Could Some Forms Of Punitive Parenting Lead To Creating A Sociopath?

[Synesthesia]

Originally Posted by ArmsOfLove

actually, he first published his studies to say that sexual abuse caused latent memories and fears and in the Victorian era where there was an incredible amount of sexual abuse Freud found himself with all his funding pulled. He regrouped and republished his paper and blamed it on the child's desires and his funding returned

i read that somewhere. To think the sort of impact he could have had on trauma and abuse if he had stayed that course.

I think it depends on whether or not a child has it in them to become like that. The extra abuse could nudge them towards the edge or not being abused to nudge them in another direction. It's complicated but it's better not to take the risk.

[hey mommy]

I've been watching the channel ID(investigation discovery) and one of the shows is "most evil" where they talk primarily about things like this. Most of them come from backgrounds where one parents was not quite right themselves & projected that onto their child. For example the mom who was very se*ual around her son. He grew up & killed woman after being rejected by various girlfriends.

What they are saying is that the psychopath is missing some important part of the temporal lobe causing a mental illness, and that, along with their upbringing is creating the behavior as adults.

Did any of that make sense? It's pretty interesting..
http://investigation.discovery.com/

Originally Posted by hey mommy

I've been watching the channel ID(investigation discovery) and one of the shows is "most evil" where they talk primarily about things like this. Most of them come from backgrounds where one parents was not quite right themselves & projected that onto their child. For example the mom who was very se*ual around her son. He grew up & killed woman after being rejected by various girlfriends.

What they are saying is that the psychopath is missing some important part of the temporal lobe causing a mental illness, and that, along with their upbringing is creating the behavior as adults.

Did any of that make sense? It's pretty interesting..
http://investigation.discovery.com/

I've seen a couple of those shows. Yes, that made sense.

[Lantern Light Mama]

It makes me wonder if abuse, besides the physical aspects of it, leads to underdevelopment of the temporal lobe. I just got an idea for my next abnormal psychology paper.

Originally Posted by Chris3jam

The problem with that sort of research is that hindsight is 20/20. The link between nature and nurture is not fully understood. We can 'guess' all we want, but we'll never be able to explain what may already be "misfired" naturally in someone that is brought out by or intensified by nurture, or if it would have happened any way, or why sometimes those with unbelievably horrendous childhoods can grow up to be some of the nicest people. One example is "The Boy Called It". Why did I turn out so incredibly different from my family? From the same family, one sees variation. No one can explain that yet. I think there is an incredible amount of danger in ascribing certain behaviours, and the way a child 'turns out', to just the way that child was raised.

I agree with you. I wouldn't want to say that a child is doomed by bad parenting. It is amazing how resilient the human spirit is. But I also think that we need to be aware of the effect of different types of parenting on some children.

[GodChick]

I think that kind of parenting can exacerbate many types of dormant mental illness and personality disorders. (I don't think it causes them, though.) I would also tend tend to label the dishonest salesman/manipulative lover type behavior as a personality disorder other than sociopathology. Narcissism, egomaniacism, etc. are particularly likely to be triggered by Ezzo-type parenting.

Originally Posted by JoyInTheSpirit

It makes me wonder if abuse, besides the physical aspects of it, leads to underdevelopment of the temporal lobe. I just got an idea for my next abnormal psychology paper.

I think that would be a great paper!

Originally Posted by debf

I agree with you. I wouldn't want to say that a child is doomed by bad parenting. It is amazing how resilient the human spirit is. But I also think that we need to be aware of the effect of different types of parenting on some children.

But, how would you recognize that baby from any other? Say, the Ezzo mother that genuinely wants, and thinks she is doing, the best and Godly thing for her child. Say you said to her, "Hey, this baby of yours is wired different. You will mar him for life if you keep this up." and, since she can see that, changes her parenting of the child. I cannot think that *any* parent, Ezzo or not, does not have anything but the best interest of her child at heart, even though she could be mis-lead or ignorant (I was both). The guilt is enormous. And we haven't even talked about the grace of God that can change things.

Originally Posted by debf

I think that would be a great paper!

Read "The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog". . . .there's been some research done in that area. . .. you could expand. . . . .

Originally Posted by Chris3jam

But, how would you recognize that baby from any other? Say, the Ezzo mother that genuinely wants, and thinks she is doing, the best and Godly thing for her child. Say you said to her, "Hey, this baby of yours is wired different. You will mar him for life if you keep this up." and, since she can see that, changes her parenting of the child. I cannot think that *any* parent, Ezzo or not, does not have anything but the best interest of her child at heart, even though she could be mis-lead or ignorant (I was both). The guilt is enormous. And we haven't even talked about the grace of God that can change things.

Read "The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog". . . .there's been some research done in that area. . .. you could expand. . . . .

I believe that God's Grace is amazing and can heal many wrongs. God also seemed to have made kids resilient, thankfully.

I have known several people with anger toward God or Christianity because of their childhoods. Their parents probably loved them and were well meaning but their mistakes still hurt their child's faith.

my guess is that if a mother changes her parenting style her kids will respect her more, especially if she admits her mistakes to them.

I didn't mean to imply though that personality is locked in by a person's abusive past or that we can't heal or that changes in parenting don't have a profound effect on a child.

[Titus2Momof4]

I have a hard time answering this.

1) Define "punitive". Are you lumping people who do ANYTHING punitive whatsoever in the same category as, say, Ezzo followers? (because there is a world of a difference between someone who "uses timeouts" and someone who "is an Ezzo follower"--though both are likely to be considered "punitive."
2) While uber-punitive methods might make this behavior *more* likely (which I am not necessarily agreeing with, btw, because I think you need to be more specific than just "a punitive home"...) it certainly is not the ONLY cause. Heck, there are plenty of adults who were raised in permissive homes (therefore parents didn't care, a lot of neglect went on, etc.) who are sociopaths.

Bottom line, I think it's too "gray" of an issue to boil down to "punitive parenting" (which, for the third time varies)

In "The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog", he shows that "brain damage" happens with neglect/abuse, even if done ignorantly or through no fault of a parent. He cites cases where the brain was "damaged", which caused very far-reaching and unchangeable behaviours (think the Russian orphans). In one case, with a mentally impaired, innocent/ignorant mother, it did change the brain so that the child did become a sociopath. It not only causes brain "damage", but it also keeps certain areas of the brain from developing properly, and, sometimes, at all. It appears that if the damage is caused while the child is very, very young (as in, a baby, while the brain is still being formed and growing), it is irreversible. If the damage is done when the child is older (after a certain foundation has been laid), it can be "repaired", at least mostly/partially. He has shown that treating a baby or child in certain ways can actually alter the brain physically. And, vice versa. . . .behaviour can also physically change the brain. And this is just all through the way a baby/child is treated/handled.

Originally Posted by Titus2Momof4

I have a hard time answering this.

1) Define "punitive". Are you lumping people who do ANYTHING punitive whatsoever in the same category as, say, Ezzo followers? (because there is a world of a difference between someone who "uses timeouts" and someone who "is an Ezzo follower"--though both are likely to be considered "punitive."
2) While uber-punitive methods might make this behavior *more* likely (which I am not necessarily agreeing with, btw, because I think you need to be more specific than just "a punitive home"...) it certainly is not the ONLY cause. Heck, there are plenty of adults who were raised in permissive homes (therefore parents didn't care, a lot of neglect went on, etc.) who are sociopaths.

Bottom line, I think it's too "gray" of an issue to boil down to "punitive parenting" (which, for the third time varies)

I was thinking about the more severe forms of punitive parenting, not time outs or even spankings.

[deena]

I do think there is a link and know some first hand examples of this connection.

[Titus2Momof4]

Originally Posted by debf

I was thinking about the more severe forms of punitive parenting, not time outs or even spankings.

Well, I was too....that's why I was saying 'define punitive'. Timeouts are 'punitive'... but I hardly think someone is going to create a sociopath from using timeouts LOL

(and I will admit that while I came here looking for alternatives to spanking..meaning, things to use BESIDES spankings/before spankings, I am not completely anti-punitive. That doesn't mean we ARE punitive in the way we handle the kids on a day to day basis--it just means that we haven't thrown out any and everything 'punitive', kwim? That's probably another reason why I find it hard to think that it's going to lead to a sociopath...)

I guess like I said my bottom line is that I think there is more to "creating a sociopath" than JUST being punitive...............whatever that means to everyone .

[CelticJourney]

I think we need to take great care with this issue. 'Some forms of puntive parenting' is such a wide stretch. I think it is safe to say that punitive parenting that is clearly abusive would have emotional and psycological effects on children, but I think this may have far too big of a gray zone to be manageable or come to any conclusions.