Houston Southard
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Kevin Dutton - The wisdom of psychopaths
It pays to be crazy.
Once in an interview I was asked how I'd bridge the power distance of communicating with company executives. I said that most executives' personality profiles aren't dissimilar from that of a psychopath. Sometimes I can't help myself. Needless to say, I thankfully didn't get the job, but I wasn't wrong either.
I picked up that little nugget reading Dutton's breakout book, an expose on the adaptability of psychopathy and more largely neurosis in general. Mental health issues obviously have multifactoral roots, but evolutionarily speaking, psychopaths survive because they act when others wont. We all land somewhere on a spectrum for any behavior we express, and madness is no exception.
The genes effecting psychosis haven't persisted through the gene pool on accident. Depression's telltale despondency contributes to attentiveness and enhanced problem-solving. Schizophrenia's link to creativity is strong. Psychopaths lack a fear response. These traits paired with the others we negatively associate with neurosis call into question why these genes won't die out, but the traits themselves are adaptive. The creative produce things others can't, making them attractive mates. The fearless make decisions where others freeze, leading to similar outcomes. The stereotype of the brilliant tortured artist rings true.
It's no surprise that Dutton has shown that the most successful leaders have the dampened amygdala and anterior insular cortix activity integral to psychopathy when having their brains scanned.
As Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) was becoming popular in the last two decades, Dutton underwent a lab treatment to have these areas of his brain temporary dampened. He walked around with his fear switch off for about an hour, describing the experience like being dosed with a moral roofie.
Ironically, TMS is now used therapeutically to treat severe depression and anxiety when psychotherapy and pharmaceuticals prove ineffective. It's surreal to have read this so many years ago and now hear radio commercials advertising St. Louis's own Gateway TMS, and yes, one way or another I'm going to get my butt in that brain-changing seat.