[HPforGrownups] Re: Regarding Voldemort being a psychopath

[Bart Lidofsky]

No: HPFGUIDX 176234

Steve wrote:
>>First off I'll start by saying that being proclaimed 
>>a psychopath is not a diagnosis or representative a 
>>specific mental disorder.  So while JKR proclaimed 
>>Voldemort to be a psychopath, she isn't saying 
>>anything other than Voldemort had serious 
>>psychological issues ...

bboyminn:
> Maybe Sociopath is a better description. Certainly,
> Voldemort was a megalomaniac; 

Bart:
	He is a psychopath. The only reason for saying that "psychopath" is not 
a diagnosis is because it is not present in a commonly used book of 
diagnoses, one for which politics is almost as important as medicine. 
Psychiatry is also a very inexact science; the diagnosis of a 
psychiatric condition can depend not on the symptoms, but on your 
country of residence. Anybody here can look up "psychopath" in any one 
of many internet sites or books available from the public library; JKR 
certainly did.

	Bart