. Misty thinks everyone else should also be in jail even if they had nothing to do with what happened to Haleigh. She's not even worried about Haleigh, only that she's "wrongly" thrown into jail.

 

[dodie20]

Problems with Misty are slowly being revealed in the jail tapes. There seems to be no empathy or compassion for anyone along with retaliation and bitterness when even slightly crossed. I don't believe she really cared that much for Haleigh at all or she wouldn't have minded or even believe now that she was only wanted as a babysitter. Misty thinks everyone else should also be in jail even if they had nothing to do with what happened to Haleigh. She's not even worried about Haleigh, only that she's "wrongly" thrown into jail.

well, if she's truly not involved in Haleigh's death, then she has a semi logical point. These people were targeted to get answers about Haleigh, & the activity after the arrests, proves that. Hope was sent up the river, to send the message that LE is playing hardball. She was expendable, plain & simple. Stupid girl for getting mixed up with these people. If Misty wasn't involved, someone needs to explain to her-in her language-that LE will hound her til the day she dies, if she doesn't cough up what she knows. She's expendable too. She'll rot in prison, before they let her go. & with her mental 'issues', & teenaged logic, that's gonna be hard, because she's as stubborn as all get out. She thinks life is supposed to be fair. (rolls eyes). this is moo, based on the off chance, that she wasn't involved.

 

[debs]

Just a reminder: Hope wasn't 'sent upriver' to make a point to everyone else involved in those drug deals. She was sentenced to 15 years because she was caught on tape participating in drug trafficking. This wasn't her first rodeo; she'd been arrested 3 times in the last year, all after she'd turned 18. She is where she is because of her actions.

 

[Skully]

I have been reading the paper Susan Adams wrote on Statement Analyzes and it is really eye opening. I am only a few chapters in but I can see why LE knows Misty is lying. These studies are based on previous statements from people who committed crimes and were found guilty. The study goes back to the late 80's. So if you haven't read her paper, you should,it explains what they look for in some of these statements to detect the lies.. .

 

[Kat]

I have been reading the paper Susan Adams wrote on Statement Analyzes and it is really eye opening. I am only a few chapters in but I can see why LE knows Misty is lying. These studies are based on previous statements from people who committed crimes and were found guilty. The study goes back to the late 80's. So if you haven't read her paper, you should,it explains what they look for in some of these statements to detect the lies.. .

Bern, that name isn't striking a chord in my memory. Is her work online or do I need to order it? TIA

 

[CN2Souls]

Thank you Kimster for this post, everyone has such spot on analysis of a very trouble mind.

It would be hard to evaluate a person without being able to observe them under their natural state.

They would need to not be performing for whoever would be watching.


However, we do have the UC tapes, to get a small glimpse into how she really behaves.

 

[Skully]

Bern, that name isn't striking a chord in my memory. Is her work online or do I need to order it? TIA

You can google her name and download her paper. It is worth the read. Maybe we could discuss some of the criteria of truth vs lies with some of the statements of the players???

 

[Atlanta PI]

Misty has a low IQ. I would bet it is around 75-80. She is probably Fetal Alcohol Syndrome or FAE and will always have a mental age of around 11. Her opiate addiction also impairs her mental functioning.

Can she determine what is morally right and wrong? H*ll yes.

I think this is the first time I am seeing this thread. Absolutely, I thought she had Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, or perhaps some sort of Fetal Drug Syndrome the first time I saw her on the news. She seems to fit the profile?

 

[Chablis]

Misty is anything but dumb. She went off and had sex with another guy, knowing how furious Ronald was and she just didn't give a crap. In front of a camera she played the dumb kid just like Ronald told her to. I saw her on those drug tapes. She was smooth, polished and quite capable of taking care of business. Perfect willing mule for Ronald Cummings in every way. She chose to live the life she did and keep his secrets. Sometimes two people thrown together is a deadly sick combination.

But shes anything but brain damaged, regardless of who carried her. If she is mentally retarded, then so is Ronald and we all know from his MOTHER he is basically Einstein.

 

[krkrjx]

Misty was only 17 when Haleigh went missing. Misty had a hard life and with that she learned certain ways of coping; most people learn coping mechanisms, some in a healthy way and others not so healthy.

I do not think Misty is a sociopath because I have a hard time with labeling someone so young. If Misty had never gone to prison, however, I believe she could have qualified as a sociopath in time.

IMO, Ronald Cummings is a full-fledged sociopath. This is based on his actions and his words, but the fact that he was in his mid-20s is a major factor that would probably get him such a diagnosis. If Ron had been only age 17 or 18, however, I would be inclinded to consider immaturity more of a factor against such a dx.

A teenager's mind works differently than an adult's. Age is actually a criteria in most instances where a mental-health label is being considered. While it is not impossible to accurately label a teenager of 16, 17 or 18, the immature mind of such an individual must be taken into consideration. That is far less of a consideration by the time a person is in their mid-20s. I personally have known several teens who were holy terrors in their high school years but matured into well-adjusted, law-abiding adults.

I am not sure Misty would qualify as a full-fledged sociopath, not because she does not have some of the traits, but because of her age. I do believe Ronald Cummings qualifies.