2. Born Broken or Made Dark? The Hidden Science Behind Sociopathic Minds

Written by Raheela Shahid & Taaha Ahmad

The courtroom was nodding in silent agreement as Detective Sarah Martinez proceeded to narrate how she found a twelve-year-old child, Tommy Chen, dismembering cats in the garage of his residence. No tears. No remorse. Just cold curiosity in his eyes when caught. The parents of Tommy felt broken. How did their honor roll kid, their perfect child, have this kind of darkness? It was not a play of kid cruelty or of wrong curiosity. “The fact that he calculated it, that he masked his plotting, that he showed a total lack of empathy—all of that could only indicate something much deeper and worrying. Was he born broken, or did something make him dark?”

What makes us continue to hear Tommy’s story is the nagging question of whether he was born like this, or whether something changed him so that he hurt an innocent child in the way he did? This is at the core of one of the most controversial areas in psychology which is the origin of sociopathy.

The Neuroscience Revolution: Peering Inside Dark Minds

With current neuroscience developments, we have gained unprecedented views of the sociopathic brain, and what we are finding completely overturns what others have taught us. Dr. James Fallon is a world-reknown neuroscientist at UC Irvine who made headlines when he accidentally found that his brain scan gave him the same pattern of psychopathic killers upon which he was doing studies. He knew how ironic it was; here was a serious researcher, a loving dad, and someone who was playing a positive role in society, and he was the one who happened to have the specific neurological labeling that would indicate he was a potentially violent antisocial offender.

The finding by Fallon brought an important revelation that sociopathic brain presents significant variations relative to the normal neural structure. In advanced neuroimaging, there is active deprojection in the prefrontal cortex, which is the CEO of our brain that is in charge of making moral decisions, hindering impulses, and empathies. The amygdala or our alarm system of emotion is usually smaller and not responsive to most people with the antisocial personality disorder.

Childhood

And here is what is exciting: such differences in the brain are not necessarily a fate. Scientific research is always able to demonstrate that though genetics loads the gun, it is the environment that fires it. Research on identical twins separated at birth shows that genetic predisposition contributes to about 50 per cent risk of antisocial behaviour, which does not determine outcomes.

During childhood and adolescence, the developing brain is extremely plastic. Experiences that cause trauma, neglect, abuse, and chronic stress can physically alter the neural pathways, which actually awaken predispositions or form new ones. Take an example of reactive attachment disorder; extreme neglect as a small child leaves the child with a major problem in empathy and feeling connected to others, which may even border on sociopath-like qualities with no genetic predisposition at all.

An Islamic Lens: The Battle Between Nafs and Fitrah

The Islamic psychology provides a deep understanding of this nature versus nurture gap with terminologies that are more than a millennium old, before modern-day neuroscience. The Quran refers to the internal struggle which exists in the human soul between the primordial human nature which is purity (fitrah) and our base desires (nafs).

Allah states three states of the soul in Surah ash-Shams: the commanding soul, which suggests one towards evil (nafs al-ammara), the self-blaming soul (nafs al-lawwama) and the peaceful soul (nafs al-mutma inna). According to this ancient wisdom, the darkness is not our natural state but what happens when we repeatedly decide to be destructive without concern for the intrinsic sense of morality.

The Islamic view does not exclude the fact that other people may find it harder to struggle within their insides as compared to others. Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) did not ignore different spiritual abilities when he said, “Verily, Allah has forgiven my nation in the things their souls tell them, provided that they do not do them or speak of them.” It is the end of this hadith that will identify the existence of these intrusion thoughts and dark impulses as a part of the human experience; it is our reaction to them.

This model presents hope to individuals who have difficult neurological predispositions.Jihad al-nafs (struggling against the lower self) proposes that even the worst person can accomplish effort involving personal struggle through perseverance, spiritual training and God’s support.

The act of becoming: how darkness roots itself in Psychology.

On psychological terms, sociopathic behavior does not happen overnight. It is normally caused by complex interactions of environmental and biological weaknesses. This progression can be explained with the help of the biopsychosocial model.

Think of the traumatic consequences of childhood on young minds. Activation of stress response systems over and over again in the young brains may literally shrink those parts of it which are in charge of emotional control and empathy, and enlarge those which are linked to fear and aggression. This is not immoral, this is biological, an adaptation to nasty environments.

Another important matching element comes with the attachment theory. Those children who do not establish governable early relationships tend to have a hard time establishing empathy and reciprocity of emotions later in life. They can manage to perceive a relationship as a transaction as opposed to an emotional connection, and thus develop manipulative patterns of an antisocial personality disorder.

However, studies conducted in the area of resilience demonstrate that despite the intimidating traumatisations that expose traumatised children to harm, these children can succeed in becoming healthy and compassionate adults once caregivers provide appropriate support and intervention.
Neuroplasticity of the brain implies that good experiences could help literally rebuild the pattern of harmful behaviour, yet without the assistance of a professional, the process necessitates a good deal of time and patience.

The Internal War: Understanding the Sociopathic Experience

What is really in a sociopathic brain? These people are frequently depicted in popular culture as cold, calculated geniuses, but the truth is a bit more complex. Lots of them complain of emptiness, loss of grounding and being sickeningly alone. Devoid of emotional texture as the driver of most human action, they perform in the social world like actors reciting lines that they have only memorised but have not actually mastered.

Dr. Martha Stout, the author of “The Sociopath Next Door”, writes that it is the concept of living without a conscience, and that is that you have to imagine making moral choices without the inner emotional guidance that most of us have. This does not justify malicious behaviour, but it serves to make us comprehend the mental handicap in which such people live.

Some scientists state that the problem of sociopathy is the failure of the development of emotions, not evil itself. It would not be reasonable to hold someone to morality just because they were born colorblind, and maybe we should not hold others to the same level of guilt who, by the very lack of brain chemistry, have no capacity to exercise empathy. This view does not downplay the actual damage that the behaviour of antisociality promotes.

Prophetic Wisdom, The Way of Redemption

The teachings of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) provide the most outstanding details when it comes to the transformation of the most blackened hearts. His way to confront those individuals who had done dreadful things was revolutionary back then, and it is possible that it is revolutionary today.

Take the example of Wahshi, the killer of the dear uncle of the Prophet Hamza in the most barbaric way, especially in the Battle of Uhud. When Wahshi came to seek forgiveness, the Prophet did not reject him or say he was lost forever. Instead, he gave a way of redemption without overlooking the suffering done. This shows that even those who do unspeakable crimes may still change.

The Prophet was able to do that because he had a reforming approach to living by calling upon developing the fitrah (innate goodness) at the same time undermining the nafs (lower desires). He realised the need to change internally rather than externally. Change is long-lasting. His strategy consists of regular spiritual work, encouragement of community, and stepwise behavioural change, which has been confirmed in modern psychology as one of the effective methods of treatment.

The most authentic hadith of the inner change that a human being is destined to have by his birth maintains that: “Every child is born with the fitrah, but his parents turn him into a Jew, a Christian or Magian.” This shows that we are pure at heart and that we are distracted by all the forces around us. Even though people seem to be in darkness, this worldview bears a ray of hope for them.

Scientific And Spiritual Synthesis : Gateway to healing

Contemporary studies are proving more and more that the old and old-fashioned methods of character development and moral change of the picture in Islam are powerhouses. Mental awareness, including Islamic meditation (muraqaba), has been proven to add to the activity in brain regions that are linked to empathy and emotional control. Cognitive-behavioural therapy resembles the Islamic process of muhasaba (self-accounting) as people are encouraged to look through their thoughts and actions on a regular basis.

The aspect of tawbah (repentance) is in harmony with the psychological theories of behaviour change. True tawbah is associated with the acknowledgement of misdeed, sincere repentance, repentance as well as adherence to behavioural reform, which are extremely similar to scientific therapies.

The community support that is greatly stressed in Islamic tradition is critical towards people with antisocial tendencies. The ummah (community) offers an element of accountability, emotional support and good role models; all of which research demonstrates have been critical towards long-term behaviour change.

But that does not imply that we should always be naive towards the challenges involved. Others might need serious professional care and treatment or even hospitalization in order to avoid causing harm to others. The trick is to have the balance of merciful understanding and sensible safeguarding of community.

Prevention and intervention: A cycle-breaking

The realization of such complex nature of sociopathic behaviors reveals containment systems that would rescue a great number of potential victims and potential murderers. There are children at risk such as early intervention programs that seem to occupy very overwhelming success records as long as they are done the right way.

Trauma-informed care combined with attachment-based treatment and family services can re-engineer the brains of children during development before damaging patterns make deep roots. The Perry Preschool Project and other longitudinal studies prove that intensive early intervention may cure approximately 70% of the prevalence rates of antisocial behaviour in addition to enhancing education and economic performance.

According to the Islamic point of view, the formation of good family background, the community, and the spiritual education is a natural guard against the formation of anti-social characters. The neural pathways that are related to empathy and moral reasoning can be enhanced through frequent prayer, reciting the Quran, and attending to the community.

The Judgement: Born Broken or Made Dark Or Both?

Having analyzed the evidence presented by neuroscience, psychology, and Islamic enlightenment, it is possible to answer the question: Based on the complex relationships between genetic predispositions and environmental causes, sociopathic behaviour happens. Although it can be the case that some would have more difficulties because of their neurological difference, that does not predetermine their fate. Mind

The unsurpassed adaptability of the human brain also implies that even people who possess high risks may play a positive role in society under sufficient intervention, encouragement and spiritual guidance. On the other hand, people without a certain genetic disposition could acquire antisocial personality in the case of a traumatising or abandonment experience.

This knowledge ought to generate some hope and liabilities. Hope, because it means that no one is irredeemably broken, transformation remains possible throughout life. Responsibility highlights our collective obligation to create environments that nurture healthy development and provide support for those struggling with internal darkness.

An Appeal to Concern and Decision

The ending of what happened to Tommy Chen, which we started with, does not have to end sadly. MACRO took a step in the right direction when it decided to mingle the highs of modern knowledge of psychology with the agelessness of spiritual knowledge, because when you know what to do, it takes less time to do it. With correct thoughts, correct intervention and help available, when the lamest mind has the knowledge of who or what to look towards, no mind is too dark to see the light. This, however, needs us all to look beyond the black and white categories and accept the grey and grey of human nature.Mind

The debate is not whether people like Tommy were by birth broken or made dark, the debate is on whether we will be overwhelmed to be a part of their healing or their destruction. All contact, each instance of kindness or cruelty, and every attempt to empathise with situations and not condemn them, define not only personal fates but the whole structure of our civilisation. MInd

What will be your choice?

In going forward to discover the yet unknown secrets of the human mind, we should keep in mind that beyond each and every one of those case studies, each brain scan, each diagnosis, there stands a person made in the image of God, endowed with his original dignity and destiny to be good. The hurdle that we have to cross is to be able to recognise that very potential and to strive to develop it, even in the most unexpected quarters. Mind

Do you want to see the darkness, or do you want to light a candle in order to shed light on the way ahead?

Eager to learn about more exciting overlaps of psychology, neuroscience and spiritual knowledge? Sign up for our newsletter by clicking here and receive weekly insight into the workings of the human mind that will revolutionise your behaviours. Send this article to a person who wants to understand that he or she can be transformed at any time, because sometimes, the greatest intervention of all is hope. Mind