1. GLIB and SUPERFICIAL CHARM -- the tendency to be smooth, engaging, charming, slick, and verbally facile. Psychopathic charm is not in the least shy, self-conscious, or afraid to say anything. A psychopath never gets tongue-tied. They have freed themselves from the social conventions about taking turns in talking, for example.
Why wouldn't Casey testify if she had this personality trait?
Casey didn't testify as it could have only damaged her case,as the prosecution would have had a field day with all of her earlier lies. This was obviously a DT strategy that Casey agreed with. It is rare in a case of this nature, and so isn't really notable in comparison with this trait of a psychopath.
If you happened to read her correspondence in jail with "Cookie" however, that would point up the glibness and charm which this point describes. Also, Tracy McLaughlin, who watched casey after LP bailed her out, also commented on the glibness and talkativeness of FCA.
Letters at this link:
http://www.wftv.com/pdf/23069597/detail.html
Although I do agree with the oddity of her being giddy (which also could be linked to other personality defects), psychopaths aren't afraid of average things you and I are. How many psychopathic serial killers do you see after conviction being interviewed and grinning as they describe how they killed? Those are true psychopaths, they aren't afraid to talk about anything, IMO, they believe they are above consequences. And, no attorney is going to stop them from getting the attention they crave.
2. GRANDIOSE SELF-WORTH -- a grossly inflated view of one's abilities and self-worth, self-assured, opinionated, cocky, a braggart. Psychopaths are arrogant people who believe they are superior human beings.
Same as above, if she had a grandiose self-worth, not only would she have hopped up on the stand in a heart beat, she may have even gone to the extent of signing autographs for people.
FCA appeared to believe she was capable of performing an event planning job at Universal even though she did not have the education for that job. She frequently bragged that she had the title of event planner. She bragged on her Facebook profile that she was attending college, when this was not the case. Most people have babysitters for their children. unemployed Casey insisted she had a nanny. In the jailhouse letters, she calls herself a warrior and part of God's army. She also was writing her thoughts in preparation for a book to share her insights, including the truth about God.
The event planning and college are just lies though, that's not grandiosity. People with grandiosity are the type who stalk celebrities because they think they are in relationships with them. They themselves think they are famous people, and I mean famous like Brad Pitt. They aren't just using average lies to get by with survival, or to appear normal. They are above normal, above your average Joe, above everyone. The 'superior human beings' reference is not necessarily meant that they feel they are part of God's army (many Christians believe this themselves), IMO it would be someone who believes they, themselves are God and laws of the human just doesn't apply to them.
3. NEED FOR STIMULATION or PRONENESS TO BOREDOM -- an excessive need for novel, thrilling, and exciting stimulation; taking chances and doing things that are risky. Psychopaths often have a low self-discipline in carrying tasks through to completion because they get bored easily. They fail to work at the same job for any length of time, for example, or to finish tasks that they consider dull or routine.
She has been in solitary confinement for 3 years and the CO state she's a model prisoner. I'm sure she hasn't had any amount of exciting stimulation, but yet she maintained her composure.
Looking for this trait under armed guards in a prison cell isn't the best place to look.
More notable would be the following:
Casey did not complete high school. She did not hold a job for a lengthy period of time. She engaged in risky activities such as surreptitious theft, promiscuous sexual activity and drug and alcohol abuse. Her father said, "My daughter has a tendency to live on the edge." Casey went out often during the week and lived it up with her nightlife as much as she could. Someone dabbling with marijuana and drinking at most a few days a week (during her worst moment) is not someone "living on the edge". She was in her early 20's, and her behavior didn't hit it's worst point until after Caylee died. Psychopathic people don't just become that way when it's convenient, they are that way because that's what their brain is telling them to do. People with mental disorders/personality disorders aren't in control of them, the disorders are in control of them. So, I completely disagree with this being a trait of hers because even under armed guards, they wouldn't be able to control this type of behavior for 3 years. If someone who is psychopathic cannot get the thrill they need and become very bored, I'm sure they could come up with some crafty things to do to become entertained all over again (screwing with the guards, offering media interviews, etc).
4. PATHOLOGICAL LYING -- can be moderate or high; in moderate form, they will be shrewd, crafty, cunning, sly, and clever; in extreme form, they will be deceptive, deceitful, underhanded, unscrupulous, manipulative, and dishonest.
I will not disagree with this one, everyone knows she's a liar.
We agree!
5. CONNING AND MANIPULATIVENESS- the use of deceit and deception to cheat, con, or defraud others for personal gain; distinguished from Item #4 in the degree to which exploitation and callous ruthlessness is present, as reflected in a lack of concern for the feelings and suffering of one's victims.
This one is a hard one because I do believe she was careless of AH and her grandfather, but throughout her whole life those are the only 2 I know of with gross disregard. (I know you could argue her parents, but they were enablers with her behavior so it's hard to say she had gross disregard for them, or if they were enabling her to behave that way towards them.)
How about the detectives trying to find Caylee? Or telling Jessie he was the father of Caylee and that the baby was born prematurely? Or never paying LA for the car he sold to her? Or the fictitious emails she created that were supposedly from where she was employed? Or the fake myspace accounts? There are plenty of examples.
I can't really answer for the detectives that were trying to find Caylee. It is possible that perhaps she thought they were going to figure out the truth (the drowning story), but since they honed in on her right away it was a lost cause in her mind. She could've thought Jesse was the father, I don't think she knew who the father really was (she may know now though, but perhaps not until after the DNA test proved it wasn't Jesse). Not paying LA could just be out of immaturity from when she got the car. Notice LA never said anything about her not paying him back, so we don't even know if this is true. The fictitious emails could have been created, not for personal gain, but to get her neurotic controlling mother off her back. CA was into all aspects of Casey's business, so maybe she did this to just buy her some time and stress relief. I don't know about the fake myspace accounts, so I can't respons to that. And, we're talking gross disregard. IMO, that would be like someone seeing an elderly person carrying groceries, the bag breaks and they laugh and walk away instead of helping. Gross disregard, like stealing from your elderly grandfather. One example.
6. LACK OF REMORSE OR GUILT -- a lack of feelings or concern for the losses, pain, and suffering of victims; a tendency to be unconcerned, dispassionate, coldhearted, and unempathic. This item is usually demonstrated by a disdain for one's victims.
I have to argue that she is not unempathic, she took care of her "shot girls", she watched over them, etc. She had empathy for them and made sure they weren't being harmed by the drunk men around there. She also cooked, cleaned, etc TL's place once living there. She wasn't dispassionate. I also don't believe she was dispassionate with Caylee, she had 100's of pictures of her, and her alone. She showed concern for Caylee at TL's apartment pool, worried about her getting too close to it.
How about Casey's response to the death of her child? Or the lack of empathy shown for all the people searching for a dead Caylee? How about the pain she put her parents through - any sign she felt bad about that in those recorded conversations? Or was she more concerned with her own needs, such as talking to TL? Did she show any empathy when pointing the finger at Jessie or Zenaida who she knew were not involved? Again, lots of examples.
Her response to the death of Caylee, although no one wants to hear this, could very well be chalked up to abnormal grieving. It happens whether we like it or not. She had no control of the people searching for Caylee. She didn't call those people in. In fact, when she was out running around for the 31 days, she laid low as far as her daughter's death went. She didn't go out screaming her child has been kidnapped for all the attention and get search parties going, etc. I know this also isn't a popular idea, but I did see a sobbing Casey during those jailhouse visits. I also noticed a Casey state that she was protecting her family to CA, and IMO it is extremely possible she meant that she was protecting her family from falling apart once they knew there was an accident and that her and GA covered it up. CA was the one behind the Jesse finger-pointing as far as I'm concerned. Casey didn't have a lot of conversations with her parents, and the conversations she did have were recorded. She told her dad to stay away from Jesse (or something along those lines), that could've meant that Jesse would figure the cover up out, so watch out for him.
7. SHALLOW AFFECT -- emotional poverty or a limited range or depth of feelings; interpersonal coldness in spite of signs of open gregariousness.
TL showed her affection, she returned affection. Caylee showed her affection and she returned affection. Her friends showed her care/concern/laughter, and she shared that with them (minus her theft from AH, but she had many more friends then the one). The list could go on.
Why was TL kept in the dark about the disappearance of Caylee? When you are close with someone, this would have been a place for her to be consoled. Or did she not need consoling? The superficial laughter and partying with friends is an easy accomplishment. When Amy exposed herself to crime, Casey took advantage. Casey did this also to her grandparents, parents, and brother.
I can't explain why she kept TL in the dark, but doing so doesn't pertain to this characteristic trait. She wasn't behaving in a shallow way IMO. And, the fact that she didn't tell TL, IMO, even shows more of her not being psychopathic.
8. CALLOUSNESS and LACK OF EMPATHY -- a lack of feelings toward people in general; cold, contemptuous, inconsiderate, and tactless.
I stated she wasn't cold in general towards people. A lot of people liked her and enjoyed her company. The CO's even testifying to her being a pleasant person to communicate with the little they did.
The jailhouse videos and conversations are the best demonstration of this. She was dismissive of the emotional pain of others, turning the attention from their suffering back to herself. A view of the videotapes demonstrates starkly her dismissive manner regarding her mothers grief and stress.
As I pointed out above, there is no turning on and off psychopathy when it's convenient for you, so if she behaved a certain way in jail that also reflects her "behavior". I also see someone who is sobbing on those video tapes, whether it's sobbing for CA, herself, or whoever, there is emotion there. I do realize she does frequently turn the attention to herself (although she only does so IIRC, when CA talks about the trials and tribulations CA and GA are going through), this does, to me, reflect someone who's wrongly accused.
9. PARASITIC LIFESTYLE -- an intentional, manipulative, selfish, and exploitative financial dependence on others as reflected in a lack of motivation, low self-discipline, and inability to begin or complete responsibilities.
Again, this one is a hard one to argue. She was a little parasitic after she had Caylee. Before Caylee she was working. So it's hard to say that she is a true parasite since life changes could have caused the parasitic behavior in that time frame.
Looks like this point we agree on, but I would add it was more than a little parasitic. Casey never left her family home to live independently. For more than two years, Casey lied about employment getting her money through thievery rather than work itself. She also was parasitic on her brother by getting him to sell the car to her, but not paying him for it as agreed upon.
Casey was a young single mom, it is common for single mothers that haven't established a career (or even some that do) to live with their parents to get on their feet. Although, right now it's hard to say if she was going to get on her feet, I don't believe we've had enough time of viewing her life to see if she wasn't going to. And, as I stated before, I don't recall LA mentioning her owing him money, so I'm not sure what the car deal was.
10. POOR BEHAVIORAL CONTROLS -- expressions of irritability, annoyance, impatience, threats, aggression, and verbal abuse; inadequate control of anger and temper; acting hastily.
There are only 2 times I've seen Casey not being able to control her behavior, the one jailhouse video and the one day in court. Now, if out of 3 years of watching someone's life, you can only come up with 2... that's pretty good control over yourself.
We also know of the arguments with her mother and father through eyewitnesses such as LA or Tracy McLaughlin. We have a limited look into her past, but from what we do know she has exhibited poor behavior control.
Ok, arguing with your parents is extremely normal, especially for a young woman trying to cut the umbilical cord and live her own life. I've argued with my parents many times starting from the teenage years. I still argue with my parents from time to time (I'm 29). When I had my first daughter, me and my mother frequently argued because I was a mother but I was also the baby in my family so my mother felt the need to frequently "give me advice" (I like to call it sticking her nose where it didn't belong though... LOL). This is perfectly normal. Now, if she did this in the presence of her lawyers (like in court), that is poor behavior control. But that was one time, and I think everyone deserves a freebie every now and then, especially when you're facing the death penalty.
11. PROMISCUOUS SEXUAL BEHAVIOR -- a variety of brief, superficial relations, numerous affairs, and an indiscriminate selection of sexual partners; the maintenance of several relationships at the same time; a history of attempts to sexually coerce others into sexual activity or taking great pride at discussing sexual exploits or conquests.
This could be linked to many other things also, so I'm not going to disagree she behaves this way, but this doesn't mean she's psychopathic.
Of course it doesn't mean she's psychopathic (what a crazy world this would be if it did.) But it is a characteristic of one without question and she does have it. Not knowing (or telling) who the real father is of her baby is another big sign of this, as well as her overlapping relationships.
How do we really know the father of Caylee didn't know about her? What if he was some drug addicted loser (which is extremely possible) that didn't want to be a father and Casey didn't want to introduce him to mom and dad, so they just forgot about each other. And, how do we know Casey knows who the father is (although I suspect she does know). We can't base such a big disorder one this fact alone.
12. EARLY BEHAVIOR PROBLEMS -- a variety of behaviors prior to age 13, including lying, theft, cheating, vandalism, bullying, sexual activity, fire-setting, glue-sniffing, alcohol use, and running away from home.
We have never heard of her being a troubled child, which is my main reason for saying she isn't psychopathic or sociopathic.
LA in his taped interview with Jessie in the car spoke about Casey's lying troubles starting up in middle school. He said it seemed like she would lie just to lie. We don't have enough information on her childhood though, I agree to some extent.There is a variety of behavioral problems though, not just lying.
13. LACK OF REALISTIC, LONG-TERM GOALS -- an inability or persistent failure to develop and execute long-term plans and goals; a nomadic existence, aimless, lacking direction in life.
It's hard to say if this is something she has developed. She's in her 20's (early 20's at that) and this is the point in life that most people are discovering who they are. That is a normal course in development.
I agree this trait is not uncommon in the younger generation, but as it pertains to this checklist, FCA has this trait. Casey couldn't even manage to stick it out long enough to graduate from high school. She expressed an interest in photography and her father tried to help her get into school to study, she dropped that ball without looking back. She hadn't worked for years and led an empty life filled with parties and sex without an apparent thought for tomorrow. In the jailhouse letters, she expressed goals of getting an RV, travelling the country and getting pregnant together at the same time with her cellmate, not very realistic.
Most of what you said I agree with, except the empty life of parties and sex. I don't actually know what her sex life was like, so I wont even go there, I suspect she was promiscuous. But, she didn't just party party party. In fact, many people on the stand stated that she didn't drink that often before Caylee passed. So I have to disagree with that point.
14. IMPULSIVITY -- the occurrence of behaviors that are unpremeditated and lack reflection or planning; inability to resist temptation, frustrations, and urges; a lack of deliberation without considering the consequences; foolhardy, rash, unpredictable, erratic, and reckless.
I do agree she lacks impulse control. That also could be related to many other things.
We agree she lacks impulse control.
15. IRRESPONSIBILITY -- repeated failure to fulfill or honor obligations and commitments; such as not paying bills, defaulting on loans, performing sloppy work, being absent or late to work, failing to honor contractual agreements.
I agree with this one also, but could be related to other things.
We agree she is irresponsible.
16. FAILURE TO ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR OWN ACTIONS -- a failure to accept responsibility for one's actions reflected in low conscientiousness, an absence of dutifulness, antagonistic manipulation, denial of responsibility, and an effort to manipulate others through this denial.
I don't see her exhibit antagonistic manipulation or denial of responsibility (in totality).the other symptoms I could agree with if I saw a bigger window into her life.
Casey always painted herself as the victim in her correspondence, I don't recall her ever accepting responsibility. She showed no sense of duty in helping the detectives, she was antagonistically manipulative in the jailhouse conversations with her parents, she denied any knowledge of Caylee's death, and sought to manipulate others through this denial into thinking she had been the victim of a kidnapping. There are other examples, such as Amy's money disappearing and Casey saying she must have been sleepwalking. A proper burial for Caylee is also failing to accept the duty in that situation. Instead she was thrown in the swamp to rot. The evidence of her reaction a body being found there points to her knowing that was Caylee, as well as knowing the blanket was there, and being in a garbage bag. (The Chaplain had not told her that.)
You're referring to Casey painting herself as the victim for this one event in her life, so you can't base the diagnosis on one instance. She could've had an abortion, put Caylee up for adoption, threw her away once she was born, gave her to the local fire department, etc etc; but she didn't. When Caylee was born she took responsibility for her.
The AH situation, IMO, isn't the extreme this trait is referring to. Thieves lie to cover their tracts, but that doesn't mean they're psychopathic. I saw a post about the Chaplain discussion, but I've never seen the article/video/what have you so I can't really comment to that.
17. MANY SHORT-TERM MARITAL RELATIONSHIPS -- a lack of commitment to a long-term relationship reflected in inconsistent, undependable, and unreliable commitments in life, including marital.
I don't know how long she was engaged to JG, or how long their total relationship was, but we're talking about an early 20 something female, this is normal to not know what you want in life yet. At least in this day in age it is. So, I have to say this isn't a trait she exhibits because we don't know what her future holds.
I agree with you such behavior is not uncommon, but the point remains that this trait is present and is part of the checklist. Casey bounced from relationship to relationship.
IMO, this trait pertains more to adults who cannot commit to people on a long term basis. They marry, divorce, remarry, divorce, remarry, etc etc. They make commitments in relationships just to end them later. So, I don't believe the description of this trait is to be confused with a young 20 something discovering what she wants out of life.
18. JUVENILE DELINQUENCY -- behavior problems between the ages of 13-18; mostly behaviors that are crimes or clearly involve aspects of antagonism, exploitation, aggression, manipulation, or a callous, ruthless tough-mindedness.
Again, she wasn't a criminal in any sense before this case.
Casey Anthony did not have a juvenile record, but in regards to no criminal history before this case she had been convicted of felonies involving check fraud. Despite the lack of a juvenile record, her manipulation of others was clearly evident as was her habit of lying about everything and nothing at all. That said, I won't count this as her having the trait.
When I said "before this case", I'm referring to before June 16th. With the idea of her being psychopathic, we have to include times before her child died in order to not link them to the event of her child dying.
19. REVOCATION OF CONDITION RELEASE -- a revocation of probation or other conditional release due to technical violations, such as carelessness, low deliberation, or failing to appear.
This never occurred. When she was on house arrest she went back when it was time to go back. She's made all of her court appearances, etc. She didn't attempt to flee the area, so I have to disagree with this.
Agree that there is no evidence of this.
20. CRIMINAL VERSATILITY -- a diversity of types of criminal offenses, regardless if the person has been arrested or convicted for them; taking great pride at getting away with crimes.
Her criminal history is revolved around one instance, so I have to disagree that she has a diversity of criminal offenses.
Her criminal history also revolves around check fraud.
The 'one instance' is in regards to everything that related to the one event in her life. Her child died, she went on a shopping spree with someone else's money, it has become publicly known her child is gone, then we find out her child is dead, etc etc. We can't go back through the years and say "This year she was arrested for DUI, this year she was arrested for stealing, this year she was arrested for murder, this year she was arrested for domestic violence, this year she was arrested for check fraud, etc etc. Everything stemmed from a very short period of time.
Responses in red above.
Out of the 20 behaviors psychopaths exhibit, IMO Casey exhibited 4 of these personality traits. And, the 4 she definitely exhibited could be related to other issues.
ETA: I never said I had "extensive" knowledge in mental health. I stated that I knew a lot about different disorders (I've had mental health classes repeatedly in nursing school, mental health experiences in life/work, and was going to continue my education to get a degree in psychology). I do not claim to be an expert though, no where near that.
