Forensic Focus

Psychiatric Institutions Articles

“Odd Mental Kinks:” A 1935 Perspective on Psychopathy

Friday, June 11th, 2010

Another forensic psychology blog featured an article written by Arthur Grahame in 1935. The article was published in the May 1935 edition of Popular Science magazine and discusses psychopathy. It’s an interesting read, and while some of the information has been disproved, a good portion of the article describes psychopathy within similar constructs of today’s standards.

Interestingly, the article also discusses the dilemma of housing mentally ill persons in prison settings while occasionally treating psychopathic individuals in mental institutions. This is still a common occurrence today; as state psychiatric hospitals continue to close down, the mentally ill are redirected into the correctional system. As a result, there are more mentally ill people in the correctional system than in hospitals.

Recent Comments
  • purplecasket: I agree with L to an extent. I think ‘normal’ itself is a construction in some ways....
  • nonamouse: I’ve been thinking that the man who has caused me immense suffering over the past few years is a...
  • nonamouse: L, you might have Borderline Personality Disorder. Regardless of whether or not you have a...
  • nonamouse: Probably “psychopath” fits you better than “sociopath”, wouldn’t you say?
  • Ian: Thank you for writing this, I found it very insightful. The more I read about sociopathy and psychopathy, the...
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