Neurological Correlates

Being stalked for years is such a delight (a book like this one describes it pretty well).

So, as a New Year’s resolution, I’m posting this.   Stalker (if you exist and I’m not saying you do): you are obviously a philanthropist and humanitarian. If anything below casts you in a false or negative light, it does not apply to you in the least.

First, you do not possess every single trait of the PCL-R:

Factor1: “Aggressive narcissism”

• Glibness/superficial charm
• Grandiose sense of self-worth
• Pathological lying
• Cunning/manipulative
• Lack of remorse or guilt
• Shallow affect
• Callous/lack of empathy
• Failure to accept responsibility for own actions
• Promiscuous sexual behavior

Factor2: “Socially deviant lifestyle”

• Need for stimulation/proneness to boredom
• Parasitic lifestyle
• Poor behavioral control
• Lack of realistic, long-term goals
• Impulsivity
• Irresponsibility
• Juvenile delinquency
• Early behavior problems
• Revocation of conditional release

Traits not correlated with either factor

• Many short-term marital relationships
• Criminal versatility

Stalker, you have always been an absolute true, “real” and totally honest person.  You are self-made, and never, not once stole any money, ran any financial frauds, or ripped off anyone. You never, not once smeared and discredited those who found out.

In fact, you have never committed any felonies during which a person died, thereby potentially elevating the charge to first degree murder under the felony-murder rule. Nope, you have nothing to do with that at all. There was never any money paid to the authorities to cover anything up.

Imagine you were released from court-ordered rehab and the psych ward (and I know you were not there, but hypothetically if you can stretch your imagination to such fiction), you hypothetically rightly informed everyone that I am a crazy alcoholic, not you. O, dear stalker, you are ever so correct (if you hypothetically said that).  People who are newly released from rehab have such excellent perspective; they should always be believed as totally honest, trustworthy, not at all prone to deceit or manipulation. In fact, most people in rehab are entirely unaffected by any kind of addiction and are only there because some kind of ill-advised court or family  member intervenes, with the very obvious intent of exploiting the person.

Every single brain cell you have is running in tip top shape. You may have read some of the blog posts here about brain abnormalities with recovering alcoholics or psychopaths or sociopaths or even dementia. You are not a sociopath or psychopath or recovering alcoholic with white matter microstructure deficits. None of that research in any way applies to you. You are an upstanding pillar of the community, a member in good standing in the Church, have your portrait in the board room, and are the leader of all sorts of civic and eleemosynary organizations, and just an all around swell person with such an even-keeled disposition, not at all prone to tantrums.