Psychotic vs. Psychopathic

Red silhouette of a bold man

They aren’t the same. Going back to at least Hitchcock (one of my faves), who brought the muddy term “psycho” into the public psyche, conflated the definitions as if all are violent, and all “crazy” is crazy. I’m sure there are briefer answers out there for those wondering what’s the difference between psychotic and psychopathic. And even though SRSLY made it into the OED because of its widespread use, lay inaccurate uses of the term psychotic will likely not. Briefly in discussing how we got here, the words are interchanged because they sound alike, and are used commonly to describe

Is Walter White a Psychopath?

Breaking Bad Poster

 Walt’s pathological and Machiavellian level of manipulation of others, even those who might describe him as a friend, makes us question who the real Walter White is. Is he a psychopath? Is he a guy who suppressed his basic needs so much during his life that that now he’s just having a narcissistic tirade to prove he’s all-powerful as he approaches death? As a psychiatrist, I view the evidence that points in one direction vs. another. As a writer, I see the brilliance in how we’re led into watching his dark side unfold, while still empathizing with him. Modern psychiatry