Diagnoses for Voldemort, Snape, Sirius?

[marinafrants]

No: HPFGUIDX 47075

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Judy" <judyshapiro at d...> wrote:
> We don't know that the older Riddles were antisocial personalities,
> but certainly being "snobbish and rude" could indicate a lack of
> empathy. Voldemort could have inherited his personality from them. 

We do know that the older Riddles cast Tom's pregnant mother out of 
the family when they discovered she was a witch, with no concert for 
what would happen to her or her baby.  Sounds like a distinct lack 
of empathy to me.

> Audra listed the DSM criteria for APD, causing Marina to adjust her
> brand-new Sirius Apologist robes and say:
> << Please note that this lets Sirius off the hook (not that I ever
> thought he was on it in the first place), as he only meets, at 
best,
> two of the criteria: impulsivity or failure to plan ahead, and
> irritability and aggressiveness....

<snip>

> I've previously argued that Sirius' fatherly concern for Harry in 
GoF
> is simply inconsistent with his impulsive and violent behavior in 
PoA.

I don't think they're inconsistent.  Sirius was concerned for Harry 
in PoA, too -- it's that concern that motivated his escape to begin 
with -- but he was also in an extremely unstable frame of mind.  He 
hadn't had time to recover from Azkaban, he was hanging around 
Hogwarts, which was full of Dementors out for his blood, and he was 
convinced that Harry was unknowingly in mortal danger from Wormtail.

Between PoA and GoF, and during GoF,he had time to rest and recover 
on some (presumably Dementor-free) tropical island; the knowledsge 
that he'd demonstrated his innocence to the people who really 
mattered must've been a big load off his mind; and he'd had a chance 
to get to know Harry as a person, which would've changed his concern 
from the abstract "I must take care of James and Lily's son, because 
I promised" to the specific "I must take care of Harry because he's 
a kid I care about."  I think all these factors are more than enough 
to explain his change of behavior beween books.

> Secondly, I'd point out that DSM criteria (including those listed 
here
> by Audra) are used to identify people who pose problems to 
themselves
> or others, and therefore (over)emphasize traits that are harmful.  
The
> DSM definition for APD leaves out positive traits associated with
> sociopathy, such as being charming, as well as fairly neutral ones
> such as lack of introspection.  

Well, far be it from me to deny that Sirius is charming. :-)  Nor 
will I attempt to present him as the introspective type.  But (and 
hopefully more knowledgeable people will correct me if I'm full of 
it), I think that the reason these traits get left out of the 
diagnostic criteria is not that they aren't harmful, but that they 
aren't reliably indicative.  Yes, a lot of sociopathic people are 
charming and non-introspective, but so are a lot of non-sociopathic 
people, so you can't really draw conclusions based on that.


Marina
rusalka at ix.netcom.com