Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Spy Games - The Clients
Understanding the types of clients STC must deal with on a daily basis is one more step towards understanding why surveillance and constant intelligence information is necessary. The clients are not unusual; in fact they are typical of the breed of humans called alcoholics. To call them a breed, or refer to them as psychopaths is not politically incorrect, or even unscientific for that matter, because the characteristics of the psychopath and the alcoholic are eerily similar. Robert Hare's Psychopathy Checklist is currently the most popular diagnostic tool for measuring criminal psychopathy. Although the diagnostic term "psychopathy" is no longer used in the psychiatric field, Hare's characteristics remain a useful diagnostic tool. The behavioral characteristics on Hare's Checklist of the psychopath are: Glibness, superficial charm, grandiose sense of self worth, pathological lying, conning, manipulative, lack of remorse or guilt, shallow affect, callous, lack of empathy, failure to accept responsibility for actions, promiscuous sexual behavior, lack of realistic goals, poor behavioral controls, high need for stimulation, prone to boredom, and irresponsibility. According to John Burnham M.D., a psychiatrist practicing in Newport Beach, who works with many recovering alcoholics and addicts, "these characteristics could easily be applied to the alcoholic and addict."
The typical alcoholic or addict at STC is white, middle to upper class; between the ages of 18 and 45, and educated to some degree (many current clients during this research study had their undergraduate and graduate degrees). These are general characteristics of STC clients, but the diversity can be extremely varied at any given time. No matter what the nationality, education, or financial background of the client, the psychopathology described by Hare can be applied to almost all of them. Because the alcoholic has these traits, the counselor treating the alcoholic must be highly trained in lie detection, criminal behavior, and psychosocial deviance to effectively treat the alcoholic. To find a counselor who is equipped with all of these attributes might sound impossible, but fortunately there are people who can beat the alcoholics at their own game, namely other recovered alcoholics.
The typical alcoholic or addict at STC is white, middle to upper class; between the ages of 18 and 45, and educated to some degree (many current clients during this research study had their undergraduate and graduate degrees). These are general characteristics of STC clients, but the diversity can be extremely varied at any given time. No matter what the nationality, education, or financial background of the client, the psychopathology described by Hare can be applied to almost all of them. Because the alcoholic has these traits, the counselor treating the alcoholic must be highly trained in lie detection, criminal behavior, and psychosocial deviance to effectively treat the alcoholic. To find a counselor who is equipped with all of these attributes might sound impossible, but fortunately there are people who can beat the alcoholics at their own game, namely other recovered alcoholics.
Labels: Spy-Games
